When gloom, melody, and emotional damage align just right.
153 days till W:O:A 2023.
It happened again. I meant to write a quick article on Dark Tranquillity—and now I’ve been buried in their discography for an entire week.
Swedish, melodic, and absolutely foundational to the Gothenburg sound—Dark Tranquillity have been doing this since 1989, and they’re still going strong. I’ve only scratched the surface of their 12-album discography, but it didn’t take long to get pulled in.
A shifting sound—and a shifting line-up
For this piece, I picked their fourth—and possibly most divisive—album: Projector (1999).
It also happened to be a turning point for the band itself. Long-time guitarist Fredrik Johansson left after recording the album, and a proper keyboardist was brought in for the first time. The line-up was shifting, and you can hear that in the music.
Projector marks a clear departure from their earlier sound: clean vocals, clean guitars, piano intros—all the things that tend to make older fans panic. The usual accusations followed: going soft, going mainstream, selling out. (Dimmu Borgir, anyone?)
But me? I hit play and loved it from the very first second.
Gothic drama meets melodic death
This album leans hard into gothic metal, doom, and atmosphere. The harsh vocals are still there—but they’re often paired with synths, strings, and clean, melancholic passages that feel closer to darkwave than death metal.
If you're the sort of person who likes their sorrow melodic and their guitars brooding, this album is basically a gothic buffet. There’s a lot of feeling here. And not the performative kind—the genuinely aching kind.
The songs that stayed with me
FreeCard opens with a soft piano, then swells into something majestic and melodic. Stanne growls through the verses, then surprises you at 1:20 with clean singing that actually works—not as a gimmick, but as part of the build. There’s a string interlude, a doomy synth section, and it all just clicks. It’s theatrical, but not forced.
Therein kicks off with a riff I don’t love—but then the chorus hits at 1:22, and suddenly I’m sold.
| It was solid / Yet ever changing / It was different / Yet the same / So I starve myself for energy
The delivery leans into full Dave Gahan territory, and I’m not mad about it.
Undo Control brings in a female guest vocalist—more goth energy—and blends it seamlessly into the band’s heavier backbone. Another win.
But my favourite track? Auctioned. Easily.
It opens with a gorgeous piano melody that just stuck with me. Then Stanne comes in, singing—no growls, just pure, sorrow-soaked delivery. Longing, restrained, melodic. It’s not death metal. Not even close. But it’s perfect. If you’re into gothic anything, you’ll understand.
Nether Novas closes it out strong. Clocking in at over six minutes, it blends everything from clean vocals to growls, solos, pianos, and thunderous drums. A full showcase of what Projector set out to be.
A controversial record worth remembering
Projector is often described as Dark Tranquillity’s most experimental album. And it shows. There’s clean singing on nearly every track, and if you can’t get past that, you probably won’t enjoy this one. But if you have any love for gloomy, doomy, gothic sounds—this album offers a lot.
The pacing is solid, the songs flow into one another naturally, and nothing overstays its welcome. Stanne’s vocal performance is incredible, and there are melodies here that’ll haunt you days later.
Absolutely hooked
I absolutely love this album, and I’m psyched to see Dark Tranquillity live at Wacken this year. And yes—I really, really hope they play Therein.
The only drop of bitterness? I won’t get to see them with their long-term line-up. Niklas Sundin and Anders Jivarp left the band in 2020 and 2022. Still, I’ve listened to their latest release Moment (2020), and I like it a lot.
They’ve changed—but I’m still in.