Testing their metal

Dark Tranquillity pioneered the Gothenburg Sound sub-genre of death metal in Sweden. And on January 11, the band will bring their brand of melodic metal to Beijing for the first time.

The band is the stuff of legends in Sweden, the launching pad from which they influenced countless musicians worldwide. They've been thrashing about since 1989, but this death metal dream team is still alive and kicking today.

However, the lineup has switched up; early members included vocalist Anders Friden, guitarists Mikael Stanne and Niklas Sundin, bassist Martin Henriksson and drummer Anders Jivarp.

After a musical chairs-like rearrangement of posts and the addition of some new blood, the lineup is: Stanne as the vocalist, Sundin and Henriksson on guitars, Anders Jivarp behind the drum set and Michael Nicklasson on bass, while Martin Brondstrom mans the electronic equipment.

The earliest demos were Trail of Life Decayed (demo/EP 1991), A Moonclad Reflection (EP 1992) and Tranquility (cassette EP 1992). They were all limited releases. Their first album, Skydancer, was released in 1993. After that, many Viking Metal bands wore well the trails blazed by Dark Tranquillity, and a new sub-genre was born: New Wave of Swedish Death Metal.

The band has released 14 albums to date, including the CDs Skydancer (1993), The Gallery (1996), the gloomy album The Mind's I (1997), Sweden Grammy nominated album Projector (1999), Haven (2000), Damage Done (2002), Character (2005) and Fiction (2007). Their surprisingly cerebral music draws inspiration from religion, art, psychology, quantum cosmology and many other fields.

Their first tour began in 1999, when they took on Europe alongside In Flame, Children of Bodom and Arch Enemy. En route, they made stops at many metal festivals, including Prattein Metal Festival and Gods of Metal.

After conquering Europe, they continued on to Turkey, Japan, Mexico and a slew of other countries.

And now, they're coming to China.

149 yuan (Area B), 259 yuan (Area A), 399 yuan (VIP, limited to 80 tickets). Jan 11, 9pm. Tel: 8403-7131, 15901321979. At Yugong Yishan. West courtyard of the former site of Duan Qirui Fu, 3-2 Zhangzizhong Lu自忠路3-2号段祺瑞执政府旧址西院

Chen Nan

(China Daily 01/05/2008 page6)