With more than three decades of history, the Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg will be presenting their 12th album.
As Fiction (2007) and Moment (2020), Endtime Signals (2024) depicts a minimalistic artwork style, a plethora of 12 melodic and shredded riffs songs, showcasing the eternal duality between light and darkness, as well as cosmological themes.
Metal Imperium talked with the guitarist Johan Reinholdz about Dark Tranquillity’s last work, how was the recording process in Fascination Street Studios and the upcoming European concerts and shows. Endtime Signals (2024) proves the band’s solid career with a polished and modern album, combined with fast paced guitars and drums.
M.I. - A new upcoming album with also new band members. How was the recording process?
It was pretty smooth. We started to write down the album in August 2022, when me and Martin finished the demos and sent to each other. We discussed which ideas were the strongest, and then what to rewrite to make it even better.
Pretty soon, Michael joined the process to get the vocals and final arrangements into the mix. Then, we continued to write in teams of either two or three, such as me and Martin or me and Michael. Last summer, we were getting ready and polishing the songs before the recording started in Fascination Street Studios. The drums were also pretty quick to record too, then we recorded Martin’s guitar in his studio back in Gothenburg.
All the files were sent, in order to be mixed. We got feedback to know what was good or not, to improve. Early this year, we went to studio once more to get the final things sorted out and finished. The album was done in late February.
M.I. - It’s been four years since Moment (2020) came out. The world changed quite a lot, but what have you been doing during these hard times?
It was a pretty good, but inevitably bad timing. The pandemic started to get full swing when we began recording.
We had taken a bit easier and worked on the album a little longer. We had to cancel a few tours, but we did a live stream of the previous album in Gothenburg’s Theatre. This was a way to provide a chance for our fans to listen to the album, while we were waiting for the pandemic to pass by. Only in 2021, we started to do some festivals and the next year we did some tours. In 2023, we played live and worked on the new album. We can say that we were pretty busy.
M.I. - It seems that Dark Tranquillity’s artwork changed to a more minimalistic art design style. Any particular reason?
I don’t know if I agree, but Fiction (2007) had a more minimalistic style, while on the other hand Construct (2013) had a stricter artwork. I’m not sure that’s a conscious decision, but more of a back-and-forth choice.
M.I. - The song “Not Nothing” showcases us a cosmological theme, but also the balance between light and darkness.
Yes! That’s a good description. Concerning the lyrics, I’m a bit off, because I didn’t write them, and we would just be putting words into Michael’s mouth. It sounds like a good analysis; the music goes back and forth into a disturbing darkness and calmness.
M.I. - On the other hand, “Unforgivable” depicts the band’s memorable shows, and daily life?
Yes, it was shot on our natural habitat. We tend to do a lot of tours, and we used a lot of our footage from our Latin America tour, especially footage from Mexico. We also used some of our backstage footage, but yes it kind of showcases us in a daily situation.
M.I. - Any movies, books or videogames you drew inspiration from for the Endtime Signals (2024)?
I have to speak for the music, because I didn’t write the lyrics. Nothing in particular. Speaking personally, as I get older, the sources of inspiration are way more numerous. There’s not really type of specific inspirations, while when you were younger you had more time to listen to everything and get it from a music data bank, in order to draw inspiration from particular bands. When you get older, it’s hard to pinpoint those inspirations, but you become like a sponge and absorb a lot more inspirations.
M.I. - Being on tour, writing records, playing in different bands, do you still have time for listening to music?
I’m listening to music every day. I do have time for that, while jogging or going to the gym. It’s not a problem for me to find the time.
M.I. - You will be touring again with the Portuguese metal bands Moonspell and Gaerea. However, Portugal is not yet on this year’s list. Any upcoming shows in 2025?
Yes, that’s something we announced on a few online posts. This European tour is just a part one tour and there’s going to be a part two tour, enveloping other European countries. Our crew is also Portuguese, and we’re very much in touch with Portugal.
M.I. - Thank you very much for this interview! Would you like to share a message with our readers?
Thank you! See you all on tour and hope that you check-out our three new singles. Our new album was released on August 16th, don’t forget to check it out.
For Portuguese version, click here
Listen to Dark Tranquillity, on Spotify
Questions by André Neves
