Dark Tranquillity
Projector

THE REVIEW

Projector is the album of musical turning point (and discographic) for Dark Tranquillity. The label change from Osmose records to Century Media Records is significant for the production of the album; the sounds are indeed much cleaner and more defined than previous albums, particularly "The Mind's I".

The album opens with Freecard, a short piano intro and all the band members come into play. Mikael Stanne on vocals, as usual, is imposing without being brutal, in the author's opinion the most expressive of Death singers. The song continues without giving a second of pause to the ears, not even the breaks distract us: guitar melodies intertwine perfectly with the phenomenal rhythmic section held up by the immense Anders Jivarp behind the drums and bassist Martin Henriksson. A great song, often played live as well.
Next comes one of the Swedish band's greatest hits, namely There In. An extremely effected wall of guitars introduces us to a mid-tempo song where the star of the show, needless to say, is Mikael Stanne, supported by the guitar duo Niklas Sundin-Michael Niklasson. The grand chorus is sung cleanly, making it vibrant, warm, and the aforementioned guitars give their best to create a relaxed atmosphere, although never truly calm. One of the best tracks on the album. Then there is UnDo Control: a guitar plucking a few chords and female vocals dominating the scene, then unleashing when Mikael steps in with one of the album's most catchy choruses, an essential piece in live performances and the history of Dark Tranquillity, who nonetheless are no strangers to female vocals (just think of the stunning Insanity's Crescendo, from the previous "The Mind's I"), the piece has a break that slows the tempo before picking it up again, genius song.

Auctioned is a track, in my opinion, very experimental and perfectly accomplished: a piano intro accompanied by guitar and drums, sung mainly in clean and a keyboard ticking everything off like a metronome in the background, the beautiful bass solo around the minute 3:50 that launches Sundin's solo for an almost moving finale. The use of piano, harshly criticized by many, is fundamental in this song. Another great song. To a bitter halt begins very calmly: guitars, bass, and drums at rather bland tempos. Then the guitar and drums launch, turning the song into another Dark Tranquillity piece, embellished by Anders Jivarp's performance, who, even without pyrotechnics, writes a stunning track even to play without the other instruments. The chorus is also sung cleanly here and after the break at 3:50, it "gets vicious" only to return to the previous dark "tranquillity."
The Sun Fired Blanks is the most a-la-The Gallery track of the album. Violent guitars start the song, then move on to a bridge where you hear all of Jivarp's single bass drum (in live performances always with a single pedal with a double pedal), the initial theme returns after the chorus, closing upon itself at the end of the song, not without a stunning break where the guitars perfectly do their job. As usual, the brief bass solo towards the end of the song is beautiful. Stunning track.

Nether Novas continues the experimental part of the album, which began earlier with Auctioned. Clean vocals preceded by the usual intro of bass, guitar, and drums, it might seem like a ballad, but beware: the growl of Mikael (wonderful as he has accustomed us to) and distorted guitars begin again, there's also a fantastic break where, once again, Anders pulls out all his expressiveness and Mikael is definitively named "great singer even in clean." The song chases itself with constant changes clean-growl, clean-distorted guitars, mid tempos-double bass drum.
Day To End is the most atypical song of the album, played only on keyboards and Mikael's (clean) voice at the beginning, where bass and drums also join in later. Besides being atypical for DT, it is also the most depressing song, with a chilling text and a voice you would never expect from a Death singer like Stanne. Fundamental. Next: Dobermann! Spectacular initial riff from the 12-string duo, where Mikael bursts in bringing energy and rage, with a growl sometimes on the edge of a scream. The fantastic chorus follows the break: guitar arpeggio, bass, drums, and highly effected clean vocals, only to explode again with the usual energy, in this track, I highlight especially the beauty of the guitarists' sounds in the riff (and the cymbal-bass drum stoppings... which are the author's passion).

Here we are at the end, with the track I consider the best of the album. Highly distorted guitars, endless harmonics, wicked and mythical vocals, moving to a clean vocals part full of sadness that then opens a window on the greatest guitar wall of the group: launch and go, notes in succession at the 2:20-minute mark; phenomenal moments with double pedal below and clean vocals making everything extremely dramatic, great solo towards the end and taking on a sustained tempo in the last seconds of the song. Live, it is an indescribable track, pure emotions, nothing more to say.

This "Projector" was the first Death album I ever heard and it truly changed my life, on par with The Gallery, the best of the band. Rating tending to infinity, priceless.