Dark Tranquillity
Projector

THE REVIEW

Projector is the turning point album for me, not only for Dark Tranquillity but also for myself. Yes, because in that hot summer of 1999, after having spent pointless years of my life revolving around the usual four "big" bands, I made the step that defined me and made me realize that what I had always considered the musical apotheosis was in fact very little.
I was saying, it was a turning point for the five Swedes as well, who abandoned the path they had invented to experiment, to go beyond that melodic death which by then had been usurped by too many bands without a shred of personal inventiveness, mere copies of copies and nothing more. No blinders, this is the key to listening to this album where from outbursts it transitions to absolute calm, from electric guitars to electronics, and from growling vocals to female voices. Stanne reveals himself as a sublime singer (naturally in the genre he proposes), alternating with extreme precision his growl with melodic clean vocal lines that give you chills, so solid and deep that it manages to stand out over everything, creating something that, combined with the music, transforms into art. Just take as an example the splendid opener Freecard, introduced by a few piano notes and then starting with riffs sharp as blades or the famous Thereln with its chorus that will stick in your head after the first listen:
"It was solid
yet everchanging
it was different
yet the same
so I starve myself for energy
I starve myself for energy".

Projector is a strange album; it seems difficult but is actually extremely simple, you don't need millions of listens to appreciate it, you just need to let yourself be carried away by these seductive and most sad rhythms, allowing Stanne, his texts of pure hermeticism, and his companions to "project" into your mind their musical vision.