In life, to find your equilibrium, you sometimes need stable foundations, solid structures, sure values. And if those sure things come in the form of nasty riffs, menacing rants and belligerent rhythms, so much the better! However, on closer inspection, Dark Tranquillity's line-up has changed several times in recent years. Most of the mainstays are gone, leaving Mikael Stanne (vocals) and Martin Brändstörm (keyboards) surrounded by newcomers, but it doesn't matter: Dark Tranquillity, like ancestral know-how, is passed on from musician to musician, and you can dive into Endtime Signals with your eyes closed, no need for a plan B: there are neither tricks nor traps.
Shivers and Void pops up and jumps down our throats like slippers after a day's work: a conquering mood contrasts with an oozing melancholy, and it's like being comfortably at home (Dark Tranquillity, phone home?). It has to be said that the Swedish band do everything to put us at ease with an album that takes the form of a set of specifications followed to the letter, where nothing is missing, nothing is too much, everything is in its place. The biting ardour of Unforgivable promises to be a great moment live, thanks to Stanne's ever communicative energy, Neuronal Fire recalls the band's thrash roots, etc. You get the idea: Endtime Signals is packed with passages that are driven to the beat of a drum, and moreover it returns to a surplus of nastiness that was perhaps a little lacking in the previous Moment.
However, it's when the more gothic roots reveal their twisted silhouettes, when Stanne's vocals lighten up and the slower paced heaviness kicks in, that the album seems at its strongest (the singer is also embarking on a gothic-rock side-project, Cemetery Skyline, and we can't wait to discover their debut album due in October). Dark Tranquillity create emotion through contrast and rupture, as on Not Nothing, a great moment of nocturnal spleen, and the funereal ballad One of Us is Gone, a tribute to Fredrik Johansson, the band's guitarist in the 90s, the haunted keyboards offering a nuanced counterpoint to the rage of The Last Imagination, giving it an epic feel, or the clear vocals that give Wayward Eyes a lift in its lulls and, stripped of their grimacing or warlike postures, bringing the closing False Relfection all its power. Endtime Signals benefits from the work of Martin Brändstörm, with its rich, carefully crafted atmospheres giving Dark Tranquillity's music all its depth.
In the end, these line-up changes may have kept Dark Tranquillity going strong. Endtime Signals may not contain any surprises or revolution, but it's not a dull album, thanks to its moods, its more progressive touches and its permanent contrasts, all of which serve to highlight both its bite and its elegance. Dark Tranquillity's formula is mastered to perfection, and rather than a lack of inspiration, we find the essence of their DNA in all its influences, a show of strength in which the band displays a face that is both aggressive and atmospheric, brimming with muscular confidence but also melancholy. It's back to solid foundations: from there, you can build, and that's what the Swedes do, serving up an album that is both the logical continuity and synthesis of their art. Sometimes, not being surprised can be comfortably satisfying!
