DARK TRANQUILLITY man Mikael Stanne has rocked out and cried to his riffy slaylist.
The Dark Tranquillity frontman takes us on an odyssey of discovery across the greatest riff-lords and psychedelic cosmonauts
“CANDLEMASS WERE THE first heavy band I truly loved. There’s just something about doom that is super-cool, so it was great when newer bands started appearing. I’d heard of PALLBEARER before I actually heard them, but it was Foundations Of Burden that really got me onboard; the opening track, Worlds Apart, blew me away by the sheer force of their heaviness. There’s the obvious Sabbath thing there, but also this sense of melancholy that gives the music this Scandinavian vibe, bringing it back to my love of Candlemass. I get a similar thing at times from MONO. I saw them again at Roadburn Festival last year and I love the impact their music has – it’s almost like they’re from another world, which in a way I guess they are! But again, they have that melancholia that feels very Scandinavian, so much that I can put them on to friends and they’d think they were a new band from northern Sweden. I’d point to a song like After You Comes The Flood – just because it’s the heaviest track on the album doesn’t always mean it’s the best, but with MONO everything
they do feels like the heaviest thing ever and they still keep that emotional core.
“I love so many things like that, like Beauty In Falling Leaves by YOB. Our Raw Heart was my album of the year in 2018; I remember hearing the song at Sweden Rock Festival and I had to leave for Germany and play another show. I really didn’t want to go – why leave and miss Judas Priest?! I put the YOB record on in the train station and when the song hit I had a nice cry there in the evening sun. I realised just how lucky I was – the song is just that powerful and beautiful! Speaking of festivals, I saw DIZZY MIZZ LIZZY at a festival in Japan not too long ago and they are huge out there. I used to think they were just cheesy rock, but the song Made To Believe really changed my perception and I haven’t been able to stop listening since. At that festival everyone sang along to every word – even along to the guitar melodies! We’d been on a stage with loads of death metal bands all day, so it made for a nice change; plus I’m a huge Rush fan and there’s just something about power trios, right?
“The surprise of finding a new band is an incredible feeling. I got into ELDER through the song Sanctuary; a friend of mine turned me on to them and not long after we found out they were playing this tiny club just up the street. That show had maybe 100 people there, but was easily one of the best shows I’ve seen in the past few years – just incredible. I also got into this Polish band, WEEDPECKER, recently. I don’t know how often they play outside their country, but their reedy, laidback psychedelic stoner rock has a progressive vibe and, man… I love it!
“Next up is a real return to form from one of the finest bands in the Swedish desert rock scene, LOWRIDER. There are so many bands here that have tried to sound like Lowrider over the years, but songs like Pipe Rider really show everyone who’s the boss. Another great Swedish band are SKRAECKOEDLAN; my favourite song is El Monstro and man, what a fucking track! Crushing riffage and they’re such a great band that love doing weird stuff. There are places that feel like they’re improvising; being a musician is often about communication and nothing says that more than when a band goes out and improvises.
“I love so many improv-style bands, like CAUSA SUI – an instrumental freeform band from Denmark. I have, like, 20 of their live albums and they never play the same song twice. They’re incredible musicians and The Drop feels like a real desert rock tune. There’s also this great band MOTORCYCO from Norway that put out a song called Ship of Fools a few years back. It doesn’t get much better than them – they mix all different genres at the same time, which is just incredible.”
DARK TRANQUILLITY’S NEW RECORD, MOMENT, IS OUT NOW VIA CENTURY MEDIA
“I PUT THE YOB RECORD ON AND HAD A NICE CRY IN THE EVENING SUN”