Doors: 7:00PM / Show: 8:00PM

The return of Gothenburg death metal kings Dark Tranquillity is more than a new full-length and another album cycle. Since forming in the quaint suburb of Billdal in 1989 (as Septic Broiler), the Swedes have imparted their melodic and aggressive sound-vision on a music scene unindustrious. With striking new album, Moment, they not only remind of their intelligent, canorous, and attacking designs, but also of a group wholly re-energized and ready to take on their 31st year. Indeed, four years separate Moment from its Swedish Grammy-nominated predecessor Atoma(2016), but the Swedes never sat idle. They toured the globe, logging more miles, and playing more shows than ever before. The veteran death metallers also welcomed two new full-time guitarists in hotshots Christopher Amott (ex-Arch Enemy, ex-Armageddon) and Johan Reinholdz (Andromeda, Nonexist), replacing long-time guitarist and founding member Niklas Sundin, respectively. These events converged Dark Tranquillity positively. From vantage points new and yet with sage experience, they were able to approach Moment with a different mindset. They were electrified by not only Moment’s creation process but were also propelled by the results, which had Dark Tranquillity’s unmistakable DNA as well as an unflinching advance on the future.“We have a level of confidence,” says vocalist Mikael Stanne. “We can pull off anything. We can perform anything that we write or have written. But we have a new musical perspective. Fresh ears, fresh ideas, fresh thoughts about what the songs could be. Johan’s been a fan of the band for a long time. He knows all the old songs, and he can play all the old songs. He pulls out songs that we’ve written ages ago, and goes, ‘more like this?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t even remember that song.’ So, that’s cool to have a musician with a fan’s frame of reference. With Chris, he’s very musical. He has a very cool sense of melody. The emotion he lets out while playing is awesome. To have them being a position to challenge what we used to do or have done over and over is great. They’re helping us change things up a bit.”The origins of Momentwere initially uncertain after the sophisticated aggression of Atoma. Starting in early 2019, ideas were shared, husks of songs were discussed and dissected, but it was drummer Anders Jivarp finally stepping into his groove—thesong-master wrote half of Atoma, including two bonus tracks—when Dark Tranquillity’s twelfth full-length took shape. The band’s primaries—Jivarp, Stanne, and keyboardist Martin Brändström—then called in Reinholdz for his take. The deft player was able to call upon his vast array of influences (from Yngwie Malmsteen to The Sisters of Mercy) to color, add depth to, and arrange the music coming out of Jivarp and Brändström’s proverbial woodsheds. Unlike at any time in Dark Tranquillity’s history, Moment’s shapes, moods, and tones were afforded

unprecedented space, time, and consideration by the band anew. The balance had to be right. If songs “Phantom Days,” “Transient,” “The Dark Unbroken,” “Standstill,” and “Empires Lost to Time” are any indication of goals met and expectations exceeded, then Momentis another milestone for Dark Tranquillity.