DARK TRANQUILLITY To Release 'Atoma' Album In November

Swedish melodic death metallers DARK TRANQUILLITY will release their eleventh full-length album, "Atoma", on November 4 through Century Media Records. The CD is being recorded at Rogue Music in Gothenburg, the studio owned by DARK TRANQUILLITY keyboardist Martin Brändström. Mixing duties will be handled by David Castillo, known for his work with bands such as KATATONIA, OPETH and CANDLEMASS. The cover artwork was once again created by the band's guitarist Niklas Sundin.

Says the band in a statement: "That's right! We're more than halfway done with the recording of the upcoming album, and it's shaping up to be a diverse and challenging affair that will feature a lot of different aspects of the DARK TRANQUILLITY sound. It's hard to be more specific while still immersed in the creative process, but we're incredibly excited about the material and can't wait to share the results with all of you soon."

The touring cycle for "Atoma" will start with a headline North American run in November, featuring SWALLOW THE SUN, ENFORCER and STARKILL as support acts. A European tour is planned for early 2017.

DARK TRANQUILLITY vocalist Mikael Stanne recently told Kaaos TV about the recording process for the band's upcoming album: "We actually decided to start recording in January, and then we realized, 'Nah, we're not really ready. We need to work on this stuff a bit more.' And then a bit more and then a bit more. And finally, it was, like, 'Fuck it! We need a deadline. We need to finish this.' And now we do, and now we're kind of in deep into the recording. So finally it happened. But for a while there, I just couldn't see it. Like, 'It's not even close.'"

Asked why it was so difficult for DARK TRANQUILLITY to come up with a new album's worth of material that they were happy with, Mikael said: "This is gonna be our eleventh album, [and] for yourself, you feel, like, 'My God! We don't wanna repeat ourselves. We don't wanna do the same thing over and over again. We wanna do something new.' It has to feel fresh, and it has to feel different. And how do you find the inspiration and stuff like that? It is kind of tough. But we got started, and eventually, it's, like, 'Holy shit! We're on to something here.' And it started feeling really good, and now it feels awesome. Some of the songs are incredible. I've recorded vocals for five songs already. We have tons more. And I can't wait to finish it. It's gonna be so much fun. There's basically just keyboards and guitar solos and vocals left. So it's gonna be a couple of more weeks, I think. So it's gonna come out in November."

Regarding how DARK TRANQUILLITY's recent lineup change affected the songwriting process for the new album, Mikael said: "[Bassist] Martin Henriksson left the band in January, and that was a big blow. I mean, he used to write tons of stuff for the band, but in the last couple of years, he has kind of focused on other things. He's more like a manager for he band — he arranges all the festivals and trips and everything like that — and he just kind of fell out of love with touring and writing and playing, so now he's a full-on manager and stuff."

Mikael also talked about how the songwriting process was different this time around. He said: "Anders [Jivarp, drums] has written most of the songs, I think, or most of the material, and then Martin [Brändström, keyboards] and Anders kind of structured it and put it together. And then Niklas wrote two or three songs, and Martin [Brändström] wrote two or three songs, stuff like that. It's becoming really diverse. Like some of the stuff that Anders has done is really different, and the stuff that Niklas has done is really different and the stuff that Martin [Brändström] has done is really, really kind of out there in a way. So I'm super excited. The album is shaping up to be fantastic."