Skydancer

Dark Tranquillity is one of those bands that were pioneers of so-called Gothenburg sound. The original idea was to combine death metal with melodies. Dark Tranquillity has released great albums during their career and at the same time made some changes in their sound on every album. Now it's time to find out what did this band sound on their first record.


Skydancer is energetic and melodic death metal. The catchy riffs bring the melodic side of the album as Anders Fridén's vocals and some aggressive drumming bring the brutal side. The tracks are quite straightforward and the band seems to master their own style. There are also some experimental elements like female vocals and acoustic guitars. To me, they create more depth in the music. Sometimes the tracks are fast-driven but luckily they sometimes slow down for the atmospheric parts. The biggest experiments the band had have left on their demos. The material can't be compared to their modern material, but there are still some nice tracks. The album misses the last touch and the climatic parts. The production is quite weak. It would have been better if the sounds were sharper.


Skydancer shows a band full of energy. There are things that would have been made a better way, like the production and sound, but this album was still a good start for this band. The members at least had fine musicianship so it isn't a wonder how they have evolved to this day. The thing that also raises the value of this release is that this album must have sounded much better when it was originally released.