Fans of melodic death metal were treated to some of Sweden’s finest when Dark Tranquillity took the stage at the House Of Blues in Boston for the first date of their new tour. For the next month and a half, the metal legends will be trekking through North America in support of their forthcoming album We Are The Void (to be released on February 24th in Sweden and March 9th in North America), along with The Devil Wears Prada and metalcore icons Killswitch Engage.
Dark Tranquillity began the evening by pumping up the crowd with the hook-laden ‘Terminus (Where Death Is Most Alive)’ and the rousing ‘The Lesser Faith’ before launching into a crushing rendition of ‘Dream Oblivion’ from We Are The Void. At the front of the stage, the terrific riff interplay of guitarists Martin Henriksson and Niklas Sundin provided the foundation for vocalist Mikael Stanne to engage the audience with his spirited stage presence. Dark Tranquillity thrilled dedicated fans by revisiting older tracks like ‘White Noise/Black Silence’ as well as ‘The Endless Feed’ – one of their most dynamic and intricately crafted songs. ‘The Endless Feed’ would have benefited from a mix that highlighted Martin Brändström’s keyboards, but Stanne’s nuanced growls and the seamlessly shifting grooves of drummer Anders Jivarp and bassist Daniel Antonsson helped make this a standout track of the night.
All too soon, the band reached their final song, ‘Final Resistance,’ and graciously left the Boston stage to The Devil Wears Prada and headliners Killswitch Engage, who bested technical difficulties to perform an excellent show to an enthusiastic hometown crowd. Here’s hoping that this tour brings Killswitch fans into Dark Tranquillity‘s mighty fold and into the venues when the Swedish band returns for their own headlining tour later this year.
