Dark Tranquility Family Tree
Metal Family Tree
This is a project aimed at making it easy to see who inspired the bands you love or even hate. For this I try not to use any influences that the band don’t claim themselves. There will be a focus on predecessors but successors will be added as they site the band. These trees become more and more interactive as new bands are added, allowing you to click any band that has a tree and jump to it.
We want our lists to be better. If you know something that belongs on this list, let us know. When in doubt we will leave it out, so we need reliable sources.
Dark Tranquility are one of the pioneers of melodic death metal. They would play with other sounds on occasion most notably a gothic sound on a few albums. Their line up had been fairly consistent until more recent years. Mikael Stanne played guitar on the first album but has been on vocals since then. Anders Jivarp has been on drums since the beginning. Niklas Sundin was on guitar for every album except the most recent (Moment). Martin Henriksson played bass on the first three albums then switched to guitar; he did both on Construct. Martin was with the band till 2016. Fredrik Johansson was on guitar was on two albums, 1994-1999 Martin Brändström has been on keyboards since 1999. Mikael Niklasson was on bass from 1999-2008, Daniel Antonsson 2008-2013, and Anders Iwers 2015-present. This tree will feature influences of members who have contributed to writing. Although some members may write most of the riffs the band as a whole work on arrangements. I will not be including newest guitarists Christopher Amott and Johan Reinholdz who have been with the band since 2017.
(note: Below “Mikael” refers to Mikael Stanne not Niklasson. “Martin” refers to Henriksson not Brändström.)
Niklas says he is not interested in the guitar hero type of players. He is impressed by Blixa Bargeld of the German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten for his originality. He names a band Assassin but there are several bands by this name that he could mean. He says they listen to traditional folk and classical music.
Anders Jivarp names drum influences as “Mike Portnoy, I think he's number one. I like Neil Pert of course, Joey Jordinson from Slipknot, Brad Wilk from Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine I think he has amazing groove, and Dirk Verbeuren from Soilwork”.
Besides his metal influences, Mikael said he got into a lot of 60’s and 70’s progressive rock and in more recent years Doom and Sludge. Before finding metal with bands like Iron Maiden and Helloween Mikael was into synth music like Depeche Mode.
Anders Fridén was the vocalist on the first album before being in In Flames. His influences will be on an inflames tree when it exists.
Fredrick was part of the second and third albums but I have not found his influences.
Martin has been on keys with the band since 1999, I haven’t been able to find his influences.
Mikael Niklasson played bass for five albums; I have been unable to find his influences.
Daniel Antonsson played bass on only one album and is not noted as contributing a significant amount to writing.
Current bassist Anders Iwers has yet to have writing credits in the band (prior to Moment).
Bands influenced by Dark Tranquility!
As this project advances, bands will be added here… there are many!
Sources:
https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2013/09/09/niklas-sundin-dark-tranquillity-interviewed/
https://metalbite.com/interviews/267/dark-tranquillity-with-niklas-sundin-guitar
http://rockrevoltmagazine.com/interview-dark-tranquillity/
http://www.apeshit.org/features/dark-tranquillity-slayer-and-satan/
https://www.mixcloud.com/TheAgeOfMetal/martin-henriksson-of-dark-tranquillity-chats-with-the-age-of-metal/
https://sickdrummermagazine.com/news/off-beat-interviews/tyranny-a-bloodshed-tour-interviews/
https://www.nationalrockreview.com/interviews/moments-mikael-stanne
https://crypticrock.com/interview-mikael-stanne-of-dark-tranquillity/
https://www.rockarena.co.uk/dark-tranquillity-one-of-the-earliest-pioneers-of-the-gothenburg-melodic-death-metal/
https://rockoverdose.gr/mikael-stanne-dark-tranquillity-rock-overdose-people-still-listen-music-different-way/