Dark Tranquillity is a band that always manages to create one fantastic album after another. They have come a long, long way from their early days of their emerging fame alongside At the Gates, In Flames, and other bands from the Gothenburg, Sweden metal scene. Their earlier albums, such as SKYDANCER and THE GALLERY, collected some of their most intricate work to date, with emphasis on guitar melodies, loads of acoustic and/or clean guitar passages, and elaborate movements and tempo changes which made each song feel epic (even though most of their songs tend to be in the 4-6 minute range). Their next album, THE MIND'S I, compacted their songwriting to more conventional (but no less aggressive, well-composed, or -executed) song lengths and structures. Though each album was singularly unique, Dark Tranquillity's sound broke all barriers of expectation and expanded - no, *bloomed* - into something far more advanced and progressive in 1998, when they released PROJECTOR, one of their most famous and at once most controversial to date. Heavier riffs were more prominent mediums for the melodies; keyboards added texture to many of the songs; and most controversial of all, there were haunting, brilliant clean vocals. What could Dark Tranquillity possibly sound like after all this? HAVEN is the answer to that question.

Dark Tranquillity has had several lineup changes in their fifteen-year career. With the exceptions of drummer Anders Jivarp and guitarist Niklas Sundin, every member would either change their instrument and/or be replaced by another member. After their 1993 debut album, SKYDANCER, vocalist Anders Freidén departed the band to join In Flames. In his place, guitarist Mikael Stanne lowered his axe and came forth. Of course, because he quit, another guitarist was needed, and so Fredrik Johansson was hired. This lineup debuted on their 1995 EP, OF CHAOS AND ETERNAL NIGHT, and would stay intact until 1999, when Fredrik Johansson quit and was replaced by bassist Martin Hendriksson. A new bassist, Michael Niklasson, was hired in *his* place. But the lineup change did not stop there - because of the heavy inclusion of keyboards in their sound with PROJECTOR, it only made sense to add a keyboardist. Enter Martin Brandström, pianist and electronics master. By the time HAVEN was released in July 2000, Dark Tranquillity was hardly recognizable as the same band they'd started out as.

HAVEN collects some of Dark Tranquillity's most brilliant, diverse, and heaviest work to date. It seems that each member has put forth more effort into the composition and execution of this album than anything previous. Sundin and Hendriksson create some of their tightest dual-guitar assault to date, perfectly achieving their ultimate heaviness while not sacrificing any of the beautiful melodies which are so distinctive in Dark Tranquillity's sound. Michael Niklasson's bass lines are just as complex, original, and outstanding as Hendricksson's had ever been. Anders Jivarp continues to lay out intricate beats that can both pulverize and dazzle - and it's a wonder that he doesn't get more attention for this - as he incorporates very technical styles into everything he does, including fills. Mikael Stanne's vocals are more fearsome than ever; fully dropping any traces of black metal-like rasps, he now roars with a deep, booming growl that he would continue to exercise on 2002's DAMAGE DONE. And of course, Martin Brandström's debut with the band shines, as he almost single-handedly opens new vistas of musical progression for the band.

Dark Tranquillity's sound progression is evident not only on the album as a whole, but with each individual track. Take, for instance, "Feast of Burden:" it starts with fast, intense harmonized guitar riffs (played in the distinctly "Swedish" style of alternating low- and high-end melodies), thunderous bass and drum work, and major-scale keyboard textures fleshing out the sound as effects-heavy vocals form in the background. Then deep, furious growls that could almost seem inhuman surge forward as the rhythm changes into a more mid-tempo pace, with some awesome riffs playing between the vocal lines. A lightning-quick and thunder-heavy explosion of riffs, and then - all instruments rest as the listener suddenly is plunged into an ambient, synthesized beat rhythm for several seconds before the heaviness returns in a titanic crash of metal fury! Later, in the bridge of the song, a beautiful piano melody shimmers with unprecedented beauty; then dazzling guitar riffs slice in before a refrain of the first verse. All of this in a song that's less than three and a half minutes - only one song out of eleven!

Not a single one of the tracks are filler or just revamped duplicates of each other. Each one is highly unique from each other, just as all of Dark Tranquillity's songs and albums are. Perhaps the most unique, however, is "Emptier Still." The only to feature Mikael Stanne's clean vocals, this track is a true gem. With a most emotionally haunting vocal performance, Stanne's operatic, baritone voice cries out his pleas of agonized loneliness and fear for the first and second verses, alternating with aggressive (but *absolutely* emotional) growls in the choruses and third verse/bridge. This is arguably the most beautiful and emotional track on the entire album.

With their multiple and diverse albums, Dark Tranquillity are a progressive band in every sense of the word. Never sounding the same, and consistently redefining themselves, they are highly praised and respected in the world of metal as true innovators, and deservedly so. HAVEN is proof of all this and more - it is proof that Dark Tranquillity is, without a doubt, *the* progressive metal band for the new millennium.

Originally released in 2000, Haven was the fifth full-length studio album from Swedish melodic death metal innovators Dark Tranquillity. Picking up where At the Gates left off, Dark Tranquillity, alongside In Flames, Soilwork and Hypocrisy, took death metal in a bold new direction, adding melody as a major element and experimenting with traditional metal elements, clean vocals, and in Dark Tranquillity's case, keyboards. Lots and lots of keyboards.

Haven was the album where Dark Tranquillity finally seemed to figure out their definitive sound. You could hear them moving ever so slightly in this direction on

and

, and they perhaps went too far on the experimental Projector album, but with Haven all the pieces fit together. They figured out how to use a lot of gothic keyboard sounds and still remain undeniably a death metal band. It helped that Michael Stanne abandoned the clean vocals he used so abundantly on Projector. Not that I minded them, but at the time they made people wonder if Dark Tranquillity was going the way of Amorphis and Samael. I doubt it took anyone more than one listen to blistering songs like "Rundown" and the stunning "The Wonders at Your Feet" to put that idea to rest!

Haven is a stunning melodic death metal album all around. Inescapable melodies and atmospheric keyboards merge seamlessly with a traditional death metal assault and intelligent lyrics, and the result is an album where Dark Tranquillity proved that a death metal album could also be a work of pure artistry.

Haven really is a landmark album in Swedish melodic death metal history, and is one of Dark Tranquillity's finest efforts (and that's saying something). It's an absolutely essential album for Dark Tranquillity fans as well as fans of Swedish melodic death metal in general.

Edition Notes: Century Media reissued Haven (along with

and

) in 2009. The deluxe reissue features digitally remastered sound, a nice slipcase, expanded liner notes, and four bonus tracks. The first three bonus tracks - "In Sight", "Misery In Me" and "Cornered" were b-sides from the Haven sessions that also appeared on the

rarities collection a few years back. It's nice to have them added to the Haven album, but they're not really anything new. The final bonus track is a live version of "The Wonders at Your Feet". While I wouldn't recommend re-buying Haven just for the bonus tracks, I'd definitely recommend the reissue on the basis of the improved sound quality. Between the remastered audio and deluxe packaging, I didn't think twice about replacing my old copy of Haven.

This is superb.

"Haven" is one of albums that, for me, gets better with every listen. This is dark, bludgeoning, rich music. The guitar playing is solid, with a very nice solo performed on "The Wonders at your Feet". Guitars are heavily melodic/rythmn based, and the keys are very cleverly added to give more colour and texture, this is among the most effective use of keyboards I've heard in metal, along with Paradise Lost's "Host".

Vocals are very powerful, and largely grunted, gives a nice epic feel to the songs, making them seem longer than they really are in most cases, however this band does not like to hang around, songs here average just shy of 4 minutes. Bass work by Nicklasson is dynamic and downright classy, adding flicks all over the place demonstrating a need to dance about rythmn lines as opposed to merely just backing them. Drumming is solid and spot-on, carrying the tempo just the way one would like to hear.

Overall "Haven" demonstrates absolutely superb musicianship, with a very unique sound, which is much needed today. This is very dark, atmospheric and heavy. What is it about Swedish bands? Well they've got it together quite simply. I believe Dark Tranquillity, along with other Swedes Opeth, Katatonia, Soilwork and Arch Enemy are set to become the future kings of metal, these are the bands that metal purists like myself will remember in years to come.

There is not one song on "Haven" I dislike in the slightest. My favourite songs are "Fabric", "Indifferent Suns" and "Haven", enough to send a chill up my spine.

Sheer class.

After the phenomenal "Projector" I was expecting great things from Dark Tranquillity, and believe me I was not let down at all. The only thing that really disappointed me about this album was the fact that D.T. chose not to continue their use of clean vocals, which had begun on "Projector". However, that's really a minor quibble and it seems like most fans didn't exactly appreciate the clean vocals anyway. As I noted in the title of this review, the band has again expanded its sound, this time by adding a full time keyboard/electronics player. Believe me, this adds a whole new dimension to D.T.'s sound. I absolutely love the keyboards and piano on all of the songs, and I'm sure you will too. Standout tracks would have to include opener "The Wonders At Your Feet", "The Same" and the awesome closer "At Loss For Words". Everything about this cd screams buy it! What are you waiting for?

every album of DT is great, that's a truth that no one can deny, even if they have been going through different ways the final sound is always great, i must be honest and say that i love more other older albums as skydancer or the gallery, but the exploration of new ways to create music will always return to their esence, the dark tranquillity... i hope also that DT always continue being one of the best metal bands of the world, please don't change so much. hey niklas, i miss your compositions.