Keyboards, clean vocals, electronic beats -- all find a place alongside ultra-melodic riffs, snarling growls, and speedy attack. For the "Death vox", I much prefer Stanne's improved growly singing heard on _Haven_ and _Damage Done_. Here, and on previous records, he is more "rrrrr" and less "rrrroar". I don't really care that much though, since the highlight is his 'real' singing, which is abundant on this record. Deep, melancholy, emotive -- Stanne's voice often lends the songs their most memorable quality.

Dark Tranquillity's penchant for amazing guitar work is still intact: the mesmerizing dual guitar harmony of "The Sun Fired Blanks"; the double-bass driven melodic punch of "Doberman". These songs are all well and good, but the stronger tracks, in my opinion, adopt a more experimental style. The opener "FreeCard" splits the fluid guitar melodies with a keyboard generated orchestral piece. "UnDo Control" combines eclectic tempo changes, female vocals, torrid screams, and surprising musical twists. "Day to End" is a slow, haunting piece coated in pulsing electronics and glassy guitars (this song will make the hardcore choke on their juice boxes). "Auctioned" is a ballad featuring beautiful piano melodies that support one of the band's most emotional performances. "ThereIn"'s ambiguous lyrics are enwrapped in an intensely burnished guitar melody, which subtly grows more intense each time it appears. The coarse vocals of the verses toggle seamlessly into the chorus' stunning clean refrain, which may eloquently describe Dark Tranquillity's changes better than anything else: "It was solid yet ever-changing | It was different and yet the same."

Many would prefer to spin _The Gallery_ another 5000 times before ever touching this album. Others may desire partaking in the experiment of _Projector_ and find it to be a worthwhile dark horse. Dark Tranquillity probably won't ever do another album like this, and I consider it a good thing that the band took the risk and did it. Change is good, right?


Superb...   June 1, 2000
Greg Hasbrouck (Jersey)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

This CD is absolutely phenomenal.

If you are unfamiliar with Dark Tranquillity, they could be described as a cross between Queensryche (Rage for Order era) and At The Gates.

Intertwining top-notch musicianship, poetic lyrics, touches of progressive metal, and the infamous "Gothenburg Sound", Dark Tranquillity's sixth CD Projector is amazing.

Mikael Stanne moves seamlessly between a traditional death metal growl, and low, melodic, somber vocals. Using untraditional phrasing, and a stream of consciousness style, Stanne's lyrics are incredible.

Johansson and Sundin create a beautiful dual-guitar sound, that changes effortlessly between the frantically paced riffs that drive this disc, to the slow, haunting melodies that make this CD unforgettable.

Anders Jivarp's drums are first-rate, and Martin Henriksson's bass playing is very solid.

All in all, this is one phenomenal CD. There are no weak tracks to be found on this offering. So far, my favorite tracks on this CD are Freecard, Therein, Undo Control (on which Johanna Andersson lends her beautiful vocals), and Day to End.

Buy this disc.


a masterpiece beyond measure   May 27, 2004
Bodom J (Bethpage, TN United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

over the last two years or so, dark tranquillity have quickly became one of my favorite all time bands. They are just so godly, they have not wrote a bad album and this is one of their best, if not their best. The Gallery was my favorite but after finally buying this (took me forever to find it and i actaully never did....ended up having to order it) this may just be my favorite one by them, ever. The song Undo Control has been played by me so many times that i'm afraid to actually know how many times, lol. It's so good, my favorite on this cd and easily one of my favorite DT songs of all time. It's got stunning beautiful female vocals, with the singer doing both his barritone vocals and "grim" vocals. There is melody lines, cruncy riffs, melodic break downs...pretty much everything you could want in a song is in this song, i love it so much.

as always, their drumming is beyond amazing. Anders Jivarp is one of my favorite drummers. He doesn't play like a regular metal drummer, he takes his time and makes intracit beats. The guitars still have good heavy metal riffs, good melodie lines, and their bass player actually matters. I really can't say enough about this cd, other than it's really really great. Yeah this has the most "clean" singing of any DT cd but it's awesome, his vocals are very unique, very deep sounding.

Day to End is a stand out for me. It's very different from anyting on this cd or anything on any of their other cds, past or present and probalby even future i'm sure. It's totally clean vocals, very laid back but it's so dark and depressing, what we have come to expect from these swedish rock stars.

THere are a TON of these so called "melodic death metal" bands from sweden an other countries and you think you have heard them all once you hear one of them. But i promise you that dark tranquillity are above and beyond melodic metal. Pick up this cd (or any of their cds for that matter) and prepare your ears for an amazing journey.


GODS   January 11, 2000
Mike (Long Beach, CA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Dark Tranquility have done nothing but outdo themselves on their new album. It's easily one of the best releases of 1999, ranking with the likes of Amorphis' "Tuonela" and In Flames' "Colony." But what really sets this apart from everything else in modern metal is the band's diversity. Picture In Flames being influenced by Sentenced and throw in a hint of recent Paradise Lost and you've got "Projector," Dark Tranquility's most awesome album ever. Songs like "FreeCard," "Undo Control," and the experimental yet still amazing "Auctioned" open new doors in the world in progressive/black/death metal. I'm sure some new bands out there are gonna listen to this and be completely amazed, just as I was, and use this as a major influence for their own work. If that's the case, I look forward to hearing that too, because "Projector" is one incredible CD and shouldn't be absent from any metal fan's collection.


THeir other masterpiece, alongside Character   June 10, 2005
jeffm
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Projector is an odd album, the singers growls are not the best, but not terribly agravating(like some metal bands have been to me at least). His clean vocals are what I can't decide on, at times they are twistedly/beatifully haunting, but at times they just get on my nerves, but overall they come off on the good side more often than the bad.

As for the musicianship its much less heavy than other Dark Tranquillity. At times they completely slow down for extended periods(a whole song at one point!) something I have not heard Dark Tranquillity do before on their other more vicious releases like Character and Damage Done.

Overall a great album that pulls out the melodic side of Gothenburg without turning out too cheesy and will keep growin on you the more you listen to it.

I decided to give Projector the perfect rating just because there are so many great parts on this album, like the guitars of "Doberman" for example, and I just keep coming back to listen to it over and over again.