''Projector'' (stylized : projector, or on the reissue p.r.o.j.e.c.t.o.r.) is the fourth studio album by Swedish

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

band

Dark Tranquillity Dark Tranquillity is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gothenburg. They are considered one of the pioneering acts of the Gothenburg metal scene, which also includes bands such as In Flames and At the Gates. Dark Tranquillity is regarded a ...

Lineup change

In January 1999, with the album recorded months prior, and its release months ahead, Fredrik Johansson and Dark Tranquillity mutually split. It was due to Johansson wanting to focus more on being a father, meaning he couldn't tour with the band. Johansson didn’t want to leave his family anymore and he wanted to keep a

day job Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any other ...

as opposed to the difficulties of being in the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

. There were mutually no hard feelings between both parties, but with all of Johansson's reasons, the band still saw it as a lack of commitment to Dark Tranquillity as well. The album marks the last release with Johansson. With difficulties always finding a new guitar player, a switch then occurred in the band when Johansson's empty guitarist position was then taken the band's bassist

Martin Henriksson Hans Martin Knut Henriksson (born 30 October 1974) is a former Swedish musician best known for his work with death metal band Dark Tranquillity and was one of the original members, and the main songwriter for the band until he left them in 2016. ...

, who was reluctant at the time to do the switch, due to his belief of being an average guitar player, but still went on to do so. To take Henriksson's bassist position, the band hired Michael Nicklasson. Lastly, since the album included a lot of piano, keyboards and electronics and the band wanting it to become an integral part of the band's later sound, the band also hired an additional full-time member, Martin Brändström as their first keyboardist ever to complete the new lineup to tour for the album. With the lineup, they played live bonus tracks of the reissue of this album and filmed a music video for "ThereIn".

Style

''Projector'' marked a noteworthy progression in the band's style, featuring piano and clean guitar work akin to that of

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy met ...

. Vocalist

Mikael Stanne Bengt Mikael Stanne (born 20 May 1974) is a Swedish musician, best known as the vocalist and one of the lyricists (as well as a former rhythm guitarist) for the Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity. Since the departure of origina ...

's prevalent use of clean vocals differentiated this release from their previous work. Because of its deviation from the band's previous efforts, ''Projector'' was met with a mixed reception by longtime fans, but it also attracted a fair number of new listeners.

Track listing

Release history

The limited edition

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

includes the bonus track "Exposure". However, there were problems with the pressings because not all the digipaks include "Exposure" and there are some traditional releases that include the track. The Japanese version of the album has different cover art and includes a booklet with more photos and biographical information. The 2009 reissue has digitally remastered audio.

Credits

Dark Tranquillity

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vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

; lyrics, image editing and layout *

Niklas Sundin Niklas Sundin (born 13 August 1974 in Gothenburg, Sweden) is a musician of the band Mitochondrial Sun, but was best known as the founding lead guitarist of band Dark Tranquillity (1989–2020). He was also one of the guitarists in the band Laethora ...

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lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

; cover artwork and inlay * Fredrik Johansson –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

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bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

; rhythm guitar (UnDo Control (Live) & ThereIn (Live)) * Anders Jivarp −

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Production

*Johan Carlberg − photography *Göran Finnberg – mastering (at The Mastering Room) *Ulf Horbelt – remastering

On "ThereIn" (Live)

*Andrew Pardo – engineering *

Tue Madsen Tue Madsen (born 1969) is a Danish music producer and sound engineer, who is well known in metal genre for his work with bands like Meshuggah, Dark Tranquillity, Suicide Silence, Hatesphere, The Haunted, Mnemic, Ektomorf, Cataract, Exmortem ...

– mixing, mastering *Alberto Rosetto – recording *Mario Struglia – recording

Additional musicians

*Fredrik Norstrom – keyboards, piano, arrangements (6) *Johanna Andersson – co-vocals (3) *Michael Nicklasson − bass (UnDo Control (Live)) *Daniel Antonsson – bass (ThereIn (Live)) *Martin Brändström − keyboards and electronics (UnDo Control (Live) & ThereIn (Live))

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Projector (Album) Dark Tranquillity albums Century Media Records albums 1999 albums Albums recorded at Studio Fredman