I know its not trance but has anyone ever heard of them before?

They are part of the NWOSDM(New Wave of Swedish Death Metal) movement that started 10 years ago and the groups that are part of it (In Flames, Children of Bodom, Dark Tranquillity, Paradise Lost(Sort of)) have all experimented with melodic synthetic beats with guitar riffs intermingled into their tunes.

I personally think Dark Tranquillity has far surpassed the other groups that are in their sub-Genre of metal in quality and work. Any thoughts from others around here?

I've heard of them. I enjoyed a couple of their tracks incl. "Not Built to Last" & "Senses Tied" but for the most part their not my type of metal band. I can't really comment on the quality of their productions as I'm still learning to differentiate between different metal sub-genres. But I do like the band "Mercenary" and I think they would fall under the description you gave. I would suggest their newest album - "The Hours that Remain" if you think you might look into them. They use synthesized melodies in some of their productions that resemble some trance a little.

Last edited by snowboarder45 on Nov-07-2007 at 07:54

Only Dark Tranquility song I've heard is Terminus, and I think it's great.

I enjoy the occasional symphonic metal band as well and really liked both of the suggestions here. Not a huge fan of the vocalist with Dark Tranquility as it seems to overwhelm the music imho, but Mercenary was a really good listen, thanks snowboarder

If you haven't heard of them before, I highly recommend checking out this one group called Nightwish. It's definitely metal based, but they have a fantastic sound and their keyboardist is amazing. Probably their most striking feature though is that their ex-main singer Tarja is female and has opera training. Her voice fits perfectly with the music, and it might be something you'd like to check out. Some songs in particular: "Dark Chest of Wonders", "Nemo", "Wishmaster" and "I wish I had an Angel".

They recently replaced Tarja with a new lead, and her voice isn't quite as powerful as Tarja's but it's still beautiful to listen to (think more Evanesence). I saw them in concert in Toronto 2 weeks ago and their new CD is a great purchase (Amaranth is the feature song if you want to check it out).