Mikael: Var så god.

Mikael: Oh thanks.

Mikael: Kind of and also whatever’s available as well. Ja, it is important for us to kind of reach out to a lot of people, then we’ll do our own.

Karma: Okay, so how did you hook up with Opeth?

Mikael: That was actually one of those, we’ve actually known them for years and they’re [like], “You wanna go out”? and we’re like, “Sure”! We just got home from a European tour in December… [Pauses]

Karma: How did that go?

Mikael: It was a tough tour, physically.

Karma: How so?

Mikael: It was just hard work. We were so tired when we got home; we just wanted to focus on the album.

Karma: So you are in the process of writing the new one.

Mikael: Oh yes we are. I was home in my bed and I told my girlfriend, “Now I’m going to be home for a long-long time!” then I check my emails [laughs] and it’s like, “You wanna go with Opeth?” “Yes!” “It’s in three weeks”!! Then it’s like, “Oh fuck!” “Okay, let’s do it!” Yeah, that’s what happened! [Chuckles] A pretty unpredictable business!

Karma: That it is, that it is! So your “Show of Character” tour which is in conjunction with Opeth, right?

Karma: Not that you get here often anyways so who needs rest? You can always get that when you go home.

Mikael: Exactly! [Laughs] I will rest when I get home.

Karma: There you go. Are you planning on doing a full onslaught of headlining shows on your own with the next album?

Mikael: Oh ja! What we really want to do is just home and totally focus on the album, finish it, record it, and get it out there.

Karma: How far along are you in the process?

Mikael: I’ll say like musically half way through lyrically not even close but it should be good.

Karma: Any projected date or is it too early to say?

Mikael: No, no…we take our time, you what I mean. We just take the time we need.

Mikael: It wasn’t really quickly actually. It was released almost a year after it was recorded so we it took almost a year to put it together and then it took another year to get it released. I mean it took a lot of time. We rushed it in the end because we wanted to get to a deadline where we’d release the album early but for some reason we missed that so it meant the album was out like I think eleven months after it was recorded. Pretty damn frustrating for us!

Karma: I am sure it was. Hate to keep going back to touring but are their any future plans for an extensive world tour and hitting countries you’ve only been to a handful of times since your inception like Canada…

Mikael: Ja, like the first time we toured Canada was on this tour now. We’re doing like seven or eight dates and it was one of the big reasons we wanted to do this as well. We had a headlining show in Montreal the other day. It was fantastic! [Eyes brighten] It was probably one of the best shows we’ve ever done in our career. [Beams]

Karma: Awesome!

Mikael: it was good, we like Canada.

Karma: Canada loves you too…

Mikael: Yeah?

Karma: …especially according to your forum.

Mikael: Oh, okay. [Smiles] I haven’t checked it in awhile.

Karma: You should, there’s a very cool thread “1,000 things about Dark Tranquillity”. Found out some pretty cool factoids about you guys.

Mikael: Ah ha.

Karma: Are very precise in your live performance as well as the energy you emit is powerful; how do you bottle that energy to be able to bring it across in the studio?

Mikael: That’s always the hardest part because you don’t really get the energy, you know. I love rehearsing, I love being in our rooms screaming my head off and just going nuts and I love being on stage but in the studio, it’s so clean and so controlled. It’s in an environment where you can not go crazy you just have your headphones. I like it but it’s the hardest thing about the band thing because I like to go out of control and not really know where I am standing or what I’m doing and how to sing. I like that! You know, I don’t want to see the stage before I go on for instance. I just want to go up and go, “Wow! Let’s go!!” But in the studio, it’s so familiar, so simply, and so easy. I don’t like that.

Karma: That is understood. Since you are the co-forefathers of the Gothenburg Sound and are the longest standing band in the genre as pointed out on your website, how does it feel to be at forefront of genre and inspire countless amounts of other bands yet remain right underneath the commercial radar? Atop of things, I personally think you are very underrated.

Mikael: [Smiles] Well underrated is better than being overrated. We never really cared about the way we were perceived you know, we just want to make music that we love, music that really mattered to us, that’s all that matters. We’re pleasing ourselves and having the best time possible. We’re not in it for the money, we’re not in it for the success, we’re in it ‘cause we love music, we love art, and that stuff that we do.

Karma: You know what, it really shows.