Dark Tranquillity's 'The Gallery' and In Flames' mini album 'Subterranean' (also 1995) are two first slabs of Swedish melodic death metal I ever got to hear (and so-called Gothenburg metal, you know the story). I was hooked, to put it mildly. Both of them being great classics nowadays, many times more or less mimicked, never truly outdone. At least not in my world of metal. Melodic death metal genre itself might be seen lame by those who want the brutalest of brutal, yet the genre is no less metal at its best. Those were the days...

Metal as fuck is what this is. This might be no perfect combination of melodies and brutality, because this is outdone in both fields, but this is a very individual one. The melodiousness plays bigger role on 'The Gallery'. Both guitarists play a lot of lead guitar, maybe more than rhythm riffage. Substantial meandering of compositions might be blinding at first, but I believe, that hooks that are thrown at listener at high velocity should easily sink deep into brain. Tempos change from slow heaviness to fast speed blast beating, like roller coasters. While the songs are shorter when compared to the debut ('Skydancer' from 1993), they also are much tighter yet more crammed. Changes from calm acoustics into tornado-like, listener-spinning attacks are not a rarity on this album. These all sound like they are thoroughly thought out, so well is this music composed. One big part of this are folk elements (maybe some baroque, too), playing vital role here, as well as Nordic melancholy. Dark Tranquillity is not so death metally, though. They perform metal, taking a lot influences from many subgenres (heavy, speed etc.). While being down to earth, somehow this sounds otherworldly at times, too, granting one of the greatest listening experiences for me, ever. There's some keyboards, but they're well done and do not bring anything down. The lyrics are poetic, and so is the music.

Guys' playing is great, for sure. Everybody is everywhere for a great deal of time yet the band knows the power of simplicity and use it, if rather seldom. Lately I've found this "virtuosity without showing off" a bloody great thing (like Helloween, for example). Very playful yet comprehensible for me, who only hits skins. Interplay of the guitarists Fredric Johansson and Niklas Sundin is seamless. The bassist Martin Henriksson and the drummer Anders Jivarp provide tight basis, which at same time is also experimental. The sound is good for it's time and every instrument is well heard. It is quite heavy, thanks to rhythm crew, since guitars are usually playing higher notes. Michael Stanne's (also did vocals for In Flames debut album 'The Lunar Strain' [1994]) vocals are brutal. His malevolent growl is truly individual one, more theatrical than before and easily recognizable. A few lines of clean singing is heard, a nice touch and also very individual. Female vocals, which are used on a few songs, are bloody powerful. Lyrics are anything from personal to universal, every listener can make one's own conclusions. Kristian WÃ¥hlin's cosmic cover art is the final plating on this album full of most precious metal.

In the past I seemed to think, that the first five songs are the best and after those, some less excellent music was heard. Longer I experienced the album, more wonderful it sounds throughout. Be that as it may, it is a rare occasion when I've heard an album beginning with such a powerful quintet. 'The Gallery' is an infinite classic. Every metal music fan should check this album out, without any prejudices for this maybe being "un-metal" like a lot of today's Gothenburgers.

Rating: 10- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
11/29/2003 22:09