Reviews list for Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery (1995)

I have been listening to this over the last couple of days in conjunction with At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul. Both bands being instrumental in the development of what became known as "The Gothenburg Sound", the two albums were released a mere fortnight apart. I must admit that, of the two, I prefer this as there is just a bit more to interest me than with Slaughter of the Soul. A big plus for me is Mikael Stanne's vocals which I much prefer over Tomas Lindberg's. His singing style is still very aggressive, but sounds to me like it has more of a black metal flavour than a hardcore one. The riffs may be less memorable than At the Gates' best, but the guitars don't sound quite as swamped in distortion and as such pack a greater punch to my way of thinking.

The most striking thing about The Gallery, though, is the production which is a revelation. Each of the instruments can be heard distinctly and clearly, the biggest benefactor of this being bassist Martin Henriksson whose bass lines are perfectly audible and as a consequence it is easy to hear what a terrific job he does weaving his lines in with Anders Jivarp's pummelling drum patterns. It also allows us to easily distinguish between the lead work of the two guitarists and generally gives the whole album a crisper sound than is often the case with Swedish death metal. I also feel that The Gallery scores over Slaughter... in that it has more variety, with the inclusion of slower sections, acoustic parts and even female vocals to provide some contrast to the pulverising riffs. The Gallery also sees Dark Tranquility dabble a bit more with technicality than AtG, although I don't wish to overegg it, this certainly isn't tech-death, but the rhythms and leads sound more complex and technically specific than those on Slaughter of the Souls.

I don't wish to set this review up as a competition between the two albums, it has just come out like that as a consequence of my listening to them that way, comparisons between two pioneering albums of the same genre, released days apart becoming inevitable. Anyway, I'm giving it to The Gallery on a TKO. This is an album I am likely to return to again in the future for sure.

The first classic album by probably the first Melodic Death Metal band, The Gallery's release in 1995 marked the coming-of-age of a sound that had been brewing in the Swedish underground since the early 90s.

A flurry of demos and EPs from bands such as Eucharist, At the Gates, and Unanimated, in addition to Dark Tranquillity, had established a primordial version of the "Gothenburg sound"... taking the raw tremolo riff-fest of Death Metal and infusing just a dash of melody and dynamic variation, with eyes towards gothic and philosophical themes rather than horror. Many bands have since achieved success by taking that formula in various directions in the decades since, but in my opinion this release marked the moment Melodic Death Metal truly became something separate and distinct.

Building upon influences hinted at in their earlier works, Dark Tranquillity intelligently took everything differentiating them from standard Death Metal, and took them even further. The compositions became even more progressive and ambitious in every way. More intricate and technical in the fast guitar-driven parts,  juxtaposed against increased presence of simple piano, acoustic guitar, tasteful bass. More emotional, varied and understandable vocal delivery to complement the more cryptic and, frankly, epic lyrics. More complex. More melodic. And more intellectual than anything this burgeoning scene had yet produced. In short, Dark Tranquillity finally became everything that the extremity-focused Death Metal of this era wasn't. Yet, somehow, it was still sonically "Death Metal" at its bleeding heart. 

People rapidly caught on to the appeal of this juxtaposition. Remarkably, despite the explosive proliferation of the Gothenburg sound and Melodic Death Metal as a whole in the decades since, The Gallery remains notable not only for its pioneering influence but also for its sheer musical quality. Still to this day, The Gallery remains one of the gold-standards and essential listens of Extreme, Dark, and Melodic Metal alike.

Now, it's not quite a perfect album in my view, at least not from a track-by-track perspective, which is how I rate albums. Although every song is very enjoyable and captures that early-DT splendor, only about half of them ever caught on with me as regular listens in my rotation. Those songs, however (see below), are all-time favorites that I will listen to 'til I die. I just fucking love the band's sound at this moment in time and it flows so well and consistently across the album. There's a certain adventurous charm... a certain youthful passion... an emotional gravity to these songs that would never quite return in the same way after The Mind's I or Projector as the band aged and modernized. This isn't a shot at Dark Tranquillity's latter discography, which I enjoy, but they were just on something different in the 90s.

I'm just thankful I live in a universe where Mikael Stanne joined up with these guys and recorded this treat for the years. His pained, dramatic vocals and poetic lyrics are just so perfect for the sombre, bittersweet melodies Dark Tranquillity specialize in. This, right here, is the epitome of what I like to call "Prime MeloDeath". 

Essentrial Tracks: Punish My Heaven, Silence and the Firmament Withdrew, Edenspring, The Gallery, Lethe

Right up there with the best melodic death metal albums and Dark Tranquillity's finest.

Dark Tranquillity were one of the first bands to produce melodic death metal and they’ve been going strong ever since. They were certainly pioneering, not to mention brave, when they decided that what the normally brooding death metal genre really needed was some sweet melodies. But it proved a huge success almost immediately and has inspired some of the most commercially successful bands in extreme metal. Their style has twisted and turned over the years, but it has never ventured too far away from the subgenre they helped create. They don’t try to be overly brutal or morbid. They don’t try to be overly technical or experimental. They simply try to create entertaining, good music and rarely have they failed to do so in over 15 years. It could be said that they’re a safe band these days, but then it’s nice to have an outfit that can always be relied upon to produce the goods.

The Gallery was the first great Dark Tranquillity album. Their debut Skydancer wasn’t bad by any means, but it displayed a band still finding their feet. It was certainly a good effort considering how different it was to all death metal preceding it, but The Gallery was where they really hit their straps. This album has numerous classic tracks that will have you grinning madly in no time. The sound is big and clear which is perfect for their style and gives each musician plenty of room to show their wares. There is a stack of variety contained within the 11 tracks with the velocity ranging from almost ballad like tunes through to ripping death metal. Dark Tranquillity are just as likely to inject a piano interlude or female vocals as they are to launch into a shredding riff complete with blast beats. It makes for an always interesting and at times surprising experience that rewards multiple listens.

If the album has a flaw, it’s that the second half falls away after a near perfect start. By the time Punish My Heaven, Edenspring, The Dividing Line and The Gallery have blessed my eardrums I’m feeling like this album deserves nothing short of full marks. But then the last few tracks don’t manage to keep this high quality going in my opinion. There aren’t really any particularly bad moments, but The Emptiness From Which I Fed and …of Melancholy Burning are just not quite there on the brilliance level. But even with this downside, The Gallery is a damn fine album that should sit very snugly within any melodic death metal fans collection. I know the genre receives a lot of flak these days due to an infinite number of crappy clones, but I’d like to think that bands like Dark Tranquillity should be exempt from such criticism. The lack of quality in other bands can hardly be their fault now, can it?!