The Gallery

The Gallery is the second album on which DARK TRANQUILLITY precisely bound the texture of raw death metal to guitar melody full of desolation, presenting one ideal form of Gothenburg melodic death. From this record Mikael Stanne took over vocals, and his roar keeps a real emotional heat within the cold sonic image. The exchange of melody between the guitars of Niklas Sundin and Fredrik Johansson is the lifeblood of the record, perfecting here the band’s method of housing ferocity and beauty together. The fusion of lyrical twin-guitar harmony and aggressive riffing became a standard for the genre thereafter. With the drive of the signature “Punish My Heaven,” the stately title track “The Gallery,” and the wide swings between quiet and violent on “Lethe” and “Silence, and the Firmament Withdrew,” the outline of the melody is never lost even in the fast songs, as layers of keyboard and guitar build deep space. The closing flow from “Mine Is the Grandeur...” into “...of Melancholy Burning” is also striking. The constructive beauty in which melody and aggression coexist as equals had a decisive influence on the whole scene. It is a monumental masterpiece, indispensable to any account of melodic-death-metal history.