Dark Tranquillity
Damage Done

THE REVIEW

The death metal is dead.

Long live death metal. Because if it's true that the genre between the '80s and '90s wasn't exactly living its golden moment, it's also true that, like in every good fairy tale, it was precisely in those years that the charming prince arrived, bearing the name of Dark Tranquillity.

"Damage Done" is not a "normal" death metal album; "Damage Done" is pure poetry mixed with terrifying rage, with unheard-of ferocity.

Riffs straddling between groove and classic heavy metal that crush your soul, keyboards that weave introspective and melancholic musical patterns, and a rhythmic section as precise as a Swiss watch, powerful as a Van Damme kick in the ass and never predictable.

It begins as well as it possibly could: "Final Resistance" is a track that leaves no escape for the listener, a musical bone-crusher with a mature and personal growl from vocalist Mikael Stanne that sends shivers down your spine, with lyrics poised between philosophy and mythology.

The album never misses a beat, never a note out of place, never a dull moment, and songs like "Monochromatic Stains" or "The Treason Wall" immerse us in a world soaking with melancholy and decadence, with anger and horror.

A particular mention goes to "Cathode Ray Sunshine" and "Format C: for Cortex" for their more prog structure and for the keyboard/guitar interplays that are like acacia honey to the ears of those who, in the golden years of Maiden, Sabbath, Sister of Mercy, and Morbid Angel, dreamed of a mix of these so distant genres and now with Dark Tranquillity so close...

A marvelous album, that pierces your heart, that inebriates you to the point of almost moving you to tears.

The damage is done. Death metal is resurrected. Long live death metal. Long live Dark Tranquillity.