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Rating: An overwhelming drum, constantly evolving guitar riffs, and the acid scream of the superb Mikael Stanne that imposes itself on the ears of a listener who cannot remain indifferent... This is how the supreme masterpiece of Melodic Death Metal begins, this is how "Punish My Heaven" begins... And right from the first track, we can notice the progressive, reflective, and introspective inserts like the clean part and a small, delightful folk interlude. It is precisely these "unusual" characteristics, combined with linear, granite riffs (of black and death origin) and an aggressive and "overbearing" drum (which can be appreciated right from the attack of Punish My Heaven) that allowed these Swedes to carve out a niche in my heart. Without a doubt, Dark Tranquillity manages to mix fury and melody with class, never tiring the listener.
After the explosive "Punish My Heaven", we find ourselves in front of another little gem, slow and direct at the same time, whose words, pure poetry, ladies and gentlemen, almost move me... Try reading the words of "Silence, And The Firmament Withdrew" while listening, and you will be totally immersed in a special Nordic atmosphere. On the other hand, these can only be the irresistible dark and magical atmospheres that Dark Tranquillity manages to recreate using their magnificent music full of contaminations and texts immersed in a vast dreamlike ocean.
But it's after "Silence, And The Firmament Withdrew" that the second real gem of The Gallery, "Edenspring", arrives. This third track, characterized by a sensual crescendo of aggression and astonishing virtuosity, is another example of the mastery and impeccable style of Stanne and company. A few words must be said about Stanne, as it is not easy to find in the vast metal scene a singer who can naturally marry moments of scream (hard, sharp, and without frills) and moments of precious and splendid clean vocals.
The fourth track, "The Dividing Line", passes a little unnoticed (or rather, it wouldn't be too appreciated by my pretentious ears), which I consider a bit of the "misstep" of the work. Needless to say, "The Dividing Line" did not particularly impress me as it is included in an album that, as a whole, is clearly superior to it. Perhaps, however, if I had extracted it from the "winning pot" and therefore NOT judged it as a whole, I wouldn't have denigrated it so much, nor would I have said that it borders on mediocrity and that it is verbose (even with some truly unwise almost-NU riff).
Due to their similar structure (perhaps a little linear but absolutely enjoyable), three other emblems of Melodic Death Metal are included: "The One Brooding Warning", "Midway Through Infinity", and... "The Emptiness From Which I Fed", which stands out in the general panorama of the album thanks to perfect riffs that "do not lose heart" in a good 5:43 minutes and that wrap the listener, leaving him, as tradition dictates, bewildered and intoxicated at the same time.
Deliberately, I skipped what I consider the highest points of The Gallery, true pillars, songs whose structures are anything but linear. In the eponymous "The Gallery" (the third gem, most fitting to bear the name of the album), there are volatile notes that become direct and sharp from caressing, Stanne's scream full of rage and pain, and a sweet female voice that further enriches and refreshes the sound of this little gem. Moreover, how can one remain indifferent to a masterful solo gifted to us by Niklas Sundin?
Then... "Lethe"... my absolute favorite, and also the song that involved me the most emotionally. The lovely, slow, and heartbreaking folk melody is almost "violently" disrupted by brutal riffs, fascinating and full of pathos. The lyrics and the general atmosphere expressed by this unmissable episode of the album are endowed with a great feeling and rich in so much, so much pathos.
As sweet as it is majestic, the brief breath of "Mine Is The Grandeur"... characterized by a sober and irresistible acoustic guitar, to connect us with great agility to the last masterpiece of the album.
Certainly not the most beautiful piece but... "Of Melancholy Burning" seemed the perfect piece (hmm... or maybe "Lethe" placed at the end might have made me enjoy it a little more?) to conclude an almost perfect record. It contains everything we have been able to hear in previous tracks: inexhaustible and touching scream, that sweet and rhythmic female voice that had made so many dream in the title track, wicked and melodic riffs at the same time, and delightful folk pauses. And what about the last moving, completely acoustic seconds that leave the listener definitively satisfied, fulfilled and ecstatic but saddened because this ocean of warm emotions is over...
An undeniable masterpiece, ladies and gentlemen, and it must be said when great music becomes pure emotion and gets into your veins. Dark Tranquillity succeeded with this most precious work. Indeed.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Punish My Heaven (04:46)
We are the outstretched fingers
that seize and hold the wind...
The strangeness of awekening
is an oh so silent world
Breathlessly waiting
for the first proud beams of light
As the hours grow longer
and the shadows never fall
My sky has forsaken me
My desperation grows
Bring me the light
in the darkness that never ends
the dawn will never come
punish my heaven
that's right
you will suffer my punishment
We have arrived
at the outermost crossroads
The charge of cosmos
at our atmospheric skies
will cause our fall
If I had wings, would I be forgiving?
If I had horns,
would there be flames to shy my smile?
Hymns of loss are heard
from the masses in the streets
Praising the last of days
I punish
Bring me the night
in the fires that never end
The dawn will never come
Punish me heaven
The charge of cosmos
Charging at us from unearthly distance
I challenge the universe
It's the choice between heaven and hell
My soul bears all the weight of mountains
As mankind weaves its silent end
Can there be no forgiveness?
I curse the heaven above me
As the light sinks through
my outstretched fingers
Fading in my open arms
Make each tear in my bare hands
a lifetime in hell
On this last day of light
when our autumn leaves fell
And as heaven itself commands me
our of its lair
My face lined with darkness I'll go!
03 Edenspring (04:30)
Time conceals itself in error
When all is turned to lie
Oh blissful rapture flee from me
The liquid light shares its grandeur
The spring of Eden shall never run dry
Creation holds its breath
Tomorrow is no friend of mind
Drench logic - Drench judgement
Awake - Every sense is new
For we know no tomorrow
And yesterday appears in fragmented form
What now must burn
Shall with newfound strength emerge
Drift my eyes
Bacchi gates bid me welcome
Drench logic
Drench judgement
So drink from the fountain everlasting... drown
With these eyes the land can no longer deceive us
He cried into nothing with the voice of his soul
New logic brought upon the remains of his land
The land deceives
Bacchi gates bid me welcome
Drench logic - Drench judgement
Awake - Every sense is new
For we know no tomorrow
And yesterday appears in fragmented form
04 The Dividing Line (05:01)
Strangelove
Dance the dividing line
We shall burn the earth
We shall burn our lives
For the tallest tree shall battle most
The wind it leaves the week behind
The storm that you've denied me
Shall force your world to fall
Your castles made to tremble
With foundations based upon a lie
The storm that you've denied me
Sweep the undivided truth
His mind shall not of thoughts be tempted
Nor words can heal his bleeding scars
We must burn our minds
Colours collide with the world of his beliefs
Bring back the storm of distant years
Tumbling, trembling as there is no waking up
There is no dividing line as logic now fails
Stream upwards, rage against them all
Speak of words hidden in your song
Mere mortals strive for length in numbers
There is no dividing line
As the writer defies the empty page
The empty mind its feed shall seek
Pass on to the frail and mindless
Now what sanity discards
The storm shall sweep the weak of heart
And tear your castles down
Crush the very foundations
On which your faith is based
Torn across the dividing line
05 The Gallery (04:07)
The gallery
Come and dance through my vanity's halls
Welcome to my exhibition
Ornaments fall
The fate of my art, condemned
And the creative seed
That grows to the tune of the harvest song
Embody my lifelong passion
Intertwine with the structures of my art
Those empty frames staring at me
One lonely portrait covers the lovestarved canvas
In honour of the birthless rebellion within me
Every picture holds a tale
Every shade tells of a thousand words
The artistry of living chaos
Is pictured in the poets tears
Because everything burns
The final concept
Is all but a thought away
Be gone, you foul enchantress of decay!
My thoughts and words will come to right
In my chamber where chaos conveys
Kneel down to my desire
Deep in the vaults of my carnal agony
Emptiness! Orchestration through colours
The gallery
To never return to my guidance
Burning my art
06 The One Brooding Warning (04:14)
Devoid of life
Far from the strengthening force
From which it feeds
The unbroken silence swear allegiance to thee
Behold the answers that darkness sets free
Freedom beyond the enslavement
Never let loose upon the world
Con we forgive the enchanter that
Dance beyond the skyline dark
The stains of fire, the one begotten ancestor
To one of far greater strength
Starvation divine
For he shall stand no taller than the flames
That is his feed
Let us not go gently
Into the endless winternight
We are but strangers
Acting on our fragmentary perception
Perception is the lie of the misled
Things are not what they appear
So swear by your deception
There shan't be fire, nor shall the flame
Quench the desire to reign
With fear of its dawning
Appears now in sight
The one brooding warning
Stand clearer than night
Devoid of life
Far from the strengthening force
From which it feeds
The unbroken silence swear allegiance to thee
Behold the answers that darkness sets free
Freedom beyond the enslavement
Never let loose upon the world
Con we forgive the enchanter that
Dance beyond the skyline dark
There shan't be fire, nor shall the flame
Quench the desire to reign
With fear of its dawning
Appears now in sight
The one brooding warning
Stand clearer than night
07 Midway Through Infinity (03:30)
Wings of fire burn the night
Slumbering eyes their flares shall greet
Let the past cling on its futile self
And may the present rush for the future's glare
Grave to cradle
Cradle to grave
So infinity clash
Grave to cradle
Cradle to grave
In twofold matter
Two forces gone full circle
Never shall one of the other grow fond
Join me, the time is upon us
He spoke and in fury we flew
Far beyond the limits of time
Disown the borders of life itself
Crafted and moulded all in one form
Split up and scattered in the world that we own
Grow towards me
Beknight the strength of the symbiosis
Backwards striving
Counterparts with different eyes have observed
Of time unconditional
Grave to cradle
Cradle to grave
So infinity clash
Grave to cradle
Cradle to grave
In twofold matter
Tell of days to come
Tomorrow remembered
Your yesterday, my future
Recollection of the day
Delusions cast where dead trees sway
The sabre that separates
Is the candle that burns both ends
Born from death you now confront me
Back to death with my life I take you
Die more with each movement of mine
08 Lethe (04:42)
Lethe,
give me to drink of the fluid
that disintegrates
and lend me the sweet balm and blessing
of forgetfulness, empty and strong
Hold me near, unravel the stars
as I speed through the heavens,
speed through the night
for you are my blade and my rope,
you are my
Lethe
In currents of cobalt
you storm through my heart
to sever, to puncture
the memories that burn
Let sweep through the arteries
in sharp stabs of pain
your talonlike fingers to kill me again
steal me, invademe and charge me again
for I burn and I shudder,
burn wit each movement of
So, cleansed through a floodlight
I appear, ,reforged and renewed
caressed by the sweet balm and blessing
of forgefulness, empty and strong
Lethe,
Hold me near, my one friend and guide
as I drown through your fingers,
drown through your love
for you are the life that I hate
you are my
Lethe
Drag me down in passionate sighs
with the ocean above me
and flames in my eyes
and grant my a life I can live
without...
Take me away...
Take me away...
From the life that I hate
11 ...of Melancholy Burning (06:13)
Jackal, aches for pain beyond me
Bestiality beckons - The anger set free
For there is no pain greater than thine
For there is no gain but the fury inside
Desolated since derived
Torn screaming from the gaping wound
Always be cherished
The grandeur of melancholy
Outward reprisal
Swear by your throne
Fallen words shall grieve thee
The grandeur of melancholy
Frailty, thy name is weakness
Vengeance, thy name is pain
Storm through the still glowing night
Ember eyes beyond reason shall see
Flee from the safety of the sheltering sky
See all but logic, so vengeance shall be
The grandeur of melancholy burning... oh burning
Charge into uncertainty's promised land
Always and never
Your are the nail
Cursed, cursed
Oh essence of the night guide me
Cursed, cursed
Oh sweet revenge heal me
Frailty, thy name is weakness
Vengeance, thy name is pain
The nail
Jackal, aches for pain beyond me
The storm that now grabs me
Is the storm of my soul
For there is no pain greater than mine
For there is no gain but the fury inside
Once so bereaved
And ever so suppressed
Charge and split up the anger
Wake up the jackal
Let out his wrath
Always and never
He spoke of his pain
Always and never
You are the nail
Always be cherished
The grandeur of melancholy
Always and never
You are the nail
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Other reviews
By wwwhatemoornet
The Gallery is a true propagandistic manifesto of Swedish death metal.
Go buy it, full stop and new paragraph.
By The Guitarist
The Gallery: the epitome of the Gothenburg sound and unequivocally in the top five heavy metal of all time.
Listening to music is the deepest pleasure a man can indulge in over his lifetime; it is what nourishes his existence when the other great pleasure, love, becomes unattainable.
