Dark Tranquillity
The Gallery

Take two CDs… let's say the first one is The Gallery by Dark Tranquillity and the second is Whoracle by In Flames (since 90% of the people reading this review won't have either)…both are CDs, both are metal CDs, both are Swedish death metal CDs, both are CDs by Swedish death metal bands from the same city, both are CDs by Swedish death metal bands from the same city who in the past have swapped singers (at the beginning, Fridén was with Dark Tranquillity and Stanne with In Flames), both are the summa of both bands, however, The Gallery is a masterpiece, Whoracle is not.

The Gallery is a true propagandistic manifesto of Swedish death metal, even if interpreted in a less canonical form than that adopted by their cousins In Flames, perhaps less direct, with a more classical and truly ingenious matrix, and with a very high technical level (and contrary to Dream Theatre, here technique rhymes with emotions).

Then why linger on songs like Punish my Heaven, The Dividing Line (with a slight hint of nu-metal or nu-letam, as it might be called), but then on all the songs because each one is a little masterpiece, enriched by the splendid lyrics of Sundin and Stanne, by the fantastic, expressive growl of Stanne, perhaps the absolute best in terms of intensity, by the devastating Jivarp who, with sudden changes in tempo, always precise, as well as with some truly surgical counter-times, makes this CD memorable, by Henriksson's bass, which, strange but true, is heard very well and by the two acrobatic guitarists Sundin and Johansson, authors of truly fantastic melodies, go buy it, full stop and new paragraph.