365 Days of Metal: Genre Definers, Gothenburg Part III

Part III, and the final entry of my Genre Definers look on Gothenburg, following Part I on At The Gates, and Part II last week on In Flames.

Day 64
 
Dark Tranquility - The Gallery

Artist Origin: Gothenburg, Sweden
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Label: Osmose
Running Time: 48 minutes
Release Date: November 27, 1995 

Best Part: The Gallery's closing tracks, Mine is the Grandeur ...of Melancholy Burning is the perfect finish to the record, incorporating every element of the Gothenburg sound. 

Favorite Tracks: Mine is the Grandeur, ... of Melancholy Burning, Midway Through Infinity, Lethe, Punish My Heaven, and The Gallery 

Grade: 5

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The Gallery in not even close to 20 words or less:

One of the masterpiece records of the year, and the era - Dark Tranquility's first release with Mikael Stanne at the helm is one of melodic death metals unrivaled masterworks.

The Band:

Dark Tranquility is a six piece melodic death metal band from Sweden and alongside In Flames, holds the longest tenure among the progenitors of the Gothenburg metal scene. Dark Tranquility was founded in 1989 by vocalist and guitarist Mikael Stanne and guitarist Niclas Sundin, although under the name Septic Broiler. After the release of their first demo in 1990, the band which now also comprised bassist Martin Henriksson, drummer Anders Jivarp and future In Flames vocalist Anders Friden, would eventually change their name to Dark Tranquility, releasing their debut Skydancer in 1993. When Anders left the band after the release of Skydancer, Mikael Stanne would take on full-time duties as the bands vocalist and has done so until this day. The departure of Anders sparked some minor changes to the group that ended up creating one of the masterpiece records of the era, their sophomore release The Gallery. It would wind up influencing all of Dark Tranquility's future releases, and would remain cemented as one of the trio of records that would define the Gothenburg style, and help shape the future of melodic death metal.

Dark Tranquility's other releases include: Skydancer (1993), The Gallery (1995)The Mind's I (1997), Projector (1998), Haven (2000), Damage Done (2002), Character (2005), Fiction (2007), and We Are the Void (2010) 

Jay's Take on The Gallery:

The Gallery featured notable differences from the bands debut, Skydancer that reached beyond the change in vocalists from Anders to Mikael, but all of these small changes did not alter the base sound from which the band worked from. Using the key elements of the genre, but also the gothenburg style that they helped put on the map, The Gallery features great dual lead guitar work, acoustic melodies and interludes, the unhindered growls of Stanne and timely use of guest vocals by Eva-Marie Larsson on three tracks. The release of The Gallery helped spearhead Dark Tranquility's popularity among the melodic death metal scene and would eventually denote them as one of the cornerstone pioneering groups of the genre.

Dark Tranquility would go on to incorporate more changes to their sound with future releases, introducing new elements on the releases of Projector and Haven, having electronic pads, clean sung vocals, and the foregoing of the dual lead guitars for more clean guitar and piano. While this brought in some new and drove away some old fans, their amazing 2002 release Damage Done would heal many wounded former fans by incorporating the best of their newer elements with the vintage feeling that was prominent in The Gallery - a testament to its long-standing influence.

Sample of the Day:

The last Gothenburg double-header - and it's a good one.





- J