Enter Suicidal Angels

Zodijackyl Light is a great simultaneously speedy, aggressive, and melodic song. It's a very strong opener and a good song choice for DT to make a video for, and repeat on the next album, The Mind's I. It's obviously the same band that made The Gallery, with melodies that are just a bit less epic and a bit more dark, and some progressive rhythms thrown in for spice. Cool. The ending is weird, it's some weird techno programming that fades in between the first track and Razorfever. But in the context it actually sounds pretty cool, and manages to be powerful and effective when the thrashy opening riff to Track 2 comes in. Razorfever even manages to have some Gallery-esque real epic leads thrown in. It definitely sounds like it could have been something off it, or the Of Chaos and Eternal Night EP. That plus the aggression makes a really great song - the clean part also sounds really awesome. Both the first two tracks are kind of new and experimental but both get a 10/10 in my book. The third track, Shadowlit Facade, continues the strength of the first two. This is a mid-paced ballad type song that, in fact, sounds like it came right of The Gallery. That's probably why it was put on this EP and not The Mind's I. Though I have not yet written a review for The Gallery - know this: sounding like it is a good thing. This song has no flaw.

Now we get to the WTF part. After those three extremely strong songs that should have been either the entire EP or a single for Zodijackyl Light or something, we hit Archetype. This is the worst Dark Tranquillity song ever made, unless they somehow get really bad in the future. But as of 2007, it's the worst. It is techno. Straight up techno, with a programmed drum beat, some stupid synthey bass and programming crap, and samples of some of Stanne's screaming from earlier songs. Now, it's kind of a fun song, and not completely unlistenable, but it is a complete bastardization of the epic beauty that is Dark Tranquillity. I am glad the most experimental they ever got was Projector, and they never went this far *shudder*. So if the EP was only three tracks, it'd get an 100. But for that last one, I have to downgrade to an 85. This is worth getting for a hardcore fan I guess, if you get it on The Mind's I re-release. Otherwise just download the first three tracks and go buy The Gallery.