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Dark Tranquillity > The Gallery > Reviews > Diamhea
Dark Tranquillity - The Gallery

Come and dance through vanity's halls. - 75%

Diamhea, February 2nd, 2014

Something is going on here, mostly as a result of creative compositions packed to the brim with multiple shifts in both temper and mood. While Dark Tranquillity later streamlined their songwriting approach, the more spastic compositional style that makes albums like Skydancer so endearing is also present here on The Gallery. The lack of keyboards is still a concern, as it puts an inordinate amount of pressure on the animated leads to deliver the melodic goods. While the band's rhythm section has never been one of it's strengths, Johansson's leads are both agitated and memorable, carrying the bulk of The Gallery on their back alone.

The first four tracks are all among the band's best work. "Punish My Heaven" serves as a functional enough introduction, but it is "The Dividing Line" that makes the strongest individual case here. Tense sounding leads open up into rocking, groovy powerchords as the song transfers from style to style. What also becomes evident around this point is the busy nature of some of these tracks. It very nearly comes off as a compositional flaw at times, as the band throws just about everything except the kitchen sink into numbers like the title track and "Lethe". This doesn't necessarily come off as desperate though, since they manage to pull most of these experiments off. Some brooding, bass-driven numbers like "Edenspring" hint at future elements present on albums like The Mind's I, giving the listener a chance to catch his breath between apoplectic cuts like "Silence, and the Firmament Withdrew" and scorchers such as "The Dividing Line".

Where The Gallery begins to show thin points at the seams is during it's second half, which suffers from too many deviations from the winning formula such as the pointless instrumental "Mine Is the Grandeur...". "Midway Through Infinity" embodies the last attempt at a compact and focused song, as many of the waning moments of The Gallery feature overlong and tired compositions like the closer "...of Melancholy Burning". The aforementioned instrumental deviously builds suspense for this one, only for the entire ordeal to fall apart under the weight of it's own pretense. The female vocals come off as window dressing, distracting from the luster of the leads and Stanne's dessicated roars. Still, even the most meandering of these songs have their moments, as the band refuses to stay in place for any extended period of time.

The Gallery's production values aren't very high, which serves as both a blessing and a curse in this context. The now-legendary Nordström buries the rhythm guitar more than I would like, as Jivarp's kit overpowers much of it's surge and renders too much of the performance inert. Even during the amazing "The Dividing Line" you can tell that the song has sacrificed some of it's angry disposition along with the potency of the rhythm guitar. The rest of the band sounds passable, and as always on Dark Tranquillity's earlier albums the stronger bass presence adds a neat counterpoint to the attention-hogging leads.

While it undoubtedly serves as the one brooding warning that the band's experimental side was beginning to take over, The Gallery still holds up fairly well by virtue of it's animated leads alone. Most definitely not the all-time classic it is often lauded as, but it has it's place in history all the same.