The Gallery is the second studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity, released on 27 November 1995 by Osmose. It was the first full-length release to feature Mikael Stanne on vocals, as he was previously the rhythm guitarist. In 2004, The Gallery was re-released with a slightly different cover art and five cover songs as bonus tracks.

Songs

The song "Punish My Heaven" was preceded by the track "Yesterworld" from the A Moonclad Reflection demo and later on the Yesterworlds compilation album. On the band's live album, Where Death Is Most Alive, vocalist Mikael Stanne has stated that the song "Edenspring" is about drinking. Live versions of songs on The Gallery have been recorded for the band's live albums: "Punish My Heaven" and "Lethe" are featured on the Live Damage album. "Edenspring", "Lethe" and "Punish My Heaven" are featured on the Where Death Is Most Alive album.

Live performances

When the band plays songs from "The Gallery" live, they tune down to their usual D♭ tuning, rather than E♭ tuning, which was the tuning for this album and Haven.

Critical reception

The Gallery is considered a classic album of the Gothenburg style of metal, along with At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul and In Flames' The Jester Race, exhibiting the dual guitar leads, growled vocals and acoustic sections typical of the genre. John Serba, writing for AllMusic, wrote that the album "is a transcendent work from one of the underdogs of the genre -- a bona fide masterpiece that helped further stretch the boundaries of death metal in the '90s." This album was inducted into Decibel magazine's hall of fame in its April 2010 issue. Chris Dick, in the article accompanying the induction, stated that "no recording at the time or since bears resemblance to its power and sophistication."

Track listing

Personnel

Dark Tranquillity

Guests