Customer Reviews

Damage Done

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sweden's dense roster of metal bands have been unleashing some of the best metal in the world for years now, and this year is no exception. Along with Soilwork's _Natural Born Chaos_, 2002 has another stunning release - Dark Tranquillity's _Damage Done_. Even with a cursory listen, being impressed is unavoidable. Dark Tranquillity's musical fettle has always placed them at the forefront of the Swedish metal movement, and this release promises to put some distance between them and their worthy peers.

Equal parts vicious and melodic, _Damage Done_ is a concrete force of heavy songwriting that achieves a good deal of musical depth within its 45 minute length. Razor-sharp guitar harmonies slice through the dense riffing, keyboards hover around the edges, and Mikael Stanne's fierce, flesh-blistering vocals. There is an unfortunate onus surrounding metal intimating that it cannot be melodic, but Sweden can make the difference - Dark Tranquillity especially.

Unlike old In Flames' major-key guitar harmonies, however, Dark Tranquillity has achieved a different sort of melodic attribute. Over top chunky riffing and aggressive percussion, Stanne's vocal performances are surprisingly irresistible (as they have always been), and the keyboard-guitar interplay stands out as particularly ear-catching. "Hours Passed in Exile" is just remarkable as a feast of melodic rapture, with brilliant synth accents and a gloomy heaviness. "Monochromatic Stains" evokes speed metal but also integrates keyboard-enhanced melodic explorations (and depending on the edition you pick up, you can see the ultra-cool video). "Ex Nihilo" is a shivery instrumental recalling the more quieter passages of _Projector_ and _Haven_, illuminated by shadowy keys. In "Cathode Ray Sunshine", Dark Tranquillity deploys glorious guitar cries adjoining somber synth textures with whip-crack rhythms - plus the song has some of the most beautiful melodies I've heard in any metal song. The gauntly evocative "The Enemy" pulses like a dying star and carries the same sadness in those dolorous melodies. For a metal song, or whatever else, it's gorgeous.

All throughout, there is a dark drama in the lyrics and overall tone. The album is polished in the vein of the amazing _Haven_ but this time the melancholy seems more pronounced with a heavier, less subdued backbone. Powerful vocals, songwriting, and production are all on Dark Tranquillity's side for _Damage Done_ - if you buy only one metal album in 2002, strongly consider this one.

(And yes, this band has paid its dues. Accept no substitutes!)

A mere week after its release, "Damage Done" has already assumed a prominent spot among my favorites of the new millenium. Simply put, it's an outstanding synthesis of what's come before, showing influences of classic metal, prog metal, thrash, and death metal. The playing is extremely tight, and a diversity of sounds and frequent time changes keeps things from ever getting boring. If this is a direction that metal will be going in in coming years, I'll be pretty damn happy.
Opener "Final Resistance" is a perfect mood-setter, a rousing speed-metal number with riffs and drums that would do Megadeth proud, complemented by a killer melodic chorus. "Hours Passed in Exile" has a melodic lead guitar line effotlessly woven into the verses, with some keyboard touches thrown in for atmosphere. "Monochromatic Stains," ironically, is anything but monochromatic, as it's chock full of tempo changes, careening back and forth between melody and all-out aggressiveness. "Treason Wall" slows things down bit initially, but it's still plenty heavy, with menacing vocals from Stanne, and it breaks into a thrashy sound in the chorus. The title track brings the album back into the thrash sound, as it's perhaps the fastest song to be found here. "The Enemy" is perhaps my personal favorite on "Damage Done," though, as it seems to exemplify everything that makes the album great. It starts out as a midtempo, heavy-as-hell basher, but then abruptly shifts into a soft melodic passage highlighted by almost-gentle keys and lead guitar work before reverting to the metallic sound again.
As my review should have indicated by now, the band seems intent on not sticking with one sound for too long, as each song goes through a myriad of changes. There are plenty of catchy
Swedish-style riffs, but there are also some terrific twin guitar harmonies, and lofty leads and keys are used tastefully and to great effect. "Damage Done" showcases how much a band can achieve through little things like solid musicianship and songwriting, two elements that all genres of music could use more of. This may be my first Dark Tranquility album, but it won't be my last.

Back in 1999, Sweden's Dark Tranquillity released "Projector" to much critical acclaim and was rewarded with a Swedish Grammy nomination. Dark Tranquillity had always been a leader in the Gothenburg metal scene, but fans were spurned by the change in style seen on "Projector": the clean singing, the greater presence of female vocals and electronic/piano parts. 2000 saw the band release "Haven," which was better received, but still not satisfying to the die hard fans, as the clean singing and a lot more electronics were still present.

Now comes "Damage Done." The band secluded themselves and deprived themselves of sleep until it was completed. It's a wonder what sleep deprivation and seclusion will do for a band, because what resulted is an amazing album. Gone is the clean singing and female vocals. Less attention is paid to the programming. It doesn't seem as forced as it did on the two previous albums, and it flows perfectly with each song. Still present is the melody, beauty, and overall great song writing that has become expected from DT. "Damage Done" is the perfect blend of all the good things about "Projector" and "Haven." This, along with the Crown's "Crowned in Terror," is the essential Swedish death metal album of the year; it is the album In Flames and Soilwork wishes they could have released.

I've been a metal fan since the early 80's. Starting about 1990, I decided it was essential to have a "Metal Rescue Disk" (a tape at the time, but now a disk) on hand at all times.

On this Rescue Tape/Disk, which accompanies me on all road trips and other places where I might find myself without access to my collection, I place ~80 minutes of the best -- and ONLY the absolute best -- metal songs I've ever come across.

Each time a new song cracks into the 80 minutes-worth of best music I've ever heard, I destroy the old recording (I know: shame on me. But it's a ritual; what can I say?), and immediately make a new one, retaining as many of the Old Classics as possible, while making room for the new song. This happens about once every couple years. At most. Genuine classics come about that infrequently, so I don't take this process lightly.

After just a couple listens, the 4 or so minutes of "Monochromatic Stains" has earned a place among the best 80 minutes of metal I've ever heard. Less than a week after buying "Damage Done," I took the 20-lb sledge to the old Rescue Disk and created a new one, adding this track, and bumping Slayer's "Angel of Death," which had been with me since the beginning.

"Damage Done" is worth the price of the disk for this track alone. The amazing thing is that the remaining tracks are all nearly as strong. There is not a weak moment on the album, and in its strongest moments, I place it among the Legends. That is higher praise than I could give it in a thousand words of musical description. Easily the best album I've purchased in 2002.

There have been a lot of metal bands recently that have tried to expand their sound while doing the same with their fanbase in the process. Unevitably, this ends in much of their original fans crying sellout and swearing off said band. On this album, Dark Tranquility provide the blueprint for pulling this move off without sacrificing your musical integrity in the process. A full on synthesized aspect has been integrated into their sound, with complete and utter success in my opinion. To me, this band personifies the Gothenburg sound more than anyone. They may not receive the accolades of say, In Flames, but they have managed to stay true to the sound throughout their entire career. A lot of people point to At the Gates as the fathers of this sound, and rightfully so. However, after listening to ATG - Slaughter of the Soul next to In Flames - Soundtrack to your Escape and this album, it is painfully obvious who carries the torch for this genre. This album, in glowing Dark Tranquility standard fashion, is both undeniably melodic and unrelentingly heavy at the same time. I would recommend certain tracks, but its a moot point. This whole album rocks, and I mostly listen to this album straight through without bothering to see what track its on. Fans of melodic death metal, get this album. Its that simple.

Dark Tranquillity are one of the premier Swedish metal bands, and "Damage Done" is a fine example of why. While not quite as diverse as some of their previous material, this is solid songwriting, and highly addictive stuff.

Much like their sibling band, In Flames, DT started out with a much rawer, heavier sound, something arguably closer to black metal, and matured into a brilliant melodic metal band. However, unlike In Flames, they have yet to become trite and watered-down. Setting them apart is a their subtle, but excellent use of keyboards, to perfectly complement the dizzying textures of guitars. These guys can shift from powerful riffs to stunning melodies in the blink of an eye (to the uninitiated, think In Flames, with more sophisticated song structures, and add Kevin Moore on keys, and you'll have an idea). Frontman Mikael Stanne regrettably doesn't do any clean vocals here (in addition to a monstrous screamer, he's also a pretty damn good singer), but he still does a killer job.

Standout tracks include "Final Resistance", "Hours Passed in Exile", "The Treason Wall", and the beautiful instrumental closer, "Ex Nihilo", but every song here is great. This album may seem a bit repetitive on the first listen, but don't let that be the last word. This album is chock full of subtle textures and nuances that will keep you enthralled for repeated listens.

Recommended to Swedish metal lovers of all shapes and sizes. For newcomers, In Flames might be a more comfortable place to start, but this is a damn fine introduction as well.

Before I go on to make comments about this CD, I would like to say that I have been a very skeptical CD buyer for a long time. Normally, I wouldn't buy a CD after only hearing one track from the disc. After hearing "Final Resistance", I walked into a certain store and saw the last copy on the shelf. That same day, I heard the whole CD and found myself greatly impressed with this album. I should take risks more often.

Anyway, I have been listening to bands on the heavier end of the metal spectrum for years. One place that was beginning to bore me was death metal. After hearing the distinctly ugly change in Six Feet Under's sound, my fav death metal band at the time, and how terrible other groups sounded, I was beginning to lose hope in the genre. I remember hearing Dark Tranquillity a few years back, so I figured it would be worth a shot. I was right. Damage Done is a great release with plenty of heavy guitar work and music and vocals that match. Not to mention, the CD has an intensity that almost matches that of the intensity I feel everytime I hear label mates Arch Enemy and Skinlab, adding Pantera to the mix describes it to a "T". I found "Final Resistance", "Monochromatic Stains", "Cathode Ray Sunshine", and "Black and White" (I think that's the name of the track) to be the major stand out tracks on the album.

The whole CD is great and is well deserving of other metal listeners who sit on the extreme edge, like myself.

I just cannot get this album out of my CD player! I've tried and it just stubbornly keeps going right back in. Then why four stars you say? I reserve that for albums that have slowly over time become ingrained in my metal-skull and have made my personal Metal-Classic list. But Damage Done may well be on that path do not doubt! This album is a HUGE difference from the disappointment of Haven and I welcome Dark Tranquillity back to my world of good metal! This album has great mind-catching songs like the openner 'Final Resistance' and epic sounding 'Format C: For Cortex'. I think this album has a great blend and BALANCE<very important> of every instument. Nothing is to dominating. If you like melody, great riffs, and heavy vocals you'll like Damage Done! 4 stars <Maybe 5 in the future!>

This album is the best of Dark Tranquiliy's work. They are masters of Death Metal. I must warn you though, if you listen to alot of koRn, Slipknot, Disturbed, and other mainstream bands, don't listen to these people.

This is real heavy metal, and real heavy metal is most often, an aquired taste. If you listen to the bands I mentioned above, you won't be able to appreciate this art, and should probably go back to feeding yourselves with the cheap thrills of korn and linkin park.

That's all i got to say bought that.

Originally released in 2002, Damage Done was the sixth full-length studio album from Swedish melodic death metal innovators Dark Tranquillity. Picking up where At the Gates left off, Dark Tranquillity, alongside In Flames, Soilwork and Hypocrisy, took death metal in a bold new direction, adding melody as a major element and experimenting with traditional metal elements, clean vocals, and in Dark Tranquillity's case, keyboards. Lots and lots of keyboards.

Damage Done is, well, perfect. I loved their 2000 release Haven, but this is the album where Dark Tranquillity finally perfected their unique brand of melodic death metal. The band matched furious At the Gates influenced death with gothic and progressive elements, and in the process became the only band from the Gothenburg scene to actually get better in the 21st century. It's so easy to just drown in the swirling mix of thrashing riffs, atmospheric keys, riveting melodies and dark, cerebral lyrics. If you were putting together a Dark Tranquillity "best of" collection, fully half this album would need to be included. "Final Resistance", "The Treason Wall", "Cathode Ray Sunshine" and above all "Monochromatic Stains" are among the album's best songs. Even the closing instrumental "Ex Nihilo" is extremely haunting.

If you were looking for the one album that completely captured the true Dark Tranquillity sound, that album is without a doubt Damage Done. Dark Tranquillity has released some incredible albums before and since, but Damage Done is their crowning achievement. It's an absolutely essential album for Dark Tranquillity fans as well as fans of Swedish melodic death metal in general.

Edition Notes: Century Media reissued Damage Done (along with Projector and Haven) in 2009. The deluxe reissue features digitally remastered sound, a nice slipcase, expanded liner notes, and four bonus tracks. The first bonus track is the song "I, Deception" that originally appeared on the Japanese version of Damage Done. The other two Damage Done b-sides on this reissue are "Static" and "The Poison Well", which were also collected on the Exposures: In Retrospect & Denial rarities collection a few years back. The final bonus track is a live version of "The Treason Wall". As far as the sound quality goes, this version of Damage Done is definitely a lot louder, especially Michael Stanne's vocals, which sound almost like he's roaring directly into your ears. I think it's an improvement, but it does take some getting used to.