Exposures: In Retrospect & Denial

Dark Tranquillity | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 15, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Century Media
• ASIN: B00024I37Q
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,469 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dark lords of Gothenburg., July 18, 2004

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exposures: In Retrospect & Denial (Audio CD)

Dark Tranquillity is by far the best "Gothenburg" (melodic death metal) band. I can't imagine why a fan wouldn't want this, unless you need the money for orange juice.

The first disc is the main treat, I say. It consists of rarities and unreleased material that is for the most part outstanding. The first seven tracks on disc one are non-album tracks from _Damage Done_, _Haven_, and _Projector_. They are all good or great, with the tracks from _Damage Done_'s sessions being particularly noteworthy: "Static" is a scintillating, aggressive and densely arranged, and "The Poison Well" (otherwise available on the Japanese version of _Damage Done_) is tight, catchy, heavy, and also includes piano. Both of these songs use synths very well -- they are one of the few bands that can use synths without making them sound truly geydar. When _Haven_ was released, some people might have wondered where all the clean vocals went. The answer they all went into "In Sight", a sorta-ballad with all clean singing by Stanne. A lot of people don't like Stanne's clean voice, and this would have been the least good song on _Haven_, but I still kind of like it -- despite Stanne's melodramatic & irritating contrived breaks in pitch -- because it has a foreboding main riff and good instrumentation all 'round, and a weeping, beautiful solo part. "Misery In Me" has heavy, chugging verses and a symphonic-metal-like chorus, rather similar to "The Same". "Cornered" has ridiculously catchy riffs and almost pop-like keyboards, which might sound awful but it's good. The _Projector_ cuts are also good: "No One" has enthralling guitar melodies both sharp and beautiful with a mixture of vocals, and "Exposures" is a fast, man-eating, galloping riff-monster that sounds only remotely related musically to _Projector_.

The other six of the songs here come from Dark Tranquillity's early _early_ days, i.e. the early 90s. This was back when Mikael Stanne still played guitar and Anders Friden (now with In Flames) did vocals. The vocals and production are pretty bad, but even so DT's early music is an utter pleasure to listen to. The intoxicating melodies, savage riffing, and thick atmosphere encapsulate all these songs with a progressive grandeur and dark beauty that was elusive to the other Gothenburg bands. Compared to later Dark Tranquillity, this is faster, more raw, and 'old-school' NWoSDM (in today's terms, since this wasn't

"old-school" when it first appeared). "Yesteryear" is a masterpiece -- one of the greatest Dark Tranquillity songs, and by extension of that, one of the ultimate metal songs in the universe. "Midwinter / Beyond Enlightenment" is also great, with its introduction composed of frosty synths and a plucked acoustic guitar figure, and the song proper is fast, aggressive, and viciously melodic. "Void of Tranquillity" has some cheesy parts but it's mostly high quality.

Disc 2, the live album, is kind of secondary to me, but good to have. Performances are excellent, the setlist great, and sound quality good. The songs are the same as the "Live Damage" DVD although, sadly, "UnDo Control" got cut to make room. "Ex Nihilo" seems like a weird way to close the set, but eh well...
Some of the songs are changed a little bit, if that's an appealing idea to you (examples include the intro to
"Lethe", rearranged for piano, and added piano parts to "Punish My Heaven" -- ya, I know it had piano parts before, but it's different now, and it adds drama to those final verses ["My soul bears all the weight of mountains as mankind weaves its silent end...can there be no forgiveness?"]).

If you've never heard Dark Tranquillity before, this isn't the disc to get. (it's not a "best of", y'know) You should immediately purchase _The Gallery_ and _Damage Done_, two of the crowning achievements in Swedish metal.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another amazing dark tranquillity release, June 26, 2004

By 

Bodom J (Bethpage, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Exposures: In Retrospect & Denial (Audio CD)

well, they got a new offical studio album coming out later this year. but until then, they give us this two cd set of material.

Disk one is 12 songs that were previously unreleased song, songs availabe on rare imports, and songs from their first few demos (and yes these songs have been remastared and they are not demo songs, full length songs). Tracks 1 through 7 feature the line up we all know and love. Tracks 8 through 12 feature the in flames singer on vocals and their current singer on guitar. that was their lineup during their demo days. Anders sounds more black metal than he ever has in flames.

Disc 2 is their live, it's the same live set and concert from their Live Damage DVD. The only song missing is Undo Control (which is pretty big bummer sinc eit's one of my favorite dt songs) but it's no big deal i guess. The 19 tracked live disc is excellent and they sound musically as good live as on cd. vocally? they sound good but their singer sounds different. He's still good, just as good as on tv, but he's more higher pitched, black metalish than death metal.

all in all, this is very worth the wait and it's regular priced same as a single disc cd so there is no reason not to buy this if your a fan of them. cya!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars, worth every penny!, August 3, 2004

By 

progpatron01 "progpatron01" (mn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exposures: In Retrospect & Denial (Audio CD)

Dark Tranquillity, a band affliated with starting the gothenburg sound and helping shape the sound of modern metal. Disc one includes cuts from there albums, but these....dont sound like cuts at all, every song is amazing. The last 4 trax are from demo's and feature anders frieden on vox. Disc 2: live album, amazing performance, wonderful sound, great song selection, what more can I say, buy this cd!! (and get damage done too)