by Andy Hinds

Dark Tranquillity is able to find beauty -- as odd as that may sound -- in the extreme elements of death metal. Much more than mere noise artists, this Swedish sextet understands the importance of melody (usually minor key) and texture (occasionally ambient), and their hurtling aggression is imbued with a dark, neo-classical sense of composition, rather than the atonal chromaticism favored by similar (particularly American) acts. Damage Done should please metal fans who appreciate both death metal's extreme qualities and progressive metal's musicality, but it may not appeal to purists from either camp.