In_Flames

In Flames ‘The Jester Race’
Nuclear Blast , 1996
Lord Pale :
In Flames meld the melodic death metal developed in their homeland Sweden with the intricate twin harmonising lead sections of Iron Maiden into a unique style that would later define the now famous ‘Gothenburg’ sound . Occasional acoustic segments lend a real personal flavour to The Jester Race and add credibility to the Iron Maiden comparison , however where Iron Maiden would break into their trademark gallop , In Flames break into a mid paced rumble which could be considered their own signature style . The vocal delivery is abrasive , akin to a blackmetal rasp with more range ( although it can become a little repetitive after a while ) , with some occasional spoken passages adding depth . The music , lyrics , and artwork lend the album an excellent original atmosphere but unfortunately The Jester Race suffers a little from being not entirely memorable . In Flames really click on ‘Moonshield’ , ‘The Jester’s Dance’ , ‘The Jester Race’ and ‘Wayfarer’ , however they have trouble keeping up the quality for the rest of the album and the other tracks sound like similar but lesser versions of the aforementioned classics . The Jester Race’s is a more refined direction for the band still in development , but still stands as a fairly solid ( if not a tad samey ) album for fans of melodic death or powermetal .
Favourite Tracks – Moonshield , The Jester Race , The Jester’s Dance
Mark – 7/10

In Flames 'Black Ash Inheritence'
Nuclear Blast, 1997
Lord Pale:
In Flames return with a four song MCD released to fill the space inbetween releases. Black Ash Inheritance contains probably the best work of their careers to date. The awesome melodic wank fest that is 'Goliaths Disarm Their Davids' is a gem to behold, with a catchy chorus, brilliant structuring, and a riff lead that sticks in your head for months. Next to come is the slower, rockier, 'Gyroscope', another brilliant song and a true showcase of the bands songwriting ability. Featuring an acoustic intro and a memorable chorus and riff. The third track is an acoustic piece derived from various parts of 'The Jester's Race' with a mellow synth backing, which is followed more agressively by a live version of 'Behind Space' which is originally from their Subterranean album. All classic tracks ... a must have!
Favourite Tracks - Goliath's Disarm Their Davids, Gyroscope, Behind Space
Mark - 9/10

In Flames 'Whoracle'
Nuclear Blast, 1997
Lord Pale:
In Flames' third full length album takes the interactive melodic rhythm/acoustic guitar sections of 1995's The Jester Race and adds some heavier riffs and better all round songwriting. Whoracle also features a more robust production and more variation between tracks than its predeccesor, and boasts an intriguing cover picture featuring a Gorgon lady. Where the Jester Race's undoubted highlight was its opener 'Moonshield', Whoracle features a trio of classics 'Jotun', 'Food For The Gods', and 'Gyroscope', backed by an equal number of strong tracks most notably 'Jester Script Transfigured', 'Worlds Within The Margin', and their cover of 'Everything Counts'. Some memorable, slightly off tempo percussion sections in both 'Food For The Gods' and 'Morphing Into Primal' ensure the druming never gets boring with effective fills and an overall solid performance that doesn't attempt to much. Anders Friden's vocals are another aspect the Swede's have improved, he now growls out a more varied range of rasps adding to the delivery of the mostly sci fi themed lyrics. Anyone into melodic Swedish metal ( who doesn't already own it ) should check out this album now, another classic entry into the halls of the Gothenburg metal scene.
Favourite Tracks – Gyroscope ; Jotun ; Food For The Gods
Mark – 8.5/10

In Flames 'Colony'
Nuclear Blast, 1999
Lord Pale:
In Flames forth studio album displays a wider range of influences and a more dynamic style of song writing than previously all executed with their unmistakeable melodic flair. Lyrically Colony starts to move away from the sci fi field with songs like 'Ordinary Story', 'Zombies Inc', and 'Resin' introducing a real world maturity into their lexicon. 'Ordinary Story' is the best song the band has written to date with a catchy riff and chorus complemented by a neat little piano section near its finish, whilst 'Scorn', 'Zombies Inc', and the remake of 'Behind Space' from Lunar Strain ( now 'Behind Space '99' ) are also worthy of high praise. Colony again plays well as an album with no noticable filler tracks thanks to the bands impressive knack of blending melodic riffs with acoustic guitar passages and catchy vocal delivery. Another piece of easy listening Gothenburg metal deserves another strange cover and Colony doesn't dissapoint with a weird monolith overlooking the inflames Jester mark in a purple/red haze. Overall another great album that will keep the fans happy and the critics at bay.
Favourite Tracks – Ordinary Story ; Zombies Inc ; Behind Space '99
Mark – 8.5/10

In Flames 'Clayman'
Nuclear Blast, 2000
Lord Pale:
In Flame's fifth studio album manages to strike a delicate yet successful balace of not progressing far from their signature sound an adding enough new elements to avoid stagnation. Clayman starts to experiment more with the clean vocals and keyboards that Colony lightly touched upon, weaving them subtly into their sound with out affecting the overall effect of their music. The Swedish hoarde offers up another trio of great tracks 'Bullet Ride', 'Only For The Weak', and 'Square Nothing' again supported by a decent array of good tracks. 'Pinball Map' is the only track that really marks a possible new direction in In Flames' development with less trademark feeling and a clean vocal chorus. However Clayman is a slower, more simplistic album overall than Colony was reminding me more often of Whoracle thanks to the heavier style. Overall fans certainly won't be dissapointed by the newest album although it is unlikely to win the band any new fans either.
Favourite Tracks – Only For The Weak ; Bullet Ride ; Square Nothing
Mark – 8/10

In Flames ‘The Tokyo Showdown – Live in Japan 2000’
Nuclear Blast, 2001
Gloon:
In Flames is definitely one of my favourite bands and after reading rave reviews about their live shows in the press I was certainly keen to hear this little number when it finally got released. Now I wonder why I bothered. ‘The Tokyo Showdown’ quite simply should never have been allowed to get past the editing desk. The production is bad, really bad when you consider that they must have known this was gonna be released, with the guitars sounding lackluster and the overall mix of the sound being shoddy and unprofessional. Vocally its not much better either with Anders Friden sounding weak and unenthusiastic throughout.
Crowd interaction is kept to a minimum and with the crowd being Japanese its mainly polite praise than full on metal mayhem. Track wise its not too bad covering material from their early days right up to their current album of the time ‘Clayman’, but that’s probably the only positive here. Quite simply if your going to release a live album it has to sound spontaneous and overall be exciting, unfortunately ‘The Tokyo Showdown’ expresses neither of these traits. A totally disappointing experience.
Favourite Tracks – Ordinary Story, Colony, Jotun
Rating – 6/10

In Flames ‘Reroute to Remain’
Nuclear Blast, 2002
Gloon:
After the rather safe and unadventurous ‘Clayman’ effort In Flames are back to silence their critics who suggest that maybe the band had taken their sound and style as far as it could go. ‘Reroute to Remain’ thankfully is a big slap in the face to these claims showcasing a variety of new aspects and elements thrown into the already potent In Flames mix of melodic heavy metal. The tour with Slipknot has left some lingering effects with the intro to ‘System’ and ‘Transparent’ displaying the Americans now distinctive metallic bassy rumble. However where Hypocrisy’s ‘Catch 22’ took the sound and basically churned out bad tributes, In Flames take the sound and mould into their own without compromising their integrity. There is plenty of the new and the old displayed on RTR with the title track and ‘Trigger’ utilizing the now honed melodic madness of the last two albums and tracks like ‘Dawn of a New Day’ showcasing the acoustics found on the mighty ‘Whoracle’ release. The song writing is again becoming more accessible with lyrics becoming a little easier for the mainstream to comprehend and the choruses are heaving and catchy as all hell equaling Soilwork’s latest effort and then some. The only problem with this release is its length, most bands can’t maintain momentum and quality ‘over’ ten tracks and In Flames are no exception. The word ‘fillers’ comes to mind as the album drags through some of its 14 songs which is a little disappointing cause clock this in at 9-10 songs and it’s a classic, oh well a small bitch I suppose. Easily one of the better releases for this year and another solid effort to add to In Flames already glowing catalogue.
Favourite Tracks: System, Economic, Cloud Connected.
Rating: 8/10
SECOND OPINION
Lord Pale:
Reroute To Remain is a vital new injection of energy into the In Flames sound although the appearance of filler tracks is disturbing.
Favourite Tracks – Cloud Connected ; Trigger ; Transparent
Mark – 8.5/10

In Flames ‘Trigger’ EP
Nuclear Blast, 2003
Gloon :
This little stop gap offers the fans little in regards to hidden gems, however the two bonus film clips on the disk are a big incentive for those outside Europe who rarely get to see their favourite bands in full flight. The EP features the single edit of the same name ‘Trigger’ from this years ‘Reroute to Remain’ full length, then there is the rather forgettable ‘Watch them Feed’ and the truly dumb founding cover of Genesis’ ‘Land of Confusion’ (you will recognize it come the chorus, then the real confusion begins, WHY!!!!!!!). As if tormenting the fans is what this CD is all about the band then serve up a club remix of Cloud Connected and smirkable C64 Karaoke version of Moonshield (mercy). However as mentioned the film clips are the lure featuring a Stargate inspired theme for ‘Cloud Connected’ and a snow ball fight with guest stars Soilwork in the ‘Trigger’ clip. Not really essential and in some cases just plain stupid but for $19.95 its cheap enough to round off the old collection with minimal grumbles.
Favourite Tracks – Cloud Connected (film clip), Trigger (film clip)
Rating – 6.5/10

In Flames ‘Soundtrack to Your Escape’
Nuclear Blast, 2004
Gloon:
In Flames have been coping shit from the metal community for a while now, most thought ‘Reroute to Remain’ was a sell out, I thought it was a well needed change in direction. ‘Soundtrack to Your Escape’ was to set the record straight, a return to the days of Gothenburg melodic death supremacy or the continued evolution of the band towards dare I say Nu Metal territory. Well if the opener ‘F(r)iend’ was anything to go by then the former could have applied. Kicking things off with the heaviest thrash number they have done in years and featuring vocals harking back to at least the ‘Colony’ days, In Flames seemed to be headed back to heavier more aggressive days however by the time second song and single ‘The Quiet Place’ kicks in things begin heading back in the Nu direction. ‘Soundtrack to Your Escape’ basically continues the journey started in ‘Reroute to Remain’ with the band again restraining themselves from too much fret work and Anders Fridén again utilizing more clean, whiney vocals. While still distinctively In Flames and featuring some memorable moments and catchy choruses, Soundtrack to Your Escape’ fails to create a truly classic song which at least every previous In Flames album has managed to do. In its defense however, the band have managed to create a stronger overall album than RtR with less fillers and more depth. Overall if you enjoyed the bands previous album and still enjoy sweet candy laced tunes and catchy heavy melodic metal then there is no reason why you wont get something out of this release. In Flames are still the leaders when it comes to this type of Euro melodic metal.
Favourite Tracks – F(r)iend, In Search for I, Dead Alone
Rating – 7.5/10
SECOND OPINION
Lord Pale:
Darker, heavier, and less In Flames. A new unwelcome direction that is good on its own merits but dissapointing against the bands backcatalogue.
Favourite Tracks – The Quiet Place ; My Sweet Shadow ; Bottled
Mark – 7/10

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