In Flames - Come Clarity

If you enjoy Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engaged, and HATED Soundtrack to Your Escape, you'll love:

In Flames - Come Clarity

Is there anything close to a band returning to their old form? When bands change their sound, it's incredibly rare that they ever return to anything close to what they were once before, save they release an album so god awful they realize they need to go back. Helloween's album Chameleon comes to mind. But this is the closet thing we're getting to "classic" In Flames; a return, somewhat, of the guitar harmonies, wonderfully brutal vocal performances, and songwriting of the caliber that was lacking so much on Soundtrack to Your Escape.

The album opens up on a relatively harsh note; literally. The distorted guitars combined with the drums open up the album "Take this Life" with a feeling of getting clobbered in the head repeatedly! But, god dammit, it works out to be a damn good opening! That takes your life and takes you a sort of "outer-body experience" that leaves you feeling like you have just gone to heaven (or hell, your pick). The dual-guitar harmonies begin to swell and the ferocity returns with every verse, returning to a nirvana-like (not that Nirvana!) state with every chorus. "Leeches" is a combination of old-In Flames, new-In Flames, and some industrial elements. As odd as that may seems, that's exactly what it is, and it works so well!

"Leeches" is a combination of old-In Flames, new-In Flames, and some industrial elements. As odd as that may seems, that's exactly what it is, and it works so well! "Dead End" is a beautiful song! I am, quite frankly, shocked that the result came out so great; a female Swedish pop-singer, guitar solos, dual-guitar harmonies, and death-metal vocals and guitar work. Seriously, In Flames makes this work!

Tracks like "Scream", "Vacuum", and "Versus Terminus" all hail a return to the more thrash/death metal In Flames with the new stuff mixed in for flavor. Then you have the more melodic songs like "Pacing Death's Trail" and "Crawl Through Knives". They sound more like left-overs from Soundtrack, but with the same knowledge the band had back on Clayman.

As odd as it is, my friend has forced me to listen to Top 40 radio and Breaking Benjamin. Most metalheads don't give two shits about them, myself included. So imagine my complete and utter shock when I heard In Flames on the radio. The opening non-distorted guitar part, the overall melodic structure. It was a song so melodic and commercial, I found it incredibly odd and catchy. So imagine my complete and utter surprise when I heard "The Diary of Jane" by Breaking Benjamin. It is the same exact song, save a few technical flairs here and there, a lack of a guitar solo, and the words being changed. But a comparison of the two songs shows you that Breaking Benjamin stole the song by In Flames. That song is the title-track, "Come Clarity".

There is a lot of praise that this album deserves. First and foremost, like I said, it's a close return to form. It is, in other words, the result of old and new In Flames combined; a band that can write some brutal tracks, melodic hooks, guitar solos, and some nice lyrics. Save the incredibly-inane album closer, "Your Bedtime Story is Scaring Everyone", this actually is a great album on a whole. Admitedly, I'm a little hesitant to give even more praise to this album right now because it has the stigma of being so close to after Soundtrack and the album is a bit of a modern-day pop-metal offering than others by this band and of metal in general. I only say pop-metal simply because it actually is popular with modern metal fans, namely kids 13-21. Not that's a bad thing, but... well, fuck, I feel old!

This album deserves a 4.1 out of 5, and a gold star for effort!

BUY THIS ALBUM!

In Flames - Soundtrack to Your Escape

In Flames - Soundtrack to Your Escape

No one, yet, has complained that all my reviews to this point have all been "Glowing" or "positive", and that I'm showing my true self; a guy who loves practically everything. Today, I am going to review an album I haven't listened to since the day it came out, but one where I've seen songs performed from it live within th last 2 months.

If there was ever an album worth being called a "sell-out disc", or if you ever wanted proof that America corrupts good talent now instead of making it better, this Americanized-Swedish Metal disc finds In Flames, which was formally the single finest example of Gothenberg Metal, turning more toward the American Mainstream. Gone are the incredibly lush tapestries of guitar work and guitar harmonies, replaced for more simple riffage and more "boring" moments. Anders vocals have gone from a more thrash-death metal tone to sounding like Johnathan Davis of Korn.

I have been an In Flames fan since 2002 when I was talked into buying Clayman. I loved that album, and after getting Whoracle, Colony, and the Jester Race, I truly knew I found an incredible band. But when this album came out, even I had to admit, something was wrong. People defend this album like it was their child, denying that In Flames "sold-out", crying out that Andes "doesn't sound like Johnathan Davis!", and the silliest of all, "They've had this sound since Colony". The last one, only in hindsight, can come close. The trend may have had traces in Colony, and some overtones in Clayman, but the real descent to the then-rampant Nu-Metal movement can be heard on the EP, ReRoute to Remain, as well as the Trigger EP. It was around that time that they did a video with Soilwork and the overall sound of the band was ore mainstream. Even then, even then I was able to enjoy them.

But Soundtrack to Your Escape is a travesty to their careers. It is, without a doubt, the album that almost killed the band in the eyes of longtime fans. The effect can be compared to that of Metallica's "Black Album", Nirvana's In Utero, Slipknot's Volume 3: The Subliminal Verus, but it can't. Why? Because, save Nirvana, they were actually GOOD albums, something that can not be said in this case. In Flames may have gained thousands of fans, but it was at the price of their artistic integrity and the loyalty of countless fans that helped get them there and in a position where they could get there in the first place.

The album plays out like any other mediocre metal release from the point up to 2002, only it was 2004; Simple riffs, down tuned guitars, Johnathan Davis-esq vocals at times while Anders struggles to find his new voice-

In fact, I'm going to stop right there. If Soundtrack is anything, it is the REAL LIFE VERSION OF PUNKY BRUSTER. "The Quiet Place" is their "Recipe for Bait"; They're not metal anymore, just commercial whores. Childish to write, yes, I will admit that, but the album has been defended by the band by declaring that they are sick of writing albums they way they did and wanted to "Grow" as a band. If this is growth, then my all means, I feel sorry for the band.

I would also like to point out that when this album came out,it was praised by countless metal critiques, and that makes absolutely no sense to me. Risk by Megadeth was just as much a "natural progression" from Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings, but Risk is still considered, especially at the time, to be their worst album, something even Dave Mustaine himself admitted. The point? That it doesn't matter if progression is "natural" or not, a shit album is a shit album, and I wish more critiques said it. I sincerly think that most of them were told they had to give the album a great review by their editors, were paid off by the record company, or something, because there is simply no way it could be hailed so high.

Thank god that they released Come Clarity in 2006.

With that, I'm stopping this review. It gets a 2 out of 5. Why even 2, especially since I destroyed it? Because, despite all the horrible shit on there, they at least had "The Quiet Place", the only decent song on there that, if recorded 3 years ago, would have been perfect.