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August 29, 2008 |
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01. Take This Life
02. Leeches
03. Reflect The Storm
04. Dead End
05. Scream
06. Come Clarity
07. Vacuum
08. Pacing Death's Trail
09. Crawl Through Knives
10. Versus Terminus
11. Our Infinite Struggle
12. Vanishing Light
13. Your Bedtime Story Is Scaring Everyone
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I went to see IN FLAMES (Anders Fridén/vox, Jesper Strömblad/guitars, Björn Gelotte/guitars, Daniel Svensson/drums, and Peter Iwers/bass) play here in Vancouver at the end of January. Now in and of itself this is hardly news. IN FLAMES have played our fair burgh a number of times now. On top of that, I've seen them pretty much every time to boot, and being the jaded, spoiled, uber-cynical modern day headbanger that I am... the fact of the matter is that I wasn't expecting anything extraordinary or earth-shattering about the performance either. I simply expected a reasonably entertaining show from a reasonably entertaining band who - in my humble opinion - have been kinda/sorta coasting for at least the last couple of albums now and are guilty of more and more becoming card carrying members of the MuchMusic/MTV-generation of media-spoonfed-younger-metalheads "flavour of the month" club. Boy was I surprised by what I experienced that night.
If ever a band seemed re-energized and revitalized it was IN FLAMES. Not only was the performance both high energy and enthusiastic, but the new material (if memory serves: "Leeches" and "Take This Life") more than held up alongside the old classics from earlier releases. Truth be told, I ended up not only wholeheartedly enjoying the band’s phenomenal performance that evening, but also walked out with a newfound interest in and appreciation for an act who I had frankly been more than a tad lukewarm over for some time. With their latest release, "Come Clarity", I am happy to report that my ears have been bludgeoned with some of the better material these Swedes have churned forth with since "Clayman".
Right from the get-go it becomes pretty obvious that IN FLAMES realized they had something to prove with this very crucial release. I mean... we've all heard the criticisms thrown at these guys since "Reroute To Remain" hit the shelves several years back. To be honest, I actually quite liked that album. I thought that while it was certainly something of a departure from previous works, what with the greater prominence of electronic influence and left-of-centre, Nu/Core song structures, that nevertheless it worked; the album in fact containing some of my more favorite recent IN FLAMES output. Follow-up "Soundtrack To Your Escape" was certainly a bit more anonymous and paint-by-numbers yeah…but even that one had its moments too. At worst, like I said before, IN FLAMES could be accused of a period of creative laziness at this point, but overall, I never truly felt they deserved the sheer degree of critical vitriol that seemed to be heaped upon their shoulders. Obviously they were cognizant of it all though. With "Come Clarity" (an apt title!), the band have returned with a clenched fist and a fire in their collective gut which will surely silence the nay-sayers once and for all.
Opener "Take This Life" storms out of the gates swinging, riding a merciless, crunchy riff before breaking into a classic IN FLAMES chorus rife with anthemic hook and drive. "Leeches" roars with a heavy staccato riff sure to gets heads banging. "Dead End" switches pace somewhat introducing female vocals atop of Fridén's signature snarl. Personal fave would have to be the title track however which heaves and surges - a perfect "power balladesque" IN FLAMES mood piece chock full of emotive reflection channeled through Fridén's angst-ridden screams. And the rest of it is pretty bloody good too, quite possibly rockin' out better than about two-thirds of what these guys have offered us within the last two years or so. I mean sure, when an album hits the thirteen-track length there's bound to be a bit of filler ("Scream", "Vanishing Light" by example - not bad, just... "there"), but again... this is quality stuff overall. Plus it's nice to hear real drumming again as opposed to the digitized mess that was much of "Soundtrack To Your Escape", not to mention a return to the fore of those absolutely stunning Strömblad/Gelotte dueling twin harmonic leads (see "Crawl Through Knives", "Pacing Death's Trail", and "Our Infinite Struggle" for some of the finer, more intricate six string moments) we all know and love from these guys.
So then... what more really need be said!?! Honestly, unless you're one of that stubborn, closed-minded breed who refuse to take anything this band does seriously after "Whoracle", I daresay you'll be pleasantly surprised and refreshed by what an absolute stormer of an album "Come Clarity" is. Definitely one of the heavier, and more old-school flavored platters of musical fodder these Swedish meatballs have churned out in quite some time. All I know for sure is that "Come Clarity" marks the return of one of Sweden's better Metal exports in ages and they've obviously come fully armed and ready to do battle. So pull down your visor, loosen that swordarm, and prepare for the fury! IN FLAMES are back!
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