I have to say that I had to play this album three times in a row for making sure I really like it, but now I can really admit that it is one of better ones of In Flames' works. We simply cannot overlook the fact that every single IF album is totally different from previous ones; so I don't see any problem with decreasing numbers of growled songs and heavy drumming parts. Not bad album after all, guys!

Great review man... Completely agree with you. Someday we will see In Flames between the MTV top 10 artists

I'm not much of an In Flames fan, but I really liked Lunar Strain. This is way different obviously, and the band members are all way older. I think in the old records you can feel their excitement about creating the music. Its not that their old records were immature, its just that I think the band has grown out of their salad days a little bit.

Out of their post-2000 stuff I'd say it's pretty strong, just behind Come Clarity really. Not exactly great but nowhere near as empty and boring as i found RtR and STYE, and the endless boring intros in ASOP. Defo 7/10 territory, but especially the last 4 songs i can actually really enjoy, something I havent done with In Flames this century bar Bullet Ride, Only For The Weak, and Crawl tHrough Knives

What some of you forget is that like EVERYTHING, it's subjective, reviewers are just journalists with their informed opinions on it.
I like this album like everything before it, In Flames has IN MY OPINION got a solid music history, and though Anders Fridén's singing voice may not be amazing to some, to me, it's far from falling flat, his screaming is still amazing.

If any of you have ever listened to an album and disliked it because of a reviewer opinion, order yourself to go back and listen to it again under your own sense of perception.

Boring .... How can a pioneer of the genre record this ? I'm a big In Flames fan but they get worse in every album they make .... If In Flames wants to go mainstream do something like Ace of base, they had some mainstream hits!

Written by Guest on 29.08.2011 at 22:53

Written by musclassia on 12.07.2011 at 23:51

Out of their post-2000 stuff I'd say it's pretty strong, just behind Come Clarity really. Not exactly great but nowhere near as empty and boring as i found RtR and STYE, and the endless boring intros in ASOP. Defo 7/10 territory, but especially the last 4 songs i can actually really enjoy, something I havent done with In Flames this century bar Bullet Ride, Only For The Weak, and Crawl tHrough Knives

Endless boring intros in ASOP? They were, are and will be great, the best album from them :-)

I'd forgotten I posted this. That's a bit harsh what I said, but I gave it another listen, and serious half the album - Mirror's Truth and Disconnected especially, but also Delights and Angers, Sober and Irrelevant, Drenched In Fear, March To The shore, and a lesser extent I'm The Highway and Condemned, just giving the first 10-15seconds a listen, its like listening to the same song. Considering ASOP is somehow your favourite album by them you'll probably know the whole album inside out and say they sound nothing alike, but from only a couple of listens of the album, they're so boringly similar, and the album's fairly solid but not interesting enough to want repeat listens compared to so many other albums in the music world. Listening to The Jester Race (my opinion their best album by some distance) and the variety in comparison is much greater, a couple that sound similar, but so much more energy and variety to the uniform similarity on display on occasion in that album.

This is off-topic, in all honesty I'm not too fussed about much they've done post-Colony (even Clayman was patchy in comparison to the first 3 albums) except a few songs on each of the last 3 albums (haven't listened enough to RTR or STYE to have much of an opinion on them bar lack of interest), but this one was a relatively solid effort, and given that I only know it vaguely, the lack of heavy-but-hookless riffs in such quantity as ASOP doesn't harm it.

I have to say after listening this "album" they say that this is the baddest one in the bands history... at least for me. The style changed hugely and for fans knowing what they created passing the years, this could be nothing more than a big disappointment event though In Flames is in my top 5. Anyways, this is no reason to skip the concert where i can hear songs like Only For The Weak or Colony.

Written by Daniell on 13.06.2011 at 16:19

Led Zeppelin was a very serious band, one of the most important bands in the history of rock (and metal) music. Feel free to check out the titles of their first four albums While at it, check out Peter Gabriel as well.
A title is just a title..

The way you see a title is very individual. Let's see what I make out of the title in question:
Sounds of a Playground Fading - this sounds like a metaphor of a childhood that is coming to an end. Just an off-the-bat interpretation - but the title suggests some depth, and simply intrigues me.
Seasons in the Abyss - sounds pretentious and cheesy (mind you, Slayer is my absolutely favourite band), hell, it doesn't even make much sense. Also the so-titled song doesn't explain anything.
Coma of Souls - this one isn't so bad, but still, it looks childish and pretentious. Extremely stupid lyrics of the so-titled song don't help it either...
Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk - now this one sounds like it was made up by the kings of cheese, Manowar. Firstly, calling one's own songs "anthems" stinks of pomp and pretentiousness (further reinforced by Emperor stating on the cover of this album that they play "spohisticated black metal art"). Simply, LOL, or even ROFL (mind you again, I love Emperor, and the said album is one of their best). It's the audience and critics that call something art, not its creator... Then, there's "welkin", a poetic word that can be found nowhere outside poems of 19th century English poets - a literary, outdeted word. The amount of cheese in this title beats everything that Manowar did by a mile.
Let me stress again, I love Slayer, Emperor and Creator. But the titles mentioned here are plainly terrible.
But again, it's a question of taste

Did you just call Kreator Creator? How could you possibly voice an opinion is you can mispell Kreator???

Written by Moosh666 on 03.10.2011 at 10:57

Did you just call Kreator Creator? How could you possibly voice an opinion is you can mispell Kreator???

Are you intentionally being thick and mean? It's a typo, isn't it obvious?

No, unless you have a different keyboard to the standard 'QWERTY', I have no idea how you could make a typo out of that....

Written by Moosh666 on 03.10.2011 at 11:07

No, unless you have a different keyboard to the standard 'QWERTY', I have no idea how you could make a typo out of that....

A Freudian slip, rather

Ok, to make things even more confusing, let me tell you that I also like Metallika, Anthraks and Exodas!

Also, my lauguage actually uses a different keyboard layout, because we have 8 more letters in our alphabet.

Written by Daniell on 03.10.2011 at 16:44
because we have 8 more letters in our alphabet.

No need to brag. >>

Written by Daniell on 03.10.2011 at 16:44

Ok, to make things even more confusing, let me tell you that I also like Metallika, Anthraks and Exodas!

Also, my lauguage actually uses a different keyboard layout, because we have 8 more letters in our alphabet.

I didn't know you were Polish ><

I've held off listening to this album for a long while, until now... Im certainly not averse to bands deviating from their signature styles, and have no problems with modern metal. All I care about, is are the songs good? So I knew I wasn't going to hammer the album just for it not being a return to the Jester Race or Colony styles. The main high point of the album, is there are no really bad songs on it. (like "Alias" from ASOP) There's also a bit more intensity overall on this album than the previous one, with songs like "The Puzzle" and the pummelling "Enter Tragedy" showing a clean pair of heels, with the latter also boasting a great guitar melody that In Flames are so adept at creating, even today.

"Deliver Us" is a fantastic song, captivating and catchy, and does it's job well. Although those clamouring for a return to the earlier days certainly wont be impressed! lol The title track is also a great song, as is the melancholic "The Attic" which is a ballad without schmaltz... so great! There is a couple of weaker songs, and "Liberation" is a bit too far commercially even for me to take, and is a bad song regardless. (although still not as bad as "Alias" from ASOP... ) Its a totally different genre almost, to albums like "The Jester Race", so it's not really fair to compare the new album to those works. For what it is, it's certainly an above average, at times even great effort, with some great hooks, and even ocassional nods to their Gothenburg roots with the odd melody and riff here and there. It's definitely not an amazing album, and as modern In Flames goes, "Come Clarity" is still their best. But its still a lot better than I was expecting.

Saying "Come Clarity" and "best" in the same sentence is just wrong in an almost grammatical level.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 10.01.2012 at 22:17
Saying "Come Clarity" and "best" in the same sentence is just wrong in an almost grammatical level.

Actually it's wrong on a universal level unless the sentence also includes the words "definitely not their" in front of the word "best".

Comparing an opinion on an album to grammatical errors is comical to say the least. There's no "universal level" of right or wrong when it comes to personal opinion on music.

Written by Angelic Storm on 11.01.2012 at 00:24
Comparing an opinion on an album to grammatical errors is comical to say the least. There's no "universal level" of right or wrong when it comes to personal opinion on music.

I'm not sure why, but for whatever reason you always respond with like... really serious (and sometimes overly defensive) comments when anyone posts something humorous in response to something you say. I don't know if you think we're attacking you or something, but my universal comment is obviously in no way some attempt at stating a fact and nobody here is really up in arms about your personal opinion.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 11.01.2012 at 01:18
I'm not sure why, but for whatever reason you always respond with like... really serious (and sometimes overly defensive) comments when anyone posts something humorous in response to something you say. I don't know if you think we're attacking you or something, but my universal comment is obviously in no way some attempt at stating a fact and nobody here is really up in arms about your personal opinion.

That is absolutely not true. I doubt anyone looking at those posts below mine would think they weren't meant to be taken seriously. As in the Anthrax (Icon) thread yesterday, other people responded to your comment as if it was a legitimate opinion being expressed, and that it was not being said in jest. So it's hardly as if I was the only one who took it seriously. Everyone else did too. Like I said in that thread, you cannot present a point of view in a serious manner, and expect people to see it as being "humorous". If you're saying something in a homorous way, then present it as being such. You can't blame somebody for taking a point of view seriously, when that is how it's been presented.

As you are well aware, I absolutely have no problem with people disagreeing with my opinions. But you're also aware that when opinions are presented as facts to belittle my opinion, I take a totally different attitude. So I think you knew fine well what my response would be to that post, which is probably where the humour is supposed to come in. So i guess the joke is on me.

Written by Angelic Storm on 11.01.2012 at 00:24

Comparing an opinion on an album to grammatical errors is comical to say the least.

Yeah because... you know, it was meant to be funny... so I...succeeded?

Written by X-Ray Rod on 11.01.2012 at 01:39
Yeah because... you know, it was meant to be funny... so I...succeeded?

Yep, because it was made totally obvious you were expressing an opinion that wasn't meant to be taken seriously...

Well, I guess if the premise was to make me look like an idiot, (which I am) then you definitely succeeded. lol

Written by Angelic Storm on 11.01.2012 at 01:47

Yep, because it was made totally obvious you were expressing an opinion that wasn't meant to be taken seriously...
Well, I guess if the premise was to make me look like an idiot, (which I am) then you definitely succeeded. lol

I think the joke is on me now.... I feel awkward in so many levels.
Well played.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 11.01.2012 at 01:58
I think the joke is on me now.... I feel awkward in so many levels.
Well played.

Not so. If that opinion really wasn't meant to be taken seriously, then I am an idiot for failing to see that. I've never pretended to be particularly smart or intelligent, and I guess some humour is simply too high-brow and intelligent for me to understand.

I just love Soundtrack To Your Escape and now listening to this album, which is pretty good compared to the previous one, makes me think that in flames has suddenly grown old Still sounds good, but oh so quiet compared to STYE. Not a bad album, but quite a soft one, i wouldn't even call it "metal".

Oh the last track is awful tho ! (reminds me of that terrible U2 cover by Fear Factory on Transgression !!)

Written by s_t_s on 22.01.2012 at 16:24
i wouldn't even call it "metal".

I don't get this.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 22.01.2012 at 23:24

Written by s_t_s on 22.01.2012 at 16:24
i wouldn't even call it "metal".

I don't get this.

I mean this is way too soft to be called Metal, or maybe heavy metal or something like that ? Anyway, no offense meant, just missing the right words. Still like this album somehow.

I Like Their Melodic Death More Than This Album

Meh, I still like them. People give them a lot of flak for changing but I, personally, don't mind it - I like that all of their albums actually sound different. But, then again, I have a weak spot for In Flames, since they practically introduced me to melodic death metal (back when they were creating it).