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In Flames - Clayman review



Reviewer:
9.0

1258 users:
8.49
Band: In Flames
Album: Clayman
Release date: July 2000


01. Bullet Ride
02. Pinball Map
03. Only For The Weak
04. ...As The Future Repeats Today
05. Square Nothing
06. Clayman
07. Satellites And Astronauts
08. Brush The Dust Away
09. Swim
10. Suburban Me
11. Another Day In Quicksand
12. World Of Promises [bonus] [Treat cover]
13. Strong And Smart [bonus] [No Fun At All cover]

Melodic Death Metal band In Flames returned in 2000 with a splendid rage materialized in the album Clayman. After the wonderful Colony, the Swedish band are back with a powerful release full of hits! Same line-up, but a slightly different recording sound, even more based on the tremendous guitar work of both Jesper Stromblad and Bjorn Gelotte. Anders Friden [vocals] is at his best level on this album from the first note to the last and the duo Peter Iwers [bass] / Daniel Svensson [dums] provide a strong rhythm background.

On Clayman, each track is something else but the highlights are clearly the raw 'Pinball Map' and the more melodic 'Only For The Weak'. My personal favorites are 'Square Nothing', with its acoustic beginning and 'Suburban Me'. But as I've said before, all these tracks are gorgeous. The cover 'World Of Promises' kicks serious ass and the lucky Japanese metalheads can listen to even more material [the usual Japanese bonus track...] with 'Strong And Smart', which could be totally part of the album as a "regular track".

However, even if the album totally rules from beginning to end, I still prefer their previous album, Colony, for a simple reason: Clayman is less diversified. For example, '...As The Future Repeats Today', despite the fact that it is a great song, sounds similar to 'Only For The Weak' in my opinion. Same thing with the duo 'Swim' and 'Brush The Dust Away'. But that remains a small drawback and it doesn't lower the musical quality of Clayman.

In one word, Clayman is terrific, even if it can appear "out of the path" for Death Metal fans addicted to the early works of the band. It could be labeled as "The Bible for Melodic Death" and that's obviously the album you have to pick to discover In Flames, even though some would prefer their previous effort Colony.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 8
Production: 10





Written on 02.09.2003 by Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as:

"A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?"

I have only got so much patience and skills, you do the math.


Comments

Comments: 15   Visited by: 233 users
13.02.2007 - 23:56
Muskot
Account deleted
I can't really find something to argue about here; It's simply In Flames' best album. =D
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14.02.2007 - 17:12
Rating: 7
Sunioj

Great album, I think this album marks their gothenburg period.
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03.03.2007 - 03:19
Rating: 9
iaberis
Advice Troll
Yeah, it was the first album I heard from In Flames and I really loved it. The cover art is terrific too!
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Bitch! Please
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03.03.2007 - 03:54
FOOCK Nam

Me too, first album of In Flames to me. Only For The Weak become my favorite lyric, Satellites an Astronauts has good guitar though its lyric is a little bit abstract. Strong And Smart is a very "blood boil" song to dance.
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05.07.2007 - 22:03
Rating: 9
BlankFile

This album was the last jewel that In Flames released. From this point on, In Flames changed their sound drastically, creating a sort of New Metal Garbage. Bad influences I guess. Its a shame that such a band lost their identity.
Clayman is a great melodic release indeed.
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11.08.2007 - 17:53
Beerpiss
Account deleted
The song is good
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31.08.2007 - 20:52
Mizer84
Account deleted
The best album of In Flames, no doubt about that! Not a single "bad" song on it....It's also true that it isn't that diverse. 9 is the exact right grade for it...
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30.04.2008 - 03:25
Rating: 10
Zangah

This is the flagship album. Thats the simple and honest truth.
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02.05.2008 - 21:02
Rating: 8
BloodTears
ANA-thema
One of my favourites by them. Its not my all time favourite or the best by them in my opinion but I sure love it. Some of the best songs they ever wrote. Also I think its one of the best gothemburg metal albums, or as I like to call it, melodic metal of all time

Good old days.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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08.10.2008 - 13:08
Rating: 8
Powerslavex
Alexskywalker
In flames best !!!!!!!!!
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09.10.2008 - 02:40
Uirapuru
Liver Failure
one of the first metal albuns that i had listen. i have to listen it again, completly forgot that ''Subarban Me'' song i cant believe...
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member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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17.05.2009 - 13:27
Rating: 9
Deadmeat
Necrobutcher
This may be in flames best album. nice review..
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Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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06.02.2010 - 14:22
Rating: 10
AceTrooper

Definitely their best album...After it comes "A Sense Of Purpose" and "The Jester Race"
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15.05.2012 - 21:11
Rating: 10
SunFalcon

Best Album Ever!!!!
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What Left Of Me Shall Build A New World
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03.05.2014 - 19:56
Rating: 7
Sang Dalang Abu

Nice Review,"Clayman".yeah for each songs of this album is great.
That is tough!!. "Jester Race" album was more intense
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