Review Summary: Overall this album is probably one of the greatest melodic death album release ever. Among The gallery and the Jester Race, Subterranean features some of the best guitar melodies ever made. It's a must.
Line-up:
Henke Forss - Vocals
Jesper Stromblad - Guitar, Keyboard
Glenn Ljungstrom - Guitar
Johan Larsson - Bass, Backing Vocals
Drums by Daniel Erlandsson and Anders Jivarp
I was checking out some In Flames review and I noticed that nobody's review subterranean yet. I was surprised sinced this EP is probably In Flames best release of their career. This album makes the transition between Mikael Stanne and Anders Friden and it was a big step to get to The Jester Race who is one of the most acclaimed swedish metal album ever. Jesper is the only actual In Flames member on that release and he has done an amazing job.
Track Analysis
1-Stand Ablaze
The song starts with a beautiful melodic piano parts which is an good intro to this record. The band comes with a kind of depressed melodic riffage in which In Flames has always be good in it. The Vocal are probably some of the best In Flames has ever had. I would love to see how the band would have grown with Henke of the vocals. The Melody at 1:44 is one of the best In Flames has ever done. The song slow down a little bit with an amazing melodic part. It is fun to see how much In Flames has changed guitar wize. The solo is simple but still amazing and beautiful. Then the best part of the song comes in at 3:14 with insane melodic guitar leads. In Flames at his best on that song.
5/5
2-Everdying
This one start with the typical swedish melodic riffing. The Verse has a lot of double bass work and you can still hear the double guitar thing on almost all the song. The song switch at 1:20 to an amazing acoustic part in which In Flames has always shine. Then another amazing twin guitar comes in to finaly gets into a heavier part. After the heavy part the beginning's riff is back. The song's fade then another amazing acoustic part comes in. This part is so beautiful and so melodic. The twin acousitc guitar melody will catch you instantly.
5/5
3-Subterranean
This song is probably the fastest of the record. It's starts with an odd melodic echange of the two guitar. An happy melodic part follows. The song finaly goes into some heavy drum pounding. The Verse are melodic as well with a nice rythm work. This song features alot of melodic lead again. The middle part of the song is heavier and has a lot of double bass. The happy melodic part comes right after. The next part remind's me alot of clad in the shadows (A song on lunar Strain).
4,5/5
4-Timeless
This song is an acoustic break. It Features a lot of melodic part again. It is not a filler. It simply gives you a break before the final song comes in. The parts of the song a basically repeated two times.
5/5
5-Biosphere
The first time I've heard this song I was thinking it was a maiden song. The melodies are really Maiden-ish. The song gets heavier soon after this part. The verse are featuring amazing guitar licks. The first one is an amazing sweep picking chops. The next riff sound a lot like Dark Tranquillity's guitar work. At 3:35 a short but cool solo is played. The rest of the song is the repetition of the beginning.
4,5/5
Pros:
Melodies
Vocals
Acoustic parts
Cons:
The production is not top notch
Some may not like the vocal
