Review Summary: No, Clayman ISN'T the end of good In Flames...
...since, besides a few missteps, this is still an engaging, enjoyable, and well-executed slab of melo death, and was definitely made by the same In Flames that did Whoracle & Colony. However, I do want to get the big problem here out of the way, so I can spend time later just praising Clayman. What is the major flaw on Clayman, you ask? It's how pathetically whiny Anders Friden sounds, and, since I actually thought he sounded pretty good (for once in his life) on Colony, it was a big disappointment when he turned in his wussiest performance up to that point on Clayman.
Some of his clean singing here
is quite tuneful, but way too much of the "harsh" singing just sounds like a f ucking cat getting strangled, and while there are times where the harsh singing sounds okay, and closer to the previous records, the majority of it just ends up sucking. It isn't enough to ruin the album, but definitely still hurts it, and while I admit that Friden never was the greatest growler in the world, he still should've done something better than what he used here.
Besides that substantial problem, however, I really don't have any major complaints for Clayman, and while people have argued (with some merit) that the band went too much for a poppier, "happier" sound here, Clayman really isn't that different from the style that they established on Whoracle. Yes, it does sound a little poppier, from the somewhat-sugary keyboarding on "Only For The Weak", to the occasional use of mainstream-y (and annoying) vocal distortions, to the giddy guitar work on "Swim", but IF never was the most brutal band around anyway, and I would argue that the "happier" sound of Clayman isn't due to its (sparse) mainstream touches, but rather, because Flames really put a lot of energy into their songwriting/performances, making the album feel unusually
alive.
This invigorating quality means that Clayman makes a bigger impact on me than the enjoyable, but somewhat routine Colony did, though, at thirteen tracks long (including the special edition material), it does get a little tiresome before the end; shaving off a weaker song or two definitely would've benefited the album. The track flow here also isn't particularly strong here, since, besides the first three songs, which work well in their sequence, the rest of Clayman feels like a bunch of good In Flames songs just cobbled together, without much of a dramatic arc overall. Still, at least almost all the songs here are individually good, with a pretty nice variety of styles to enjoy to boot, and even the bonus tracks, both of which are cover songs, manage to satisfy.
So, in summation, the beautiful clean guitar work, sharp riffage, energetic drumming, agile solos, excellent production, and (most importantly) the compelling, catchy, classic-In Flames songwriting here all overcome the annoying vocals and myriad of minor flaws, and silences those critics who mistook putting some enthusiasm into your music with "selling out". While I have to admit that this is IF's last good album, make no mistake, it
is good, so stuff it haters.
