I admit I am no In Flames expert. I was introduced to the Swedish, melodic death metal unit not too long ago when another member of Sputnikmusic sent me a handful of songs spanning from different albums. I liked about every song that was sent to me, which prompted me to purchase the band"s 2003 release, Soundtrack To Your Escape, but was disappointed with that certain album. While there are some enjoyable moments to for it, as a whole, Soundtrack To Your Escape didn"t seem to work well as an overall album. It lacked consistency. My plans before buying Soundtrack had been to buy the album Come Clarity because three of the four songs that had been sent to me for that album were my favorite of the fourteen songs I had. However, I then learned Come Clarity hadn"t even been released to the media yet. On Tuesday the Fourteenth of January, I planned to buy the new album at Best Buy, but when I first returned home that day from school I learned my brother had already bought the album without even revealing his intentions to do so to me. After both listening to the album a few times, we each liked what we heard, and I announced that I want to review the album. However, there was a problem. My brother is a member of Sputnikmusic too, and he wanted to review it also. Seeing as he was the one who bought it, I couldn"t argue with him, but four days passed, and he hadn"t typed a single word. I asked him if he was going to write anything on it, and he said he wouldn"t get it right, so he told me I could write it instead.
This is excellent, because I have plenty to say about In Flames" new album,
Come Clarity.
I"d like to reiterate what some of the problems that I found with Soundtrack To Your Escape were to begin this review with. As already said, it (STYE) did have some nice moments, but things such as repetitiveness, and lack of instrumental prowess is what kept it from being impressive. Plus, In Flames had made themselves known for their technical, Swedish death metal playing, but had seemed to go on a route more oriented towards nu-metal. This must have been a strong disappointment for the long-term fans of In Flames, and put doubt in their minds for their next album. Now, from what I"ve heard of their older material, Come Clarity is not going back to the bands beginnings. Instead, what the band did do with Come Clarity was basically take Soundtrack To Your Escape, and improve on the severe faults it was ridden with.
I like Anders Friedman"s vocal work for this record. He usually starts songs off heavy with screaming, and eventually slows down, and churns out a smooth chorus that I think fits the music well most of the time. He also manages to convey strong emotions through both his vocals, and lyrics. When I heard
Leeches fully for the first time I knew that it was going to be one of the best songs Come Clarity would have to offer even though its" only the second song. The straightforward riffs along with the sweet programming hook me in every time I listen to the song, and Anders" best chorus I"ve ever heard from him is delivered. His singing is immaculate. It was also surprising when listening to it to hear a solo on it because Soundtrack To Your Escape had been solo-less for the most part.
Dead End came as a super-sweet surprise. Sweeping bass, and guitar riffs open the song up, and soon after the tender voice of female vocalist, Lisa Miskovsky. She sings a few beautiful verses (listening to her voice you would have no clue the lyrics are rather depressing) before Anders comes in, and responds with more verses. The chorus features the pair singing together epically with the lines,
"Scream your lungs out. Wait for laughter. You don"t have to wait forever. Here"s the next disaster." This is purely a superb song, and is only to be made better with yet another guitar solo. Now, that guest appearance from Lisa was more than appreciated to bring some individuality to the song, but I wouldn"t have expected more guest vocals on the track right after it.
Scream is one of the more brutal songs of Come Clarity, with heavy double bass, unrelenting guitar riffs, and no clean singing from Anders, or guest vocalist Upsala Poker. The main chorus is of the pair trading back and forth while screaming,
"They scream, you scream, I scream, but no one listens". The title-track,
Come Clarity is a step back in terms of heaviness, but is still an amazing song that starts off with some chime-ish guitar playing with looming drums in the background that are then joined by a second guitar, and then Anders soothing vocals that end up leading to the second best chorus of the album. It was a great choice to put the song in this part of the album to come right after one of the heavier songs of the album. Believe it, or not, I haven"t even touched on what the standout track is, yet. That incredible honor would go to the song
Crawl Through Knives. This song is the reason I wanted to buy Come Clarity. It seems the perfect In Flames song to me, and I had always figured that it would be the first single for the album. I can barely even explain how much I love this song. The first part of it is purely dominated by guitar riffs, that soon transitions into a verse that keeps the guitars dominant, and then the pre-chorus where the drums are mixed up a little higher. After that is a quick drum fill that leads straight into a short chorus. Unlike a few of the other songs, the chorus isn"t really one of the better parts of the song. Instead, the guitar riffs, and verses is what makes the song superb for me. With a little over a minute left in the song a short, slow-paced guitar solo enters that feels appropriate, then goes into the chorus again that repeats a few times before ending.
Through, and through, Come Clarity is a much stronger record than Soundtrack To Your Escape, and is also enjoyable for the whole length of the album. There isn"t too much filler, but is slightly present in later songs such as
Vacuum, which almost feels related to metalcore somewhat, and that is usually never good. The song is boring, has uninspired guitar riffs, and the chorus from Anders feels extremely out of place. As I understand it, Soundtrack To Your Escape had six videos for its album, and this could easily happen again for Come Clarity because many songs are actually worthy of it. Remember though, if you are an older fan of In Flames, and absolutely despised Soundtrack To Your Escape, you will find a few enjoyable songs on here, but as a whole it will be a disappointment. However, if you considered Soundtrack average, or good then you will dig this album up because they polished the songwriting up with better guitar riffs, and a less amount of filler.
Top Tracks: Leeches, Reflect the Storm, Dead End, Crawl Through Knives
Kripes" gives In Flames" Come Clarity a strong recommendation.
