This was tough. Unfortunately, this was every bit as bad as I recall it being. I remember being appalled that In Flames would pawn this off on a theretofore loyal fan base. I remember trying very hard to enjoy the good riffs in spire of the bad riffs, and I remember, ultimately, shelving the record and hoping that they would recover.
Since then, I've repeatedly decided to not sell this record, because I've basically got the whole collection, and it's worth more to Completionist Josh than it is to reason, likes music Josh.
According to the Wikipedia entry
The album saw a major change in musical style and was In Flames' first considerable step in the direction of a new sound, and was met with rejection among many of their fanbase.
On the the review:
The first song, Reroute to Remain, sets a precedent for most newer In Flames songs I've listened to. Some synthy shit, just to let you know their not fuckin around trying to metal, and a killer intro riff, to let you know they might be fuckin around trying to metal. I like the opening riff and the subsequent lead, and I LOVE the quick drive from 30 seconds to 32 seconds, where it sounds like it's going to be a hardcore song. I'm on board with this song till the garbage effects washy noodly keyboard chorus. It's downhill from here.
As the record rolls on, we're treated to lots more awful clean singing and breakdowns that can't really compete with breakdowns being done by their contemporaries. This is a great example of In Flames sort of espousing the metalcore aesthetic, but not well.
In short, after Reroute to Remain:
System is awful. The metalcore parts of it are weak.
Drifter was ok, but it should have been a Haunted Song. They would have given it more edge. In fact, I'm going to wash the taste of this out my ears by listening to Exit Wounds, which came out last year and was stellar.
Trigger sort of has a lead. Who cares?
Cloud Connected is the worst song. Recycled 80's garbage. It sounds like Cars by Gary Numan.
I don't remember Transparent at all - I mostly hate it. I would like the chompy blast beat if it was a Broken Hope song. It has an ok "solo" and a neat end part.
Dawn of a New Day is garbage with a fantastically uncreative title.
Egonomic is my pick for best song on the record, I actually really enjoyed it. I think I may have never listened to the album past here, because I vaguely remember this song, but not much else from this point on. Egonomic is great, though. It's got a sweet groove part and the singy part isn't garbage.
Minus sounds like a slow Clayman hold over and it's got a couple of leads that sound like older In Flames, but overall, it's bad.
How long is this record? Too long.
Dismiss the Cynic is tolerable.
Free Fall: Nothing predisposes me to not like a song like an intro that sounds like a music box.
Dark Signs has some tolerable parts, but the singing parts make it intolerable.
Metaphor is terrible. It's a whole different, much worse band. Even by the standards of this record, it sucks.
I don't remember Black and White, literally at all, but it is not great - I assume it's about racism or acceptance or something that's probably way more faceted and complicated that Anders is able to express in 4 minutes, in broken English, no less. This was a bad experience and I'm glad it's over.
All in all - In Flames has lost all of their rock and roll edge and they're starting to sound like old guys who've lost of their metal edge, as well. All of the vocals have too many effects, especially the clean vocals, and I think that's by design. I have a theory that, as this point, the know Anders isn't a good singer and their covering it up.
I don't want to give this album the lowest score. What if another album is worse? Plus, there are parts I like, and Egonomic, in spite of the stupid title, is a pretty good song. Egonomic's singy chorus is like an anthem for In Flames at this point in their career - "Every day in every way, we are getting weaker." Too much? Definitely.
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