In Flames Challenge - Lunar Strain

Josh here. (I type that because, in theory, John or Ben[also doing the In Flames Challenge {just Ben, not John, but sweet nested parenthetical}] could post also post at any time, and if Ben is like "When I heard Come Clarity, there arose within my cold, blackened and desolated heart, an harmonious awakening of beauteous sadness" I don't want you to think that's me. I would never say that, and I hate when you speak American English and needless put "an" before a pronounced "h".)

Lunar Strain (1994)
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Good first Challenge entry. Really set a good tone. What a great first record for a band to have, sort of.

I had high hopes for this one, which were sort of not met. Disappointment was mitigated, however, because the good songs on here are SO SO good.

Upon and Oaken Throne is, to this day, one of my favorite In Flames songs.

Starforsaken and Lunar Strain are bonkers good!

Behind Space kicks the hell out of it's latter-day re-recorded version, and Clad in Shadows almost does, too, but it's super short, and that solo is tough to enjoy having heard the re-imaging.

All in all, the songs I like on here, I REALLY love. My problem started at track four. Dreamscape pulled me in a compelling riff from a song I hadn't heard in awhile, but by 1:30 I had determined that there were no vocals and that this was basically a waste of my time. Dreamscape kicks off 13 MINUTES OF BORING, NOT-AT-ALL-SICK-BLACK-METAL-INSPIRED-GOTHENBURG-METAL. WHAT?! Why? talk about a momentum killer! Plus I figured out Hargallatan on acoustic guitar when I was like 13 and whenever I heard that or the intro to Starforsaken, it's stuck in my head all day. Turns out I haven't listened to those four filler tracks (IN A ROW!) - Dreamscape, Everlost Part 1, Everlost Part 2 and Hargallatan, since I got the album in high school, and will probably not ever listen to them again.

It gets a 3.5 out of 5 goats thrown just for having Upon an Oaken Throne. I should get a nifty Goats Thrown graphic for this, and future music reviews. Or maybe something eviler, cuz it's metal. 3.5 Pentagram point? 7 out of 10 virgins sacrificed? 466.2 out of 666 skulls? Still, solid record with some great songs. Loved, not every minute, but like 75% of the minutes of it.