In Flames Challenge - Siren Charms

2014's Siren Charms


"Forgettable" is how I would describe this album. I listened to it on Friday and, as I sit here on Tuesday, all lasting impression is gone. This album came and went and was fine, I guess.

I have notes from when I listened to it, though:

The all clean vocal songs make it feel more proggy, which isn't terrible, I guess. Like listening to the second Sons of Aurelius album:


After falling in love with the first Sons of Aurelius album:

Ultimately, it took some getting used to, but I like both albums now. I commented that, similarly, maybe I could get to like newer In Flames. That was past-Josh. Present Josh is much less open-minded.

It's more industrial metal or nu-metal than or Alt Metal than other In Flames.

There are several notes saying that I'm not enjoying it.

I compared part of a song to Creed.

I apparently really didn't like when the World Exploded (dumb title).

I noted that my mind wandered alot, again. For instance, how does writing in In Flames work? Like, does one guy come in with some heat like "Hey guys, I have this gnarly metal riff" and everyone gets pumped and Anders is like "yeah, then I can cry-yell over this part and we'll layer in some synths" and everyone just begrudgingly agrees, because they're getting paid, or are they all on board with this nonsense?

I commented that Rusted Nail started promising, but would turn bad, then it turned bad.



I don't remember much about this listen, so here's what other people have to say:

The album Charted well, for the most part. #1 on Swedish, Finnish and US Hard Rock charts

It was not universally loved, #87 on French charts - they do not give a shit about alternative metal.

Allmusic.com says it's: 

"a bit too casual... a solidly written and executed metal album" and that fans of the bands latest material will likely enjoy it.

An About.com reviewer says it's:

"not the abomination some have made it out to be."

Sputnikmusic says it's:

"an unforgivable misstep containing oversights in both songwriting and execution that such a veteran band should be able to spot and correct."

I think those are probably accurate-ish. Ultimately, the guitar work is on point. The vocals and the general performance are not. If this is your thing, whatever it is, then it's a great example of this thing. One with stellar guitar work and dynamic song writing at times, synth washes and very emotive vocals at others. It strikes me as music that would get angst-riddled teens into Soilwork and Dark Tranquility. Ultimately, not for me.




So what now, you ask? The Challenge is over, you say? There are no more In Flames albums, you propose! NAY, I SAY TO THEE!

I found Battles on a Russian metal blog. Up next, 2016's Battles!

In Flames Challenge - Sounds of a Playground Fading

2011's Sounds of a Playground Fading


First - the title is the worst. I hope it's a "lost in translation" thing.

Second, I don't know how much real review I have for this album. But first, it's an official video party:

Sounds of Playground Fading


Where Dead Ships Dwell - go to around 2 minutes - killer solo. That's one of two cogent memories I have about this record.

Deliver Us


That said - these are a pretty accurate representation of the record. It's all fine, I guess. Most songs have cool parts, but overall feel nu-metallish. The vocals are all pretty terrible.

So I remember three things from this record:

Where Dead Ships Dwell is an  un-stellar song with a stellar solo, by late-period In Flames standards.

The Attic is a terrible song. Hated it. I didn't like Ropes, but Anders sings without any additional effects, which is ballsy and not awful on Ropes.

This album was powerfully mediocre. It failed to hold my attention. My mind kept wandering while I was listening and I zoned out for vast swaths of the record. You have to understand - I listen to these in the car on the way to and from work. It's the only time I can listen to music, so it's me and my radio and sitting still in rush out traffic.

So, while sitting still, with nothing to focus on but this music and the inner workings of my mind.
Two instances come to mind.

First, I found myself actually humming a Dimension Zero song, because Jesper Stromblad posted lyrics to the song on Facebook that day, filling me with hopes for a new Dimension Zero album. It was this song (so good)

Later, I found myself thing about Archer. I think here's how I ended up there:
I went from Ander's vocals
to singing vs screaming
to coughing
to coughing blood as a death metal thing
to my death metal band (Servant Girl Annihilator)
to that band's unrealized drunk cover-album idea called Monsters of Rot
to thinking about other title puns like something on Now That's What I Call Music (no joke - How Splats Blood I Scrawl Music)
to sex puns (Now That's What I Call Blown Dick?)
to sex
to the part in Archer where it's a flashback of the blonde guy (Barry?) who was kidnapped with Lana and he deflected the laser with a mirror and he's like "Sorry I'm inside you right now" because they were tied up together naked
to Archer

Not attention grabbing music.

So unattention-grabbing, in fact, that when I grabbed the full album video from Youtube, the advertisement was a full length official video for a whole other band. Not a great band either.



Anyway, long story short - furiously forgettable record. Decent riffs, sometimes, but not great. Two goats. Also, maybe this takes the cake for most videos in a post.

In Flames Challenge - A Sense of Purpose

2008's A Sense of Purpose


This one will be short, too, I think. Increasingly, I'm finding that later In Flames is very stylistically consistent. It's musically fine, I guess, but the vocals are too voicy and emotive. I think Anders was not a great singer, and he is really not a good clean singer at all, and he's ruining it for me. Even if he just didn't sing, I wouldn't mind these later records. But he does, so I do.

This was the last record with Jesper Stromblad. He should do more Dimension Zero,

Disconnected, a song that I didn't enjoy, was in a Guitar Hero game, woot woot.

Anders says "shit" on this record, which is the only In Flames song with cursing that I can think of. I'm proud of them, though. I didn't think they had a deep enough grasp of English to drop metaphoric gems (actually, it's a simile... so simileric gems?) like "I feel like shit." again, woot woot.

According to Wikipedia, according to sputnikmusic:

 "...A Sense of Purpose shows getting rid of what was intrinsically In Flames, the harmonies. Now in their place are hackneyed synth passages and down tuned nu-metal style riffing. In an attempt to grab the attention of the fans of nu-metal's corpse, In Flames have stuck it to their old fans, again ... I'm sorry to say it, but In Flames are out of any worthwhile ideas. They even admit it in the opening track of the album, 'Without even trying' shrieks Anders on 'The Mirror's Truth'. At least he's being honest."

By and large, I agree. Way to go In Flames. The last track was my favorite one, it was like 10% better than the other songs.

In Flames Challenge - Come Clarity

Come Clarity (2006)


Not much to say about about this one, although I was pleasantly surprised.

This album does have an official video it's not very good, the song or the video.


First off, the art doesn't work for me. Derek Hess art says Converge, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, American Hardcore, Hellfest poster, maybe. Not Swedish metal. I definitely own this CD, but I don't know if I ever listened to it, and I blame, in part, the artwork.

The music, though, is not actually that bad. It's a little standard for the mid-aughts, so there weren't really any standout tracks for me, but it's fairly aggressive and face paced. The writing is pretty good and the guitar performances are on point. I think I would really like this record if it weren't for the vocals, and if I'd listened to it more when it was new, I'd probably have liked it then, too.

The clean vocal performances are getting better. Not my cup of tea, but Anders is doing better, I guess. They're moving away from over-dubbing and effects-drenching the vocals, and it's less whiny. His screams, however, are more whiny. There are alot dirty scream/talk and scream/yelling vocals, and A TON of breathing into the microphone. Not a 5 star vocal performance.

As I listen to this record, I don't mind it, but it occurs to me that this is about when American Metalcore bands started to be less breakdowny and more just metal. When I should have been listening to In Flames, I was listening to this:



And this:



And This:



And This:



There's just no comparing. That said, this is the best In Flames record since Colony, shocked as I am to say it. Although the title track is pretty awful, and Your Bedtime Story is Scaring Everyone is TERRIBLE, just a waste of time, I think I sort of stand behind this record.

In Flames Challenge - Soundtrack To Your Escape

Soundtrack To Your Escape (2004)


Short and sweet.

I remember hoping that this would be better than Reroute to Remain and it is. I also remember this being in regular rotation for a little while, particularly with my Servant Girl Annihilator drummer. I feel like maybe I'm misremembering that part - like maybe we listened to it once, all the way through, which is more than any late-period In Flames record, so by comparison, that's heavy rotation.

F(r)iend is good, dumb title.

Quiet Place has bad clean vocals, and a lot of that thing they do when they go from emo singing to screaming. It's lame, so is it's title.

Dead Alone is ok. As is it's title.

Touch of Red has a trick instrumental that's lame - they tricked me into listening to this instrumental, and the title isn't great.

Alot of it runs together at this point... I suspect it's a better record than Reroute To Remain, but I don't really like it. Evil in a Closet is the worst song, with the second worst title (Superhero of the Compter Rage?! Really?). The bloopy keyboard and that GIANT CHINA CYMBAL really pervade the record, kind of in a bad way.

In Search For I, despite it's title, is pretty dope, probably the best song on the record.

In general, this album sounds like Static-X and Slayer and a pop punk band had a baby. Generally the vocal performance is better and I think the band is better at using clean vocal parts at this point. It just doesn't sound like In Flames, except in tiny, tiny bursts. Also the song titles are stupid, but it's probably the most aggressive album since Jester Race or Lunar Strain, which gets it points in my book. I guess this sort of bodes well-ish for the next several albums of this challange.

In Flames Challanege - Reroute to Remain: Fourteen Songs of Conscious Madness (yuck!)

Reroute to Remain: Fourteen Songs of Conscious Madness (2002)


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.

In Flames Challenge - Clayman (the beginning of the end, or like, the second, less good half)

Clayman (2000)


Hrm.... this was disappointing. I remember liking this more in high school. I remember my first conversation with this guy I was friends with in high school, the infamous Frank Metal.

"You know In Flames?"

"Yeah! You like In Flames?"

"How great is Colony?!"

"I'm a Jester Race guy!"

"Whoracle, though!"

"Clayman is going to be incredible! Like Whoracle is here, Colony was here, Clayman is going be to, like..."

Predictably, after putting his hand here, right around chest level, then here, right around eye level, then, like, completely extend his arm straight up, hand indicating that Clayman would be the best, the highest level of achievable In Flames, it was not all that great. I remember us listening to it together, in someone's room, on a CD player, after we all bought our own personal copies of Clayman, and I think, maybe also we all bought a copy of Highest Beauty by In Thy Dreams (way better).

You could make a movie montage.

Three kids, one long hair, budding beard, clearly emulating Bjorn Gellotte's look, and two other guys, wearing probably the Machine Head years of the Dragon tee and a polo shirt, respectively:

We listen to it, Bullet Ride, super sweet intro STAR WIPE
The clean singing part of Bullet Ride, we're confused FOGGY DREAM FADE
Pinball Map, we're nodding our heads along to that sweet two-step, cuz we're hardcore kids at heard SMASH CUT
We're arguing over whether or not Only For the Weak is any Good INTERCUT
scenes the remaining couple of good parts and us looking tolerant and the many, many, many remaining clean parts and slow parts, and us looking disappointed and it finally degrades to us trying to justify the rest of the record.

My experience, now, was much the same, but with less In Flames Apologism.

I stand by Bullet Ride, Pinball Map and Swim, Another Day In Quicksand is ok, and Clayman is heavy and fast, but not good, per se. The rest is between meh and not great. Most songs have cool moments, promising riffs, good solos. The songs aren't as formulaic as they will eventually become, but Clayman largely does not hold up. Strong and Smart, on the special edition, is GREAT! I have that song, alone, on my iPod.