Review Summary: Come Clarity is far from being the best In Flames album, but it definitely has one thing: Energy
It seems that every kid these days that gets into heavy music has at least heard of In Flames. To the casual observer, this would seem to happen suddenly. After all, this used to be a band spoken highly of only in the underground melodeath scene, along with
At the Gates,
Dark Tranquillity, and to some extent,
Soilwork. However, after releasing such fan favorites as
The Jester Race and
Colony, it was only a matter of time before they would gain recognition outside of this scene…and it seems as if they were quite eager for it. 2002’s
Reroute to Remain featured arguably some of the most melodic, accessible work done yet, and two years later
Soundtrack to Your Escape took a huge turn, and convinced some fans to cry “Sell-out” and leave altogether, proclaiming it the worst album of their career. This album was extremely experimental, featuring even more simplistic yet heavier guitar, with Industrial and, some would say “Nu-metal” overtones. The singles
The Quiet Place and
My Sweet Shadow were some of the band’s biggest hits to date, receiving MTV play.
This brings us to
Come Clarity, which many hoped would return to the glory days. The band claimed it to be a mix of their older sound and newer sound. This assumption is mostly correct, as album opener and very popular
Take This Life starts off with the same down-tuned chug-riff reminiscent of
Soundtrack to Your Escape, which has been in the band’s recent sound, and then develops into a very energetic twin-guitar melody during the bridge that harkens back to perhaps
Whoracle. Something that also becomes apparent is the solo, of which there is now a short one in every track. The drumming is nothing out of the ordinary, but it fits the job pretty well. There is a very immediate sense of in-your-face emotion in singer Anders’s harsh vocals; this performance is probably one of his most sincere in a while.
Reflect the Storm is our next standout track, and starts with a light guitar melody that almost seems to warn of something big to come. This is soon backed up with that heavy riffing and Anders’s trademark screams, until the chorus, where he takes a break to go into singing that almost hints of a whine, yet sound almost hypnotically saddening. I understand Anders’s attempt to bring more emotion, however some like myself find it a bit abrasive, and it could be likened to the type of vocals that mainstream “emo” or Pop-punk bands prefer to use. Yet it has a nice short solo that would never be said band’s repertoire.
With the next song,
Dead End, we go back to the up-front sound and it is pretty much your standard heavy In Flames tune until we hear the soft female vocals courtesy of Lisa Miskovsky. These are soon interspersed with Anders’s screaming to make for a very nice contrast. It makes me wonder why they don’t just hire a female vocalist to handle the clean vocals instead, because this is much more pleasant than Ander’s whine.
The next two tracks are a huge contrast.
Scream reminds me of a Hardcore band’s anthem. It gets a lot of flak, but I find it to be quite entertaining and headbang-inducing.
The title track is the ballad of the album. It starts out with an acoustic intro and quickly goes into a terribly simple distorted guitar riff while Anders does his whining. It actually sounds a lot like a
Flyleaf or
maybe Paramore song. Even the singing sounds incredibly similar, but then I remember it is a male. It does have a decent solo, however.
After this horribly mainstream-sounding title track, the next handful of songs are a lot more straightforward. None of them particularly feature as much contrast as all the previous tracks do, and as a result may seem of lesser quality at first listen. This is far from truth, as it is my favorite half, and they all are straight-up competent melodic metal tracks with almost none of Anders’s whining. When they do feature clean singing, it actually fits and is closer to actual singing.
Crawl Through Knives is another popular track, and a prime example. If he would actually use that kind of clean singing in the title track, I might actually listen to it more. Songs such as
Vanishing Light feature
Children of Bodom-esque melodies and clean interludes. It almost reaches the magic of the mid-era albums.
Almost. But in a quite different way.
The album’s finale,
Your Bedtime Story is Scaring Everyone, sounds like a leftover from
Soundtrack to Your Escape, and is actually a tad scary and perhaps sad in the beginning. It is simply a slow piano chord melody played with static of what sounds like recordings of a radio. Until about the last minute or two, when we are received with a short mediocre “song” that sounds like it was part of an unfinished one that they didn’t know what the hell to do with. Then it recedes back into the said static piano.
In conclusion,
Come Clarity is not the flop the elitist crowd would say it is, but it is far from being the best In Flames album. It does have traces of the “commercial virus” and perhaps feeling a bit tired, but it is still heavy as ***, and definitely has one thing: Energy. And that in and of itself makes for an enjoyable listen. It shows hope that they still have the potential to create another classic album. Although, if this one is any indication, it will be in a totally different form than the In Flames that created
The Jester Race. That is something I am ready for, but plenty of fans still stuck in the 90s are not.
