6/2/06

IN FLAMES / COME CLARITY

Progression is a key element in evolutionary development, adapt and survive or stagnate and die, what’s true in evolution is just as true in the world of Metal and this is a lesson In Flames have been keen to learn as Come Clarity is another small key step in their development.

If you compare this CD to say "The Jester Race" the difference is vast, in fact its almost impossible to believe it’s the same band but if you compare say "Reroute" to "Come Clarity" you can see how it happened, slow but definite progression. This is modern Melodic Death Metal second to none and others are starting to follow suit, look at Soilwork and Raunchy to name but two. So what of the material, well if you liked the last couple of albums you will love this, "Leeches" is as fine a piece of Modern Death Metal as you will find anywhere and second to none, tight crunchy guitars with strong hooks, plenty of interesting keyboard fills and just enough Melody all tied together with intelligent lyrics and bundled into under 5 minutes of pure pleasure.

Other stand out tracks include; "Scream", "Take This Life", "Facing Death’s Trail", "Crawl Through Knives" and the acoustic driven title track has to be heard, not to mention "Dead End" and that’s something the band have not reached and hopefully never will. The initial copes come with a free DVD with live rehearsal videos for all the tracks, the band just keep getting better and better and at this rate it will be interesting to see what they sound like in 5 years time, I for one cant wait. The world cannot ignore In Flames anymore, buy or miss out.

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 48 mins + 14 TRACKS