In Flames has yet again hit the Metal world with a, needless to say, incredible album. Come Clarity is the best that I've heard from In Flames since Reroute To Remain. Don't get me wrong, Soundtrack To Your Escape was awesome, but in my opinion Reroute was better. Come Clarity has taken the boys back to the In Flames we all know and love and have even added few surprising touches here and there that make this album one of their best yet.
The album starts off brutal as hell. Take This Life starts with head thrashing guitars, an evil bass line, and mind blowing drums. It progresses into a thick chunky groove, then Anders comes in with his raw, growling vocals. The song has a nice catchy chorus which leads back into the slamming music. I think this was a perfect song to start the album off with. Then it starts to go in a bit of a different direction with Leeches. In the beginning, everything reminds me of Dimmu Borgir meets Static X but then it goes into the chorus which has a Soilwork feel to it. It's like they took In Flames, threw them in a blender with a little bit of Black Metal and synthesizers and this is what came out. A wonderful collaboration. Yet again, the album takes a bit of a twist with the next track. Have you've ever wondered what Dream Theater would sound like if they went Death Metal? Reflect The Storm will give you a good idea of what that may sound like. This track is Heavy Metal with a melodic touch. In Flames created a masterpiece with this one.
Dead End, which features Swedish vocalist Lisa Miskovsky, is an awesome song. I can't get into the female vocal style that's in this song. It's almost like they got Evanescence to help them write it. However, Lisa does have a beautiful voice and I think she and In Flames made this a wonderful song. And I hope I don't sound like I'm bashing but Scream is my least favorite of the album, only because some of the lyrics remind me of the catch phrase I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Sorry guys, I just had to say it.
But that's ok, they completely made up for it with the following song. I think every Metal band should have a song like this one, one that makes you want to grab your lover and just f...well, you know. Come Clarity starts out with an exquisitely beautiful guitar line mixed with a smooth bass, leading into Anders' entrancing vocals which give such emotion to the song, it captivates my mind. The vocal effects used, along with the lyrics, give an almost erotic setting. Definitely one of my favorite tracks. But then Vacuum kills the sultry mood with grinding guitars and vocals and pounding drums. The drum work in this song is amazing but he's an amazing drummer anyway. The overall grindcore feel to the song will keep you thrashing.
Once again with the fucking incredible drum work, Pacing Death's Trail delivers another body shaking experience. I really dig the string work in this song, very technical, fast paced and thrashy. I love songs like this. Crawling Through Knives is straight up In Flames with their notorious guitar style, thumping bass lines (I like to hear bass lines like these) and Anders' signature vocals and have I mentioned the drums...damn, that man is good.
Even though it's very hard for me to say a negative word about In Flames, Versus Terminus didn't catch my ear. It's not a bad song at all, just didn't strike me as anything special. Then all of a sudden In Flames throws a curve at you with Our Infinite Struggle. It starts with their natural aggressiveness but out of nowhere goes into this almost Opeth style of light Metal, then jumps right back into the slamming...brilliant. Now to finish off with the violence, Vanishing Light will be the song responsible for you getting punched in the face. The incredible guitar work along with the chest thumping bass and relentless drumming, gives this song a good moshing feel. It'll just make you wanna jump in the pit and kick someone's ass.
The production in this album was very precise, especially with the bass. There are a lot of albums where the bass isn't loud enough but you can definitely hear it here. Overall the album fucking slams from what I can hear anyway. I had to review the promo version of this album so I didn't get to hear the full thing, only about three quarters of every song. But from what I can tell, it's gonna be a must have. I know you'll start headbanging immediately. I know I did. Come Clarity comes out on February 7th in the U.S. through Ferret Records and February 3rd in Europe through Nuclear Blast, so check it out.