I think what makes In Flames' downfall even more shocking is the fact that these guys were completely unstoppable in the 90's. One of the best 5 album runs in history.
I think Lunar Strain is criminally underrated album and if I'm in a mood for some early In flames I usually listen to lunar strain or subterranean the most.
Personally however, they're both very uniniqe in my mind/ears/experice. Colony feels like a faster more insipred version of Whoracle to me, while Cayman is more dynamic, heavier burt at The same time quite easily digested early on when hearing it🤔
idk why everyone says this but i think reroute to remain is a significantly heavier album compared to clayman and their earlier style. furthermore, as a seasoned in flames fan, i think a sense of purpose is a severely underrated album on par with come clarity in my books. it inhabits a pretty unique place of melody within their discography and feels very cohesive because of that. songwriting is fantastic on it aswell.
Bc reroute and the next one have muddy ass production and are drowned out...every song blends together and they're some of the most skipped albums idk why come clarity was so much better just a couple years later in that regard but it's leaps and bounds better
I agree with RTR being heavier than Cayman, and at times deals with ever darker subjects too. You second statement however I'm totally on the other end and still think people praised that album way way too much😅
During this recording session the bandmembers barely met one another at all, and decided to just go with a standard Metal soundscape instead of continueing last effort's experimentations....
This is a pretty solid review and mostly fall in line with my personal feelings. A few songs on even their worst albums catch my ear but not in the way earlier releases did. That being said I’m really enjoying the singles from foregone immensely.
I remember I got into In Flames back in 2011 around the time before they released "Sounds Of Playground Fading" (which I know alot of people don't like it), which I was around 16 years old at that time. but then few months later I remember I found and bought "Colony" on CD and holy shit I was really into so much. Absolutely love the 90s era of this band (from The Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony and Clayman), Classic. Obviously the next ones after Sounds Of Playground Fading like Siren Charms and Battles was God awful. I, The Mask in my opinion maybe was a bit of a 50/50 album I like to call it, where half of the songs I do like others I find repetitive. So slightly better than the other two but not nearly enough. I do hope the new album "Foregone" will be a big step up to follow back to their old roots (or at least).
In Flames is right up there with Gojira, Tool, Mayhem, Trivium, and Deftones as beloved metal bands that never "clicked" with me for whatever reason. They just seemed like a dollar store version of much better bands in their own scene. Great video though. Excited for that Conker's stream.
Sounds of a Playground fading will always have a special place in my heart for being my first introduction to metal, despite all its flaws I'll always enjoy it. Those first 5 albums will always be king to me, along side Reroute and Come clarity which are also fun too!
Agreed, I was at the second show in 2012 after Soundtrack dropped and Trivium was a co-headline after they dropped In Waves... incredible show with Veil of Maya and Kyng
So excited they are attempting to return to their 2000s sound, never thought it would happen. Totally agree on Lunar Strain and surprised they still play songs off it. My gateway to them was Come Clarity and I do love that era as well, but was shocked when I went back to their older stuff at that point and could barely recognize the band at 1st. So I understand the dislikes. I also felt that sense of purpose was their last good album and definitely a fan of it. 1) Jester Race - 5 2) Come Clarity - 4.5 3) Whoracle - 4.5 4) Lunar Strain 4 5) A Sense of Purpose - 4 6) Clayman - 4 7) Reroute to Remain - 3.5 8) Colony - 3.5 9) Soundtrack to your Escape - 2.5 10) 2010s era - 0.5 I haven't listened to the 2010s era much. Not for me.
I love all In Flames, old and new. I just really wish they didn’t make Clayman 2020 😅🤦🏻♂️ no idea what they were thinking with that but 🤷🏻♂️ great video as always my Good man! 🤘🤘🍻
The remasters were actually good....the re records were rough lol. Will say the vocals on clayman itself were an improvement but the intro is ew, the instrumental track was better but bullet ride, OFTW and whatever the third one they redid all sucked (can't even remember bc I didn't ever relisten)
Great list and perspective! I've seen a few tier lists so far and it seems like the general consensus is that the mid/late 90's albums - and Clayman - are in a tier of their own. And understandably so. Now, since you asked: - Lunar Strain: Solid 3/5 - Jester Race: 3.5-4/5 (don't kill me for this one. I don't hate it at all, faaar from it, Moonshield is one of my all time faves, the album in its entirety is just not for me). - Whoracle: 4/5 (Title Track, Food for the Gods and Jester Script absolutely fuck) - Colony: 4.5/5 (Zombie Inc. solo. Resin. Episode 666. Colony. Need I say more?) - Clayman: 5/5 (Bangers front to back) - Reroute to Remain: 3.5/5 (Bunch of epic tracks impacted by weird mixing) - Soundtrack To Your Escape: 3/5 (Those drums man ... why does the splash cymbal sound like that) - Come Clarity: 4.9/5 (My personal favourite. Mixing, brutal bass tone, amazing drums, fun synth use, harmonics, Dead End with Lisa Miskovsky is on there, PDT is hype af. Taking 0.1 points off for the ending of the final track. That part is a skip. Else this is another front to back). - A Sense of Purpose: 2.5/5 (Right down the middle. Didn't hate it, didn't love it either) - Sounds of a Playground Fading: 3/5 (I thought this album had its bangers. *THAT* part of A New Hope will never not give me chills. I don't really care if IF we're generally considered "mediocre" here. I used to put them in these boxes too, so I get it, but nowadays I've come to appreciate both new and old. - Siren Charms: 2/5 (Honestly, some of the tracks are pretty good. Some.) Battles: 1/5 (Yeah) I, The Mask: 2.5/5 (Middle of the road again. The highs are high, but the lows are low) Clayman 2020: 2/5 (Remasters are 4.5/5. Remakes are ... Look I appreciate the attempt, but it's a 1.5/5. - Foregone: 4/5 (What Deadpool & Wolverine is to post-Endgame MCU) SIDEQUESTS: Passenger: 4/5 (INCREDIBLY underrated grungy powerhouse of an album imo. S-tier choruses, heavy guitars, great mixing, great synths and keys. Taking a point off for when the lyrics get a teeny bit too edgy for me). Self Vs. Self: 6/5 (Perfection. My two favourite bands collaborating on a track blew my damn mind) I fucking love In Flames. Always have, always will. Even through the relative lows. Gonna be seeing them for the first time in my life for the near two decades I've been a fan in a few weeks. Stupid excited.
MY Top In Flames 14. I, The Mask (Call My Name is banger) 13. Battles (Us Against The World) 12. Lunar Strain (Clad In Shadows with Stanne !) 11. The Jester Race (The Jester Race) 10. A Sense Of Purpose (Alias) 9. Clayman (Only For The Weak) 8. Reroute To Remain (Transparent) 7. Come Clarity (Scream) 6. Sounds Of A Playground Fading (Darker Times) 5. Colony (Coerced Existence) 4. Soundtrack To Your Escape (Like Your Better Dead) 3. Foregone 2. Whoracle 1. Siren Charms
It's a bit early to do a ranking albums for inflames when their new album comes out in February . On February 10th. They only have a new song out meet your maker
Since you're a big fan of early In Flames like I am, you must listen to the single of the new band signed to 20 Buck Spin called Majesties. The song is called "The World Unseen" and the album is called " Vast Reaches Unclaimed." Album comes out March 3rd! Holy hell it's the second coming of early In Flames! It seriously could be a lost track from Subterranean or The Jester Race.
This is a top 5 band for me. When Come Clarity dropped I was in high school, metalcore and nu metal was everything on radio/tv and that album blew my fucking mind blending the two with their melodeath sound. And I would go back into their discography and just be floored by how amazing this band is. Thanks for not being boring like everyone else that talks about this band and whine for 20 mins about how everything from 02 to present is ass. It’s truly not and it’s safe to say in hindsight in flames and meshuggah formed the modern metal landscape.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think A Sense of Purpose is underrated. Sounds of a Playground was halfway decent and then they absolutely shit the bed on Siren Charms. They really suffered from Jesper's departure.
Yo, Meltdown! Pantera have announced a North American tour with Lamb of God and they will be in Toronto at Budweiser Stage on August 12th! You never got to see the Abbott brothers, so you must be kind of bummed.
I agree that Lunar Strain is underrated. The Jester Race is my favourite In Flames album. I found it hard to get into this band with so many uninspired albums. I have some hope for Forgone, they released 5 really good songs. Hopefully they have 5 more equally as good songs for the album. Killer vid
Inflames finished their career with Clayman then became Anders pet project posing like swedish metal Korn. Best album Is Colony. Whoracle and Jester Race close second.
Lunar Strain: 3,5/5 Jester Race: 4,5/5 Whoracle: 4/5 Colony: 4,5/5 Clayman: 5/5 Reroute to Remain: 3,5/5 Soundtrack to Your Escape: 3,5/5 Come Clarity: 3,5/5 Sense of Purpose: 2,5/5 Sounds of a Playground Fading: 2/5 Siren Charms: 1,5/5 Battles: 0,5/5 I The Mask: 1,5/5
Lunar Strain - 5/5 The Jester Race - 4.5/5 Whoracle - 5/5 Colony - 4.5/5 Clayman - 4.5/5 Reroute To Remain - 4.5/5 Soundtrack To Your Escape - 3.5/5 Come Clarity - 4.5/5 A Sense Of Purpose - 4/5 Sounds Of A Playground Fading - 4.5/5 Siren Charms - 4/5 Battles - 4/5 I, The Mask - 4/5 Thanks for showing Lunar Strain some much-needed love❤.
I think In Flames has always been surpassed by just about all their Swedish peers. Hypocrisy, Opeth, Soilwork, At The Gates, Amon Amarth, Dissection, Dismember, Entombed, Grave, etc.
@@themetalmeltdownofficial also great video, even though I've never really been into In Flames. I saw them live in 2019 with Within Temptation, and I didn't know any songs from either band. (There wasn't even a mosh pit at that show!) However, I heard The Jester Race few years later and liked it. Though, that's all I've heard from them due to that record's legend status. I've honestly have been kinda dreading this band because of how notoriously mediocre-awful half their discography is.
The last album I enjoyed was Sense of Purpose. That album was more of a personal album for me when it came out from a lot of issues that was going on at the time. My first album was Clayman because I saw an old live video where they performed Bullet Ride, Pinball Map, and Embody the Invisible (Colony I know but yeah). My ranking: Lunar Strain: 2.5/5 Subterranean: I don’t remember if this is an EP or not… 2.5/5 Jester Race: 5/5 Whoreacle: 4.5/5 Colony: 4.5/5 Clayman: 4/5 Reroute to Remain: 3.5/5 Soundtrack to Your Escape: 3.5/5 Come Clarity: 4/5 Sense of Purpose: 4/5 (more personal but I do agree with the production… if personal wasn’t I would say 3.5/5) Sounds of a Playground Fading: 2.5/5 Siren Charms: 1.5/5 Battles: 1.5/5 I The Mask: 2/5 They are one of my favorite bands but god damn the 2010’s era was a bad time. I am cautiously excited for the new album from the singles. Oh the Clayman EP 0.5/5. It’s insulting.
Clayman is actually great on the remasters..the re records tho eh..claymans vocals are better itself but only for the weak and bullet ride are butchered
Just found your channel and thoroughly enjoyed the reviews. Reminded me of my Gothenburg-era years. Now excuse me while I go listen to Slaughter of the Soul
Harsh for the later albums but I get it. TBH I love Come Clarity, it was my In Flames gateway album and I got to discover the joy of digging into the back catalogue used to play them on repeat. That I can not say for post Come Clarity albums. I, the Mask is better than Sirens, Battles and Sounds and mostly better than sense. However for an album to hit a 3 for me it has to have no skippable tunes and I, the Mask has a few. Stay With me is a sleep fest and the awful gang vocals in (This is Our) House and I can't get into Deep Inside. The album really finishes with nothing to say. Forgone has me excited though, I doubt we'll get another great album at this point I would settle with good. I do note that Ander's clean work has gotten exceptionally better the last albums gave us that. I have no problem recommending anything up to including Come clarity and often recommend Come Clarity or Soundtrack as albums with much more substance than what was typical of the Metalcore/Alternative albums at the time.
Ooooh Inflames….. yeah interesting Discog to say the least lmao. But when they were good they were REALLY Good. I’m hesitantly excited for Foregone the singles have been promising, hope the Guys can put it all together. An In Flames Comeback I would easily accept. S: Jester Race, Colony A: Lunar Strain, Whoracle B: Clayman, Reroute to Remain, A Sense of Purpose C: Come Clarity D: Soundtrack to your escape, Sounds of a Playground Fading, I the Mask F: Siren Charms, Battles WTF: Clayman 2020
i agree with every thing you said !! you got to give some love to the song "where the dead ships dwell' that song is melodic and the guitar solo is jester race style!!
In Flames up to Come Clarity are my favourite MDM band and very important to me personally since they were one of the first ones that got me into heavier music, with Clayman, Colony and Whoracle being my top 3 from them. In Flames post...say A Sense of Purpose (that album had its moments, imo) are pretty sad and not in intended way (especially Battles, that album legit sucked and wasn't just very boring like Siren Charms or I the Mask), but singles for new album are promising so hopefully, it'll be good
@@alexddragame I'm not even sure why they bothered with it, a standard vinyl re-issue or an anniversary tour would've done the job just fine. But nope, gotta crap on some classics.
@@alexddragame the re-recording of those handful of songs really were disappointing , the extra intro they put on clayman thou was kind of cool but the vocals and mixing production was abysmal.wouldve settled for demos & bonus tracks
Just tattooed the Jester's mascot a couple of weeks ago lol they're one of my favorite metal bands of all time! Of course the 1990s/2000s era Here we go: Lunar Strain: 2.5/5 (Has some good songs but still feels like a side project ala Ceremonial Oath) The Jester Race: 5/5 (As you stated if you like metal but don't like this album, go check your head) Whoracle: 4/5 (A more ambitious, younger brother of Jester Race, shorter but still excellent!) Colony: 4.5/5 (Melodic as hell, this one gets the silver medal for me) Clayman: 4/5 (Love its production and it has some of their best songs! Their most popular for all the right reasons) Reroute to Remain: 4/5 (Imagine if it was more of the same, to me it's excellent for what it is. It still has some old school elements and the new ones fit perfectly on here) Soundtrack to Your Escape: 3.5/5 (Less melodic but it has tons of chunky riffs and many good songs. Clean vocals sound weird at times but a fun record overall) Come Clarity: 3.5/5 (This was my introduction to them. Guitars sound sharp as fuck and it's bloody amazing) A Sense of Purpose: 3.5/5 (I personally loved this one since it came out. More melancholy on the lyrics department and lots of great melodies!) Sounds of a Playground Fading: 1.5/5 (Sounds dry as fuck, hate the vocals, nothing truly stands out) Siren Charms: 2.5/5 (Sounds hella empty in places and has some awful songs, but SOMEHOW I liked it more than the last one) Battles: 1/5 (THE WORST OF THE WORST) I, the Mask: 1.5/5 (Just what I wrote on Sounds of a Playground Fading) Can't wait for Foregone, every new song sounded great so far.
I agree with the ratings for the most part. Supremacy of The Jester Race. I think A Sense of Purpose was the last album I enjoyed, I HATED it when it came out, but it really grew on me. Come Clarity is better, but ASOP from top to bottom has a lot of fun songs, like Sober & Irrelevant and Sleepless Again. The bonus tracks Tilt and Eraser should've made the album. They lost me at Sounds of a Playground onwards. Siren Charms is one of the worst albums I've ever heard, even Battles is better with a couple of decent hooks. A few of the newest singles off Foregone are decent. My ratings: Lunar 3/5 Jester 5/5 Whoracle 4.5/5 Colony 4.5/5 Clayman 4/5 Reroute 3.5/5 Soundtrack 3/5 Clarity 4.5/5 ASOP 4/5 SOAPF 1/5 Siren 0.5/5 Battles 1.5/5 Mask 1/5
@@themetalmeltdownofficial hah, I forgot that I have some fancy digipack of CC - playing it right now it is ok, but over the years my approach to music changed and nowdays I prefer other stuff. That is really sad what happend with this band :/
I’m glad they have turned back to good production with their new songs. The drums actually sound like they have punch again. Battles and I, The Mask sounded like beating a piece of paper.
The only In Flames albums I straight up despise are Siren Charms and Battles. You can make good to great EP’s from all their post Clayman era except the ones I mentioned.
Goliaths Disarm Their Davids is my favorite IF song, it's just raw and well-crafted; perfection. They were the answer for what I was looking for and melo-death has been my favorite genre since discovering them in the early 2000s. I stopped listening to anything newer than RTR, it was quite sad what they were becoming. I kept trying with every release, but they kept letting me down. Their newest release has piqued my interest again, so here's to hoping. I saw them live many times in those early days. I even saw Jag Panzer open for them once with Chris Broderick. \m/
I think after rtr they was getting a lot of love from the metal core scene bands like killswitch engage, shadows fall, as I lay dying. Unearth and so on was showing love for them and I think they fell in to the metal core a little bit. I have no problem with that cos them bands kick arse. As the albums went on you could see it getting watered down a little bit. I think the new album is gonna be a epic return to what they do best 😎
@@adamwood7597 I think their change in sound had alot to do with gaining popularity overseas in the US. European pedal is a little more adventurous melodically. I would say music here is alot more streamlined and that's reflected in their change in sound. The same thing happened with Children of Bodom.The album Hatecrew Deathroll was a major turning point for them. Their ex guitar player Rooper Latvala even confirmed that things changed once the US label started poking around.
I dunno if this is brought up, but I think which side of the In Flames fence you fall on depends on when you started listening to them. I didn’t start until the Come Clarity release, and fell in love. So everything from Clayman-Sense of Purpose are what I love. Colony rules too, but I don’t listen to the earlier ones much. Whoreacle some. I think those who started with the early, early stuff likely will stick with those as their fav era. Some days, Soundtrack to Your Escape or Reroute might even be my favorite albums
completely agreeing with your reviews, my favorite is come clarity for sure, for the exact reasons you mentioned, but other than that I would say the old in flames is the better in flames. The new record is not as bad as the last 5, but sadly not good enough ;(
Inflames wasn't the 1st band that got me interested in melodic death metal. I bought arch enemy's burning bridges and soil works the chain heart machine In 1998 and 1999. The 1st album I bought from inflames was colony. The 1st time I went to see inflames was on the clayman tour opening for slayer. That said, they are definitely one of the earlier melodic death metal bands I started listening to. Everything from the Jester race to clay man is a winner. You could pick anyone of those albums as your favorite and I really wouldn't have an argument against it. I haven't spent much time with lunar strain or subterranean. I might have to go revisit those. Here is my take on inflames whole career, Except for the 2 albums that I don't really know much about.. The Jester race to clayman= The best inflames has to offer. And really the only era worth Getting into. All 4 of these albums are great yet different from each other. One album is a little more folk- sy, one is a little more somber, One is a bit more power metal, One is a little bit more metal core leaning. Still every single one of these records is good. And sound like they came from the same band. Reroute to come clarity= Ranges from good to crap. But nothing touches great. This is an abrupt change in style. Reroute to come clarity sound like a nu metal band decided to record A melodic death metal record, With varying degrees of success. Ander's Davis, I mean Friden; Starts to get really annoying with his vocal techniques. It's a clear rip off of Korn. During this era they didn't quite throw all their creativity in the toilet, But they were becoming the Swedish Korn. Purpose to present day= Ranges from good on their absolute best to completely abysmal. Unfortunately, most of this falls towards the latter. There are a good few songs sprinkled through this decade plus era of mediocre to complete trash music. During this era, they went full Korn. When they are not trying to be either imagine dragons or some worthless alt rock band. The best song from this era by far is March to the shore. There are a few songs from this era that I genuinely like. But there are far many more that are just awful. Inflames in my opinion is worse than Metallica and Megadeth or any other band that completely try to change their identity Abruptly. Because those bands either a... Released one really bad album and Realized they fucked up. Or b... Release the few bad records once every 6 to 8 years. Inflames has been releasing mediocre crap since 2002. And they have released plenty of material in that time. They have been hammering this new direction that they want fans to like since reroute. It's been 20 years. Reroute was passable, the rest of the entire catalog we could do without And not care. Much like Metallica everybody likes the 1st 5 in flames records. I am not saying you gotta do that over and over again. Just use that as your core sound And expand from there. Expanding does not mean becoming nu metal or alt rock. That is called regressing.
Here’s how I’d rate every In Flames album. In Flames might have gone downhill in recent years, but their early albums are some of the absolute best in melodic death metal. Lunar Strain: 4/5 The Jester Race: 5/5 Whoracle: 4.5/5 Colony: 4.5/5 Clayman: 4.5/5 Reroute to Remain: 4/5 Soundtrack to Your Escape: 3/5 Come Clarity: 3.5/5 A Sense of Purpose: 3/5 Sounds of a Playground Fading: 3/5 Siren Charms: 2/5 Battles: 1.5/5 I, the Mask: 2.5/5
I'd note for Sounds, Siren Charms, Battles and I, The Mask, IF weren't signed with Nuclear Blast... it probably makes sense that the sound would be a bit different... don't really get all the hate on Sounds though, I did quite like that album.
I would rate Whoracle as slightly better than The Jester Race but yeah... After Colony they had nowhere to go but down. Clayman was good (massive production) but the writing was on the wall. A few good tracks here and there since then but overall... just one disappoinment after another. Forgone was a very welcome return to form.
1. Clayman 2. Come Clarity 3. The Jester Race 4. Colony 5. Whoracle 6. A Sense of Purpose 7. Reroute to Remain 8. Soundtrack to Your Escape 9. Lunar Strain 10. I, The Mask 11. Sounds of a Playground Fading 12. Siren Charms 13. Battles If I were to include Subterranean, it would be between SOAPF and Siren Charms, and if I were to include Clayman 2020, it would be rock bottom. Top 1-7 albums I absolutely adore, 8-10 I like a lot but there's some pushing flaws, SOAPF is eh, Siren Charms is eh-, and Battles I don't really like very much. I have very high hopes for Foregone though as I have loved every single that has come out so far.
Can't wait to hear your take on Foregone. I'm very excited but cautious because of the last few. I got on board In Flames after I heard sounds of a playground and made my way back through the albums, and not a single new release has been up to par since I discovered them. Jester Race and Colony are my favorite albums, Battles is by far the worst and is as you say, insulting. New singles have me hoping though as they're all pretty good!
Wow, the only album I’ve listened to is Sounds Of A Playground Fading which I listened to around the time it came out and I’ve never bothered with In Flames since. Maybe I better try the earlier the albums
I personally like the modern era way more than the early stuff those albums with the exception of some of the Jester Race really don’t do much for me I’d honestly listen to siren charms over stuff like whoracle and especially the debut which I genuinely just hate but I do kind of get the general distaste for the newish stuff. Reroute to Remain and Sounds of a Playground Fading are my personal favorite albums from theses guys but I gotta say that might change with the new album. The singles got me hyped as hell
Hot Take: for me, if it wasn't for Subterranean i wouldn't really have a problem with Lunar Strain, to me that debut is just fine, its not bad but its just not doing anything for me, i would of rather take off Behind Space, Everlost 1 and 2 and the title track and make Subterranean a full blown album and leave the debut album as a Self-Titled EP itself
Whoracle is my favorite album from In Flames. Love that album. Siren Charms and Battles are easily the worst. Also, This Is Our House, what an insanely corny bad song. I’ve been digging the singles we’ve gotten so far from Foregone. I have a signed CD preordered.
Very interesting video. I do have a history with this band, but I'm not a fan. I have been thinking about this especially since watching these kinds of videos on youtube from guys like you, Thralls, Questy -- and chatting about bands' whole discographies. I think there's a difference between being a fan of a band or artist and just enjoying some of their music -- let's say, a particular sound only. For me, In Flames is all about those sweet melodic guitars. To me, Lunar Strain in at least one aspect is *less* primitive than some of their later stuff: Definitely not in terms of production and experience, but in terms of guitars playing actual melodies, solos, dynamic electric and acoustic parts, more riffs per song. I know you don't do EPs and I'm not gonna change your mind, but in metal, there are some really important EPs out there, and In Flames has one of those: The Subterranean EP taht was released between Lunar Strain and The Jester Race. Honestly, as someone who first heard them in 1995/96, I don't remember Lunar Strain making much of a "splash", but the subsequent EP really did. That one had a different singer, who isn't on any album. When I saw them on the COlony tour, people were yelling for songs from that EP -- they didn't play any and I can see why as there are just too many guitar parts going on at once for them to duplicate some of that live. I'm not saying it's the absolute best, but an interesting bridge between the two first albums with some of their sweetest melodies, certainly. When Colony came out, I started to feel something was going a little bit wrong. I know you don't share this opinion and that's totally cool -- I enjoyed hearing your perspective on all the albums. With Clayman, an album I never really listened to but which I also saw the tour for, the feeling that something was "off" with the band at least from my perspective started to get stronger, and I'm afraid I pretty much dropped them after that. The drums were better, and the vocals more dynamic, but the guitarwork was getting worse, and that's what I got on the train for. It seemed like Jesper Stromblad's influence on the band was shrinking little by little. I headr he had major problems with, I think, alcohol, so maybe that explains why, and the other guys just had to pick up the slack. Who knows really. But nothing from the 2000s represents the In Flames I liked, and I wasn't willing to follow them into that direction. I haven't heard any of those notoriously bad albums like Battles, Siren ... think I listened to a few songs from Clarity or Sense of Purpose once. Just really, really not for me.
Your opinion is mostly similar to mine when it comes to their releases. However Colony could be my favourite with Clayman and Jester Race as a solid shared second and then Whoracle. And Come Clarity is underrated in my opinion. Everything after that is meh at max but really looking forward to the new album because it looks promising.
This video is pretty much how I feel about In Flames, I'd give all of the albums a similar score to you. I was very late to the party (don't ask me how as I genuinely don't have an answer) only discovering them when Battles came out. I heard their god awful cover of Depeche Mode's It's No Good, and then turned it off and never bothered listening to anything else until only maybe 3 years ago when I finally realised just how important of a band they were in terms of pioneering melodic death metal in the 90s. I genuinely can't understand how the same band that wrote 6 amazing albums back to back also managed to write albums as terrible as Siren Charms and Battles. Really, given the talent level of the musicians in the band, their lowest point should've been Sounds of a Playground Fading. It's actually impressive to me that they managed to get worse after that. Luckily I am really loving the new singles, and for the first time ever I'm genuinely excited for a new album from In Flames. Here's hoping the rest of the album is as killer as these singles have been! 🤘
For me: 1) Colony (title track gets my hyped) 2) Come Clarity (love every track but the title track, Crawl Through Knives is my fav by them) 3) Clayman (love it) 4) Whoracle (Worlds within the margin + jotun) 5) Jester Race (would be higher if the vocals were better) 6) Reroute to Remain (the most experimental in flames songs, lacking in riffs) 7) A Sense of Purpose (some solid songs like Sleepless Again + Mirrors Truth) 8) Lunar Strain (a cool studio experiment) 9) Soundtrack to your Escape (not enough riffs, too much Nu Metal Influences) 10) Sounds of the Playground Fading (only four good songs, the rest boring) 11) I, the Mask (only four decent generic SiriusXM Liquid Metal songs, the rest is awful) 12) battles + sirens (can't make it through either of the albums)
No need to rank every album per say, i like them all (minus Siren Charms and Battles), but it depends on the mood. S rank: 90´s to 02 Melodeath era (Lunar Strain up to Reroute to Remain, yeah Reroute still has a lot of that DNA for me that makes it a great melodeath record) A rank: 00´s Alt metal/Metalcore eras (Soundtrack to your Escape up to A Sense of Purpose, the latter is quite divisive, but it´s emotional moments helped me to battle against depression for a while) B rank: 010´s Pop + alt metal eras: ONLY 2 records (Sounds of a Playground Fading and I, the Mask, a lot of songs from these two go quite hard for me personally, but the records as a whole are inconsistent) C rank: Siren Charms and Battles (because Clayman 2020 doesn´t exist :D) anyway not too much to say about them, they´re boring, 1 or 2 songs from each record i dig, but that´s it, i think this was a time period where the band was quite depressed and creatively bankrupt, but years later with the addition of Tanner Wayne and recently Chris Broderick, it reignited the band quite heavily, and it´s looking likely that they´ll (hopefully) deliver us another A ranking record named Foregone!
I actually love a lot of 2000s melodic metalcore type stuff. Darkest Hour, Shadows Fall, Unearth, early All That Remains, hell I even like a few Killswitch Engage and As I Lay Dying(fuck Tim though) albums. In Flames trying to ape the style just always felt like an obvious cashgrab, especially the more they ventured into alt rock territory on recent albums. Even their use of stereotypical "scene" art and imagery struck me as really cringe given these are guys in their 40s and 50s. But hey, the new album seems like somewhat of a return to form, so I'll definitely give it a shot when it comes out. Either way at least we have At The Gates and Dark Tranquility going strong still
yeah based on the singles that have come out, "Foregone" feels like a return to the days of "Clayman", "Reroute To Remain". Thank goodness. Worse case scenario though its great that At The Gates, Dark Traquility, Arch Enemy, and Soilwork are still active and still putting out really good stuff.
Finally someone who spill the beans about s sense of purpuse! I never ever understood why it was so popular in the days, and why people still consider it a great albut... Harsh truth: It's not. If feels forced and fabricated from start to finish almost. About IF, this one is rank 3rd lowest on my list. The only song songs I ever revisit here is I'm the highway and the chosen pessimist. Allt the rest is just watered down IF mongs that are not bad, men also entirely in the Shadow of most other things they have out there😐 Edit: Battles is their weakest effert by far, but all fairness. It has a couple of interesting ideas and hooks... But....Result in hand.... Benson really managed to molest this poor work😅
I’ve never had any attachment to In Flames and only knew one of their songs, so I went completely fresh into their catalogue purely out of curiosity bc of how bad their reputation was regarding the newer stuff. To sum up my experience: I’ll be returning to the albums from Jester Race through Clayman plus Come Clarity bc the rest was either mediocre, boring or just awful. Excited for Foregone, though!
I'm probably in the minority, but Sounds of a Playground Fading is my favourite In Flames record. Old heads will call the 2002-2016 era "posercore" and false metal, but as a guy who grew up with Korn and metalcore, I prefer the metalcore/alt-metal/rock In Flames over the melodeath In Flames (except for Moonshield). I am not joking. I don't care what y'all "trve melodeath" fans think; I'll stick to Intestine Baalism, Soilwork and Grenadier for my melodeath fix. Battles wasn't that bad, man.
Idk my intro to in flames was colony in 2000 and being a bug fan of all sorts of metal and rock I can't say a bad thing about any in flames album. This is our house even had a decent riff to it but the lyrics make me wanna puke a tad. But overall pending my mood I can enjoy any in flames album and usually do. I deff agree sirens and battles are prolly the ones I listen to least but I don't hate then. Nothing touches colony and reroute to remain for me. Fav song is moonshield still. In flames are my favorite band and I can't wait for foregone on Friday as it's already shaping up to be my aoty.
Unpopular opinion but I still love there more metalcore and main stream sounding albums. It shows how diverse they can be. Yes all the records aren’t perfect of the newer stuff but I still think most of it is good.
Only like their first 5 albums. Then got Reroute to Remain. Man, it started great with the music, the death metal vocals and then the clean vocals hit and it lost me. I thought, maybe since their first 5 were so good I will give them a pass on this. I purchased Soundtrack to Your Escape and yeah they didnt get a second pass with me. Oh well, it happened to me with Metallica and Megadeth too.
Im a huge fan of this band, every record (albeit a few stinker tunes here and there) EXCEPT I, The Mask are great. The Jester Race, Come Clarity (my intro to them) Reroute, A Sense of Purpose, Colony, Sounds of a Playground, Clayman all kick ass. I don’t even hate Siren Charms. Battles… I will state there are a few tunes are meh, the thing about that record is there are tunes from it that helped me to get over a nasty battle (pun intended) of mental health issues. I, The Mask is eeeextremely whiny especially vocally. I cannot stand it. And that garbage 2020 re-record of the four tunes from Clayman WTF?! I’m very excited for Forgone based on the 4 tunes they released, and so far Meet Your Maker has the best mix of the killer stuff from In Flames. Great job with this ranking/scoring on this discography.
Just being a smart ass. Great review, can't disagree with anything here. I love their old stuff, even Come Clarity had a few cool moments. Lost all interest in anything after that and the new single ain't promising.
Once again, I agree with your ratings, but Soundtrack will always have a special place for me because of the memories its tied to. Id like to see you do the Soilwork and Dark Tranquility discography!
I like all the albums but Lunar Strain being a strong debut just doesn’t hit as an In Flames album. You can hear they were experimenting and looking for their sound. Whoreacle is my GOAT but Clayman and Jester Race are very close. My top 5 are rounded out with Foregone and Colony.
Good review. Not much i disagree with for real. Its an unpopular opinion, but for some reason a love a sense of purpose it my favorite IF album. But no denying there is a complete drop off from that point on. Battles is by far their worst album. Lunar strain- Clayman were their best years. Glad to say Forgone is great tho. Hopefully next album with the current lineup is better than ever. IF is my favorite band.
Jester Race through Clayman was melodic death metal's equivalent to Metallica's first four thrash albums imo. Reroute to remain had some great music but some cringe choruses that sounded similar to random pop songs lol.
![Twenty One Pilots - The Line (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XCz7WUotXs8/mqdefault.jpg)
I think what makes In Flames' downfall even more shocking is the fact that these guys were completely unstoppable in the 90's. One of the best 5 album runs in history.
Jester race through Clayman rivals Metallica's first 4 albums for me.
You're both right... But lock at DT's stretch.... That one is probably unbeaten in my book👌
Still havn't even dropped a single weak record up to date... Just like an infinity machine✌️❤️
I think Lunar Strain is criminally underrated album and if I'm in a mood for some early In flames I usually listen to lunar strain or subterranean the most.
I think colony and clayman would've made the perfect double album release. I can't be the only one that feels this way.
They are both pretty much nailed to The top 3 somewhere against all others, according to more than 85% of all fans I'd dare to say
Jester Race and Whoracle being the most prominent challengers
Personally however, they're both very uniniqe in my mind/ears/experice. Colony feels like a faster more insipred version of Whoracle to me, while Cayman is more dynamic, heavier burt at The same time quite easily digested early on when hearing it🤔
But nonetheless... No other records come even close considering the amount of "Apex tracks" on these two gems
idk why everyone says this but i think reroute to remain is a significantly heavier album compared to clayman and their earlier style.
furthermore, as a seasoned in flames fan, i think a sense of purpose is a severely underrated album on par with come clarity in my books. it inhabits a pretty unique place of melody within their discography and feels very cohesive because of that. songwriting is fantastic on it aswell.
Bc reroute and the next one have muddy ass production and are drowned out...every song blends together and they're some of the most skipped albums idk why come clarity was so much better just a couple years later in that regard but it's leaps and bounds better
@@ghostofmoredishesmorebitch1507 nah
I agree with RTR being heavier than Cayman, and at times deals with ever darker subjects too.
You second statement however I'm totally on the other end and still think people praised that album way way too much😅
During this recording session the bandmembers barely met one another at all, and decided to just go with a standard Metal soundscape instead of continueing last effort's experimentations....
@@anderslundahl3066 nah
This is a pretty solid review and mostly fall in line with my personal feelings. A few songs on even their worst albums catch my ear but not in the way earlier releases did. That being said I’m really enjoying the singles from foregone immensely.
The thing I personally like about this band is that I can pick out an album from them based on whatever my mood is.
I remember I got into In Flames back in 2011 around the time before they released "Sounds Of Playground Fading" (which I know alot of people don't like it), which I was around 16 years old at that time. but then few months later I remember I found and bought "Colony" on CD and holy shit I was really into so much. Absolutely love the 90s era of this band (from The Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony and Clayman), Classic.
Obviously the next ones after Sounds Of Playground Fading like Siren Charms and Battles was God awful. I, The Mask in my opinion maybe was a bit of a 50/50 album I like to call it, where half of the songs I do like others I find repetitive. So slightly better than the other two but not nearly enough.
I do hope the new album "Foregone" will be a big step up to follow back to their old roots (or at least).
This is one I've been waiting for awhile. In Flames is a fucking ROLLERCOASTER
A bumpy one at that, like an old wooden roller coaster lmao
In Flames is right up there with Gojira, Tool, Mayhem, Trivium, and Deftones as beloved metal bands that never "clicked" with me for whatever reason. They just seemed like a dollar store version of much better bands in their own scene. Great video though. Excited for that Conker's stream.
Sounds of a Playground fading will always have a special place in my heart for being my first introduction to metal, despite all its flaws I'll always enjoy it.
Those first 5 albums will always be king to me, along side Reroute and Come clarity which are also fun too!
Agreed, I was at the second show in 2012 after Soundtrack dropped and Trivium was a co-headline after they dropped In Waves... incredible show with Veil of Maya and Kyng
So excited they are attempting to return to their 2000s sound, never thought it would happen. Totally agree on Lunar Strain and surprised they still play songs off it. My gateway to them was Come Clarity and I do love that era as well, but was shocked when I went back to their older stuff at that point and could barely recognize the band at 1st. So I understand the dislikes. I also felt that sense of purpose was their last good album and definitely a fan of it.
1) Jester Race - 5
2) Come Clarity - 4.5
3) Whoracle - 4.5
4) Lunar Strain 4
5) A Sense of Purpose - 4
6) Clayman - 4
7) Reroute to Remain - 3.5
8) Colony - 3.5
9) Soundtrack to your Escape - 2.5
10) 2010s era - 0.5
I haven't listened to the 2010s era much. Not for me.
I love all In Flames, old and new. I just really wish they didn’t make Clayman 2020 😅🤦🏻♂️ no idea what they were thinking with that but 🤷🏻♂️ great video as always my
Good man! 🤘🤘🍻
Yes 🤣I agree. The only thing I really don’t like by the band
The remasters were actually good....the re records were rough lol. Will say the vocals on clayman itself were an improvement but the intro is ew, the instrumental track was better but bullet ride, OFTW and whatever the third one they redid all sucked (can't even remember bc I didn't ever relisten)
Hahahaha I feel the exact same way.
Great list and perspective! I've seen a few tier lists so far and it seems like the general consensus is that the mid/late 90's albums - and Clayman - are in a tier of their own. And understandably so.
Now, since you asked:
- Lunar Strain: Solid 3/5
- Jester Race: 3.5-4/5 (don't kill me for this one. I don't hate it at all, faaar from it, Moonshield is one of my all time faves, the album in its entirety is just not for me).
- Whoracle: 4/5 (Title Track, Food for the Gods and Jester Script absolutely fuck)
- Colony: 4.5/5 (Zombie Inc. solo. Resin. Episode 666. Colony. Need I say more?)
- Clayman: 5/5 (Bangers front to back)
- Reroute to Remain: 3.5/5 (Bunch of epic tracks impacted by weird mixing)
- Soundtrack To Your Escape: 3/5 (Those drums man ... why does the splash cymbal sound like that)
- Come Clarity: 4.9/5 (My personal favourite. Mixing, brutal bass tone, amazing drums, fun synth use, harmonics, Dead End with Lisa Miskovsky is on there, PDT is hype af. Taking 0.1 points off for the ending of the final track. That part is a skip. Else this is another front to back).
- A Sense of Purpose: 2.5/5 (Right down the middle. Didn't hate it, didn't love it either)
- Sounds of a Playground Fading: 3/5 (I thought this album had its bangers. *THAT* part of A New Hope will never not give me chills. I don't really care if IF we're generally considered "mediocre" here. I used to put them in these boxes too, so I get it, but nowadays I've come to appreciate both new and old.
- Siren Charms: 2/5 (Honestly, some of the tracks are pretty good. Some.)
Battles: 1/5 (Yeah)
I, The Mask: 2.5/5 (Middle of the road again. The highs are high, but the lows are low)
Clayman 2020: 2/5 (Remasters are 4.5/5. Remakes are ... Look I appreciate the attempt, but it's a 1.5/5.
- Foregone: 4/5 (What Deadpool & Wolverine is to post-Endgame MCU)
SIDEQUESTS:
Passenger: 4/5 (INCREDIBLY underrated grungy powerhouse of an album imo. S-tier choruses, heavy guitars, great mixing, great synths and keys. Taking a point off for when the lyrics get a teeny bit too edgy for me).
Self Vs. Self: 6/5 (Perfection. My two favourite bands collaborating on a track blew my damn mind)
I fucking love In Flames. Always have, always will. Even through the relative lows. Gonna be seeing them for the first time in my life for the near two decades I've been a fan in a few weeks. Stupid excited.
In Flames post their sweet spot is basically the definition of Inconsistency.
That being said: Hope the new album ends up being a surprise banger.
ah yes thats the quality content i subscribed for.
MY Top In Flames
14. I, The Mask (Call My Name is banger)
13. Battles (Us Against The World)
12. Lunar Strain (Clad In Shadows with Stanne !)
11. The Jester Race (The Jester Race)
10. A Sense Of Purpose (Alias)
9. Clayman (Only For The Weak)
8. Reroute To Remain (Transparent)
7. Come Clarity (Scream)
6. Sounds Of A Playground Fading (Darker Times)
5. Colony (Coerced Existence)
4. Soundtrack To Your Escape (Like Your Better Dead)
3. Foregone
2. Whoracle
1. Siren Charms
Yes... unpopular opinion in top 3.
Im a Ziltoïd😅
It's a bit early to do a ranking albums for inflames when their new album comes out in February .
On February 10th.
They only have a new song out meet your maker
Since you're a big fan of early In Flames like I am, you must listen to the single of the new band signed to 20 Buck Spin called Majesties. The song is called "The World Unseen" and the album is called " Vast Reaches Unclaimed." Album comes out March 3rd! Holy hell it's the second coming of early In Flames! It seriously could be a lost track from Subterranean or The Jester Race.
This is a top 5 band for me. When Come Clarity dropped I was in high school, metalcore and nu metal was everything on radio/tv and that album blew my fucking mind blending the two with their melodeath sound. And I would go back into their discography and just be floored by how amazing this band is. Thanks for not being boring like everyone else that talks about this band and whine for 20 mins about how everything from 02 to present is ass. It’s truly not and it’s safe to say in hindsight in flames and meshuggah formed the modern metal landscape.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think A Sense of Purpose is underrated. Sounds of a Playground was halfway decent and then they absolutely shit the bed on Siren Charms. They really suffered from Jesper's departure.
Yo, Meltdown! Pantera have announced a North American tour with Lamb of God and they will be in Toronto at Budweiser Stage on August 12th! You never got to see the Abbott brothers, so you must be kind of bummed.
I don't care and will not be going.
Ima listen to every single album by these guys
I agree that Lunar Strain is underrated. The Jester Race is my favourite In Flames album. I found it hard to get into this band with so many uninspired albums.
I have some hope for Forgone, they released 5 really good songs. Hopefully they have 5 more equally as good songs for the album. Killer vid
Inflames finished their career with Clayman then became Anders pet project posing like swedish metal Korn. Best album Is Colony. Whoracle and Jester Race close second.
Lunar Strain: 3,5/5
Jester Race: 4,5/5
Whoracle: 4/5
Colony: 4,5/5
Clayman: 5/5
Reroute to Remain: 3,5/5
Soundtrack to Your Escape: 3,5/5
Come Clarity: 3,5/5
Sense of Purpose: 2,5/5
Sounds of a Playground Fading: 2/5
Siren Charms: 1,5/5
Battles: 0,5/5
I The Mask: 1,5/5
Lunar Strain - 5/5
The Jester Race - 4.5/5
Whoracle - 5/5
Colony - 4.5/5
Clayman - 4.5/5
Reroute To Remain - 4.5/5
Soundtrack To Your Escape - 3.5/5
Come Clarity - 4.5/5
A Sense Of Purpose - 4/5
Sounds Of A Playground Fading - 4.5/5
Siren Charms - 4/5
Battles - 4/5
I, The Mask - 4/5
Thanks for showing Lunar Strain some much-needed love❤.
I think In Flames has always been surpassed by just about all their Swedish peers. Hypocrisy, Opeth, Soilwork, At The Gates, Amon Amarth, Dissection, Dismember, Entombed, Grave, etc.
I'd like to see you review every Kreator album. Especially, with how they have an upcoming co-headlining tour with Sepultura.
I think I will, the time seems about right for it.
@@themetalmeltdownofficial also great video, even though I've never really been into In Flames. I saw them live in 2019 with Within Temptation, and I didn't know any songs from either band. (There wasn't even a mosh pit at that show!) However, I heard The Jester Race few years later and liked it. Though, that's all I've heard from them due to that record's legend status. I've honestly have been kinda dreading this band because of how notoriously mediocre-awful half their discography is.
kreator hahahahahaha
Im so glad that Foregone is shaping up to be a true contender to the Top 5 records. Everything I've heard of that sounds grreat.
The last album I enjoyed was Sense of Purpose. That album was more of a personal album for me when it came out from a lot of issues that was going on at the time.
My first album was Clayman because I saw an old live video where they performed Bullet Ride, Pinball Map, and Embody the Invisible (Colony I know but yeah).
My ranking:
Lunar Strain: 2.5/5
Subterranean: I don’t remember if this is an EP or not… 2.5/5
Jester Race: 5/5
Whoreacle: 4.5/5
Colony: 4.5/5
Clayman: 4/5
Reroute to Remain: 3.5/5
Soundtrack to Your Escape: 3.5/5
Come Clarity: 4/5
Sense of Purpose: 4/5 (more personal but I do agree with the production… if personal wasn’t I would say 3.5/5)
Sounds of a Playground Fading: 2.5/5
Siren Charms: 1.5/5
Battles: 1.5/5
I The Mask: 2/5
They are one of my favorite bands but god damn the 2010’s era was a bad time. I am cautiously excited for the new album from the singles.
Oh the Clayman EP 0.5/5. It’s insulting.
Clayman is actually great on the remasters..the re records tho eh..claymans vocals are better itself but only for the weak and bullet ride are butchered
im a new fan and i like the 2000s albums the most, from what i have seen all of yall are just mad like when metallica put out the black album
My top favorite albums are colony, Clayman and soundtrack to your escape. There are so so many likable songs off of all those albums.
1. Colony (9/10)
2. Whoracle (9/10)
3. The jester race (8/10)
4. Clayman (8/10)
5. Come clarity (7.5/10)
6. Reroute to remain (7/10)
7. Lunar strain (6/10)
8. Soundtrack to your escape (6/10)
9. Foregone (5.5/10)
10. A sense of purpose (5/10)
11. Sounds of a playground fading (4/10)
12. I, the mask (3/10)
13. Siren charms (2/10)
14. Battles (2/10)
Just found your channel and thoroughly enjoyed the reviews. Reminded me of my Gothenburg-era years. Now excuse me while I go listen to Slaughter of the Soul
Rating my second fav metal band of all time (Judas Priest will always be #1). Looking forward to this.
Harsh for the later albums but I get it. TBH I love Come Clarity, it was my In Flames gateway album and I got to discover the joy of digging into the back catalogue used to play them on repeat. That I can not say for post Come Clarity albums. I, the Mask is better than Sirens, Battles and Sounds and mostly better than sense. However for an album to hit a 3 for me it has to have no skippable tunes and I, the Mask has a few. Stay With me is a sleep fest and the awful gang vocals in (This is Our) House and I can't get into Deep Inside. The album really finishes with nothing to say. Forgone has me excited though, I doubt we'll get another great album at this point I would settle with good. I do note that Ander's clean work has gotten exceptionally better the last albums gave us that. I have no problem recommending anything up to including Come clarity and often recommend Come Clarity or Soundtrack as albums with much more substance than what was typical of the Metalcore/Alternative albums at the time.
Ooooh Inflames….. yeah interesting Discog to say the least lmao. But when they were good they were REALLY Good. I’m hesitantly excited for Foregone the singles have been promising, hope the Guys can put it all together. An In Flames Comeback I would easily accept.
S: Jester Race, Colony
A: Lunar Strain, Whoracle
B: Clayman, Reroute to Remain, A Sense of Purpose
C: Come Clarity
D: Soundtrack to your escape, Sounds of a Playground Fading, I the Mask
F: Siren Charms, Battles
WTF: Clayman 2020
WTF is an accurate description for Clayman 2020 lmao
i agree with every thing you said !! you got to give some love to the song "where the dead ships dwell' that song is melodic and the guitar solo is jester race style!!
In Flames up to Come Clarity are my favourite MDM band and very important to me personally since they were one of the first ones that got me into heavier music, with Clayman, Colony and Whoracle being my top 3 from them. In Flames post...say A Sense of Purpose (that album had its moments, imo) are pretty sad and not in intended way (especially Battles, that album legit sucked and wasn't just very boring like Siren Charms or I the Mask), but singles for new album are promising so hopefully, it'll be good
"Battles" hurt man. We didn't talk about it here but "Clayman 2020" hurt just as bad. Here's hoping "Foregone" can make up for it.
@@themetalmeltdownofficial Yeah Clayman 2020 is unfortunate. It was just collection of bad versions of incrediblr songs
@@alexddragame I'm not even sure why they bothered with it, a standard vinyl re-issue or an anniversary tour would've done the job just fine. But nope, gotta crap on some classics.
@@alexddragame the re-recording of those handful of songs really were disappointing , the extra intro they put on clayman thou was kind of cool but the vocals and mixing production was abysmal.wouldve settled for demos & bonus tracks
I haven't heard In Flames so I appreciate this.
Don't know this band but I will check them out . Thanks Robert.
No problem bud
Just tattooed the Jester's mascot a couple of weeks ago lol they're one of my favorite metal bands of all time! Of course the 1990s/2000s era
Here we go:
Lunar Strain: 2.5/5 (Has some good songs but still feels like a side project ala Ceremonial Oath)
The Jester Race: 5/5 (As you stated if you like metal but don't like this album, go check your head)
Whoracle: 4/5 (A more ambitious, younger brother of Jester Race, shorter but still excellent!)
Colony: 4.5/5 (Melodic as hell, this one gets the silver medal for me)
Clayman: 4/5 (Love its production and it has some of their best songs! Their most popular for all the right reasons)
Reroute to Remain: 4/5 (Imagine if it was more of the same, to me it's excellent for what it is. It still has some old school elements and the new ones fit perfectly on here)
Soundtrack to Your Escape: 3.5/5 (Less melodic but it has tons of chunky riffs and many good songs. Clean vocals sound weird at times but a fun record overall)
Come Clarity: 3.5/5 (This was my introduction to them. Guitars sound sharp as fuck and it's bloody amazing)
A Sense of Purpose: 3.5/5 (I personally loved this one since it came out. More melancholy on the lyrics department and lots of great melodies!)
Sounds of a Playground Fading: 1.5/5 (Sounds dry as fuck, hate the vocals, nothing truly stands out)
Siren Charms: 2.5/5 (Sounds hella empty in places and has some awful songs, but SOMEHOW I liked it more than the last one)
Battles: 1/5 (THE WORST OF THE WORST)
I, the Mask: 1.5/5 (Just what I wrote on Sounds of a Playground Fading)
Can't wait for Foregone, every new song sounded great so far.
I agree with the ratings for the most part. Supremacy of The Jester Race. I think A Sense of Purpose was the last album I enjoyed, I HATED it when it came out, but it really grew on me. Come Clarity is better, but ASOP from top to bottom has a lot of fun songs, like Sober & Irrelevant and Sleepless Again. The bonus tracks Tilt and Eraser should've made the album.
They lost me at Sounds of a Playground onwards. Siren Charms is one of the worst albums I've ever heard, even Battles is better with a couple of decent hooks.
A few of the newest singles off Foregone are decent.
My ratings:
Lunar 3/5
Jester 5/5
Whoracle 4.5/5
Colony 4.5/5
Clayman 4/5
Reroute 3.5/5
Soundtrack 3/5
Clarity 4.5/5
ASOP 4/5
SOAPF 1/5
Siren 0.5/5
Battles 1.5/5
Mask 1/5
would love to see you review The Haunted and Chimaira discography
Honestly not a big fan of either
@@themetalmeltdownofficial really? chimaira are awesome. plus they are playing 2 shows this year
Colony/Clayman era In Flames is my favourite, although I first discovered them on TJR. Clayman is my favourite metal album of all time, by any band.
For me:
1.Clayman
2. TJR
3. Lunar Strain
4. Whoracle
5. Colony
6. RTR
and the rest which I didn't hear much ;)
Understandable. Check out "Come Clarity" for shits n' giggles, the rest... yeah... you can definitely ignore that stuff...
@@themetalmeltdownofficial hah, I forgot that I have some fancy digipack of CC - playing it right now it is ok, but over the years my approach to music changed and nowdays I prefer other stuff. That is really sad what happend with this band :/
I’m glad they have turned back to good production with their new songs. The drums actually sound like they have punch again. Battles and I, The Mask sounded like beating a piece of paper.
The only In Flames albums I straight up despise are Siren Charms and Battles. You can make good to great EP’s from all their post Clayman era except the ones I mentioned.
Goliaths Disarm Their Davids is my favorite IF song, it's just raw and well-crafted; perfection. They were the answer for what I was looking for and melo-death has been my favorite genre since discovering them in the early 2000s. I stopped listening to anything newer than RTR, it was quite sad what they were becoming. I kept trying with every release, but they kept letting me down. Their newest release has piqued my interest again, so here's to hoping. I saw them live many times in those early days. I even saw Jag Panzer open for them once with Chris Broderick. \m/
I think after rtr they was getting a lot of love from the metal core scene bands like killswitch engage, shadows fall, as I lay dying. Unearth and so on was showing love for them and I think they fell in to the metal core a little bit. I have no problem with that cos them bands kick arse. As the albums went on you could see it getting watered down a little bit. I think the new album is gonna be a epic return to what they do best 😎
That's always been my favorite song too. Strong melody, amazing production,awesome harmonies, probably one of the best solos in their catalogue.
They'll never admit it, but I think The Halo Effect's success had a lot to do with IF's return to form...
@@adamwood7597 I think their change in sound had alot to do with gaining popularity overseas in the US. European pedal is a little more adventurous melodically. I would say music here is alot more streamlined and that's reflected in their change in sound. The same thing happened with Children of Bodom.The album Hatecrew Deathroll was a major turning point for them. Their ex guitar player Rooper Latvala even confirmed that things changed once the US label started poking around.
I dunno if this is brought up, but I think which side of the In Flames fence you fall on depends on when you started listening to them. I didn’t start until the Come Clarity release, and fell in love. So everything from Clayman-Sense of Purpose are what I love. Colony rules too, but I don’t listen to the earlier ones much. Whoreacle some. I think those who started with the early, early stuff likely will stick with those as their fav era. Some days, Soundtrack to Your Escape or Reroute might even be my favorite albums
I think it's more so if people enjoy Melodic Death Metal or Metalcore/Groove metal/Alt rock
Battles went wrong. The rest I love.
'94 - '04 they were on fire...pumping out good album after good album...then the wheels fell off
*flew off
completely agreeing with your reviews, my favorite is come clarity for sure, for the exact reasons you mentioned, but other than that I would say the old in flames is the better in flames. The new record is not as bad as the last 5, but sadly not good enough ;(
I've never listened to an 'In Flames' album. Hopefully the livestream will go on without error
Yeah hopefully this time the laptop doesn't die, the power doesn't go out, and we start on time lmao
When Metallica betrayed us, I was angry...when In Flames betrayed us, I was hurt
Inflames wasn't the 1st band that got me interested in melodic death metal. I bought arch enemy's burning bridges and soil works the chain heart machine In 1998 and 1999. The 1st album I bought from inflames was colony. The 1st time I went to see inflames was on the clayman tour opening for slayer. That said, they are definitely one of the earlier melodic death metal bands I started listening to.
Everything from the Jester race to clay man is a winner. You could pick anyone of those albums as your favorite and I really wouldn't have an argument against it. I haven't spent much time with lunar strain or subterranean. I might have to go revisit those. Here is my take on inflames whole career, Except for the 2 albums that I don't really know much about..
The Jester race to clayman= The best inflames has to offer. And really the only era worth Getting into. All 4 of these albums are great yet different from each other. One album is a little more folk- sy, one is a little more somber, One is a bit more power metal, One is a little bit more metal core leaning. Still every single one of these records is good. And sound like they came from the same band.
Reroute to come clarity= Ranges from good to crap. But nothing touches great. This is an abrupt change in style. Reroute to come clarity sound like a nu metal band decided to record A melodic death metal record, With varying degrees of success. Ander's Davis, I mean Friden; Starts to get really annoying with his vocal techniques. It's a clear rip off of Korn. During this era they didn't quite throw all their creativity in the toilet, But they were becoming the Swedish Korn.
Purpose to present day= Ranges from good on their absolute best to completely abysmal. Unfortunately, most of this falls towards the latter. There are a good few songs sprinkled through this decade plus era of mediocre to complete trash music. During this era, they went full Korn. When they are not trying to be either imagine dragons or some worthless alt rock band. The best song from this era by far is March to the shore. There are a few songs from this era that I genuinely like. But there are far many more that are just awful. Inflames in my opinion is worse than Metallica and Megadeth or any other band that completely try to change their identity Abruptly. Because those bands either a... Released one really bad album and Realized they fucked up. Or b... Release the few bad records once every 6 to 8 years.
Inflames has been releasing mediocre crap since 2002. And they have released plenty of material in that time. They have been hammering this new direction that they want fans to like since reroute. It's been 20 years. Reroute was passable, the rest of the entire catalog we could do without And not care. Much like Metallica everybody likes the 1st 5 in flames records. I am not saying you gotta do that over and over again. Just use that as your core sound And expand from there. Expanding does not mean becoming nu metal or alt rock. That is called regressing.
Here’s how I’d rate every In Flames album. In Flames might have gone downhill in recent years, but their early albums are some of the absolute best in melodic death metal.
Lunar Strain: 4/5
The Jester Race: 5/5
Whoracle: 4.5/5
Colony: 4.5/5
Clayman: 4.5/5
Reroute to Remain: 4/5
Soundtrack to Your Escape: 3/5
Come Clarity: 3.5/5
A Sense of Purpose: 3/5
Sounds of a Playground Fading: 3/5
Siren Charms: 2/5
Battles: 1.5/5
I, the Mask: 2.5/5
I'd note for Sounds, Siren Charms, Battles and I, The Mask, IF weren't signed with Nuclear Blast... it probably makes sense that the sound would be a bit different... don't really get all the hate on Sounds though, I did quite like that album.
I would rate Whoracle as slightly better than The Jester Race but yeah... After Colony they had nowhere to go but down. Clayman was good (massive production) but the writing was on the wall. A few good tracks here and there since then but overall... just one disappoinment after another. Forgone was a very welcome return to form.
1. Clayman
2. Come Clarity
3. The Jester Race
4. Colony
5. Whoracle
6. A Sense of Purpose
7. Reroute to Remain
8. Soundtrack to Your Escape
9. Lunar Strain
10. I, The Mask
11. Sounds of a Playground Fading
12. Siren Charms
13. Battles
If I were to include Subterranean, it would be between SOAPF and Siren Charms, and if I were to include Clayman 2020, it would be rock bottom. Top 1-7 albums I absolutely adore, 8-10 I like a lot but there's some pushing flaws, SOAPF is eh, Siren Charms is eh-, and Battles I don't really like very much. I have very high hopes for Foregone though as I have loved every single that has come out so far.
Bjorn actually played drums on Jester Race and Whoracle
Can't wait to hear your take on Foregone. I'm very excited but cautious because of the last few. I got on board In Flames after I heard sounds of a playground and made my way back through the albums, and not a single new release has been up to par since I discovered them.
Jester Race and Colony are my favorite albums, Battles is by far the worst and is as you say, insulting.
New singles have me hoping though as they're all pretty good!
Wow, the only album I’ve listened to is Sounds Of A Playground Fading which I listened to around the time it came out and I’ve never bothered with In Flames since. Maybe I better try the earlier the albums
You absolutely should, the difference is night and day
@@themetalmeltdownofficial literally it is a different band.
I personally like the modern era way more than the early stuff those albums with the exception of some of the Jester Race really don’t do much for me I’d honestly listen to siren charms over stuff like whoracle and especially the debut which I genuinely just hate but I do kind of get the general distaste for the newish stuff. Reroute to Remain and Sounds of a Playground Fading are my personal favorite albums from theses guys but I gotta say that might change with the new album. The singles got me hyped as hell
Fun fact. Gyroscope is both in The Jester race and Whoracle
Hot Take: for me, if it wasn't for Subterranean i wouldn't really have a problem with Lunar Strain, to me that debut is just fine, its not bad but its just not doing anything for me, i would of rather take off Behind Space, Everlost 1 and 2 and the title track and make Subterranean a full blown album and leave the debut album as a Self-Titled EP itself
Whoracle is my favorite album from In Flames. Love that album. Siren Charms and Battles are easily the worst. Also, This Is Our House, what an insanely corny bad song. I’ve been digging the singles we’ve gotten so far from Foregone. I have a signed CD preordered.
This is going to be a fun video
🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Very interesting video. I do have a history with this band, but I'm not a fan. I have been thinking about this especially since watching these kinds of videos on youtube from guys like you, Thralls, Questy -- and chatting about bands' whole discographies. I think there's a difference between being a fan of a band or artist and just enjoying some of their music -- let's say, a particular sound only. For me, In Flames is all about those sweet melodic guitars. To me, Lunar Strain in at least one aspect is *less* primitive than some of their later stuff: Definitely not in terms of production and experience, but in terms of guitars playing actual melodies, solos, dynamic electric and acoustic parts, more riffs per song.
I know you don't do EPs and I'm not gonna change your mind, but in metal, there are some really important EPs out there, and In Flames has one of those: The Subterranean EP taht was released between Lunar Strain and The Jester Race. Honestly, as someone who first heard them in 1995/96, I don't remember Lunar Strain making much of a "splash", but the subsequent EP really did. That one had a different singer, who isn't on any album. When I saw them on the COlony tour, people were yelling for songs from that EP -- they didn't play any and I can see why as there are just too many guitar parts going on at once for them to duplicate some of that live. I'm not saying it's the absolute best, but an interesting bridge between the two first albums with some of their sweetest melodies, certainly.
When Colony came out, I started to feel something was going a little bit wrong. I know you don't share this opinion and that's totally cool -- I enjoyed hearing your perspective on all the albums. With Clayman, an album I never really listened to but which I also saw the tour for, the feeling that something was "off" with the band at least from my perspective started to get stronger, and I'm afraid I pretty much dropped them after that. The drums were better, and the vocals more dynamic, but the guitarwork was getting worse, and that's what I got on the train for. It seemed like Jesper Stromblad's influence on the band was shrinking little by little. I headr he had major problems with, I think, alcohol, so maybe that explains why, and the other guys just had to pick up the slack. Who knows really. But nothing from the 2000s represents the In Flames I liked, and I wasn't willing to follow them into that direction. I haven't heard any of those notoriously bad albums like Battles, Siren ... think I listened to a few songs from Clarity or Sense of Purpose once. Just really, really not for me.
Your opinion is mostly similar to mine when it comes to their releases. However Colony could be my favourite with Clayman and Jester Race as a solid shared second and then Whoracle. And Come Clarity is underrated in my opinion. Everything after that is meh at max but really looking forward to the new album because it looks promising.
Soundtrack To Your Escape and Come Clarity are my personal favorite albums. Something about those just stand out for me personally
This video is pretty much how I feel about In Flames, I'd give all of the albums a similar score to you. I was very late to the party (don't ask me how as I genuinely don't have an answer) only discovering them when Battles came out. I heard their god awful cover of Depeche Mode's It's No Good, and then turned it off and never bothered listening to anything else until only maybe 3 years ago when I finally realised just how important of a band they were in terms of pioneering melodic death metal in the 90s. I genuinely can't understand how the same band that wrote 6 amazing albums back to back also managed to write albums as terrible as Siren Charms and Battles. Really, given the talent level of the musicians in the band, their lowest point should've been Sounds of a Playground Fading. It's actually impressive to me that they managed to get worse after that. Luckily I am really loving the new singles, and for the first time ever I'm genuinely excited for a new album from In Flames. Here's hoping the rest of the album is as killer as these singles have been! 🤘
For me:
1) Colony (title track gets my hyped)
2) Come Clarity (love every track but the title track, Crawl Through Knives is my fav by them)
3) Clayman (love it)
4) Whoracle (Worlds within the margin + jotun)
5) Jester Race (would be higher if the vocals were better)
6) Reroute to Remain (the most experimental in flames songs, lacking in riffs)
7) A Sense of Purpose (some solid songs like Sleepless Again + Mirrors Truth)
8) Lunar Strain (a cool studio experiment)
9) Soundtrack to your Escape (not enough riffs, too much Nu Metal Influences)
10) Sounds of the Playground Fading (only four good songs, the rest boring)
11) I, the Mask (only four decent generic SiriusXM Liquid Metal songs, the rest is awful)
12) battles + sirens (can't make it through either of the albums)
No need to rank every album per say, i like them all (minus Siren Charms and Battles), but it depends on the mood.
S rank: 90´s to 02 Melodeath era (Lunar Strain up to Reroute to Remain, yeah Reroute still has a lot of that DNA for me that makes it a great melodeath record)
A rank: 00´s Alt metal/Metalcore eras (Soundtrack to your Escape up to A Sense of Purpose, the latter is quite divisive, but it´s emotional moments helped me to battle against depression for a while)
B rank: 010´s Pop + alt metal eras: ONLY 2 records (Sounds of a Playground Fading and I, the Mask, a lot of songs from these two go quite hard for me personally, but the records as a whole are inconsistent)
C rank: Siren Charms and Battles (because Clayman 2020 doesn´t exist :D) anyway not too much to say about them, they´re boring, 1 or 2 songs from each record i dig, but that´s it, i think this was a time period where the band was quite depressed and creatively bankrupt, but years later with the addition of Tanner Wayne and recently Chris Broderick, it reignited the band quite heavily, and it´s looking likely that they´ll (hopefully) deliver us another A ranking record named Foregone!
I actually love a lot of 2000s melodic metalcore type stuff. Darkest Hour, Shadows Fall, Unearth, early All That Remains, hell I even like a few Killswitch Engage and As I Lay Dying(fuck Tim though) albums. In Flames trying to ape the style just always felt like an obvious cashgrab, especially the more they ventured into alt rock territory on recent albums. Even their use of stereotypical "scene" art and imagery struck me as really cringe given these are guys in their 40s and 50s. But hey, the new album seems like somewhat of a return to form, so I'll definitely give it a shot when it comes out. Either way at least we have At The Gates and Dark Tranquility going strong still
yeah based on the singles that have come out, "Foregone" feels like a return to the days of "Clayman", "Reroute To Remain". Thank goodness. Worse case scenario though its great that At The Gates, Dark Traquility, Arch Enemy, and Soilwork are still active and still putting out really good stuff.
Behind Space is bad ? I love that song
Would like to hear your thoughts on foregone.
Finally someone who spill the beans about s sense of purpuse! I never ever understood why it was so popular in the days, and why people still consider it a great albut... Harsh truth: It's not. If feels forced and fabricated from start to finish almost. About IF, this one is rank 3rd lowest on my list. The only song songs I ever revisit here is I'm the highway and the chosen pessimist. Allt the rest is just watered down IF mongs that are not bad, men also entirely in the Shadow of most other things they have out there😐
Edit: Battles is their weakest effert by far, but all fairness. It has a couple of interesting ideas and hooks... But....Result in hand.... Benson really managed to molest this poor work😅
Also... Anders sounds so annoying on this record🧑🌾🤦
I’ve never had any attachment to In Flames and only knew one of their songs, so I went completely fresh into their catalogue purely out of curiosity bc of how bad their reputation was regarding the newer stuff.
To sum up my experience: I’ll be returning to the albums from Jester Race through Clayman plus Come Clarity bc the rest was either mediocre, boring or just awful. Excited for Foregone, though!
Personally I prefer A Sense of Purpose over Soundtrack to Your Escape, but that might just be my nostalgia talking
I'm probably in the minority, but Sounds of a Playground Fading is my favourite In Flames record. Old heads will call the 2002-2016 era "posercore" and false metal, but as a guy who grew up with Korn and metalcore, I prefer the metalcore/alt-metal/rock In Flames over the melodeath In Flames (except for Moonshield). I am not joking. I don't care what y'all "trve melodeath" fans think; I'll stick to Intestine Baalism, Soilwork and Grenadier for my melodeath fix. Battles wasn't that bad, man.
More power to ya bud. And honestly anyone unironically saying 'false metal' or 'posercore' should go eat some dirt lmao
@@themetalmeltdownofficial Yup! I feel like I The Mask was their worst to my ears.
I’m hoping and dreaming you’ll one day do all the Dio (band) albums🙏🤘
Ehhhh we'll see. I honestly don't listen to a ton of his solo stuff outside of Holy Diver
@@themetalmeltdownofficial at least try and listen to every up until Lock up the Wolves + Killing The Dragon. That’s usually the sweet spot
Idk my intro to in flames was colony in 2000 and being a bug fan of all sorts of metal and rock I can't say a bad thing about any in flames album. This is our house even had a decent riff to it but the lyrics make me wanna puke a tad. But overall pending my mood I can enjoy any in flames album and usually do. I deff agree sirens and battles are prolly the ones I listen to least but I don't hate then. Nothing touches colony and reroute to remain for me. Fav song is moonshield still. In flames are my favorite band and I can't wait for foregone on Friday as it's already shaping up to be my aoty.
Unpopular opinion but I still love there more metalcore and main stream sounding albums. It shows how diverse they can be. Yes all the records aren’t perfect of the newer stuff but I still think most of it is good.
lmao hey man, more power to ya, its all good
Only like their first 5 albums. Then got Reroute to Remain. Man, it started great with the music, the death metal vocals and then the clean vocals hit and it lost me. I thought, maybe since their first 5 were so good I will give them a pass on this. I purchased Soundtrack to Your Escape and yeah they didnt get a second pass with me. Oh well, it happened to me with Metallica and Megadeth too.
Yesss
Days of Lost or Forgone?
Im a huge fan of this band, every record (albeit a few stinker tunes here and there) EXCEPT I, The Mask are great.
The Jester Race, Come Clarity (my intro to them) Reroute, A Sense of Purpose, Colony, Sounds of a Playground, Clayman all kick ass. I don’t even hate Siren Charms.
Battles… I will state there are a few tunes are meh, the thing about that record is there are tunes from it that helped me to get over a nasty battle (pun intended) of mental health issues.
I, The Mask is eeeextremely whiny especially vocally. I cannot stand it. And that garbage 2020 re-record of the four tunes from Clayman WTF?!
I’m very excited for Forgone based on the 4 tunes they released, and so far Meet Your Maker has the best mix of the killer stuff from In Flames.
Great job with this ranking/scoring on this discography.
Did mans just say Behind Space is not a good track?
" Call me by my astral name..."
Funny how their eras line up with name font changes. 😂
Shit I never even noticed that lmao
Why is this guy imitating Anthony Fantano so much
Say it with me: NU-CLEAR, NU-CLEAR, NUCLEAR Blast.
ruclips.net/video/Nth4RqqmQZ4/видео.html
@@themetalmeltdownofficial Noice! Hahaha.
Just being a smart ass. Great review, can't disagree with anything here. I love their old stuff, even Come Clarity had a few cool moments. Lost all interest in anything after that and the new single ain't promising.
Once again, I agree with your ratings, but Soundtrack will always have a special place for me because of the memories its tied to.
Id like to see you do the Soilwork and Dark Tranquility discography!
I like all the albums but Lunar Strain being a strong debut just doesn’t hit as an In Flames album. You can hear they were experimenting and looking for their sound. Whoreacle is my GOAT but Clayman and Jester Race are very close. My top 5 are rounded out with Foregone and Colony.
Can you do Soilwork next
My introduction was I, the mask and it was...not great. Actually I've never really listened to them since that album
Definitely check out the early stuff bud, I promise it aint nowhere near the level of mid of "I, The Mask"
@@themetalmeltdownofficial Absolutely will...if I'm not binging your album rankings tomorrow still
Good review. Not much i disagree with for real. Its an unpopular opinion, but for some reason a love a sense of purpose it my favorite IF album. But no denying there is a complete drop off from that point on. Battles is by far their worst album. Lunar strain- Clayman were their best years.
Glad to say Forgone is great tho. Hopefully next album with the current lineup is better than ever. IF is my favorite band.
Behind space is great tho
Jester Race through Clayman was melodic death metal's equivalent to Metallica's first four thrash albums imo. Reroute to remain had some great music but some cringe choruses that sounded similar to random pop songs lol.
Imagine Dragons is a fitting description! It also makes me think that Imagine Dragons are as successful as they are because their music is bad.
In Flames We Trust