Track Listing

1. Take This Life
2. Leeches
3. Reflect The Storm
4. Dead End
5. Scream
6. Come Clarity
7. Vacuum
8. Pacing Death's Trail
9. Crawl Through Knives
10. Versus Terminus
11. Our Infinite Struggle
12. Vanishing Light
13. Your Bedtime Story Is Scaring Everyone

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34129 in Music
• Released on: 2006-02-07
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Special Edition

About the Artist
In Flames has been one of the leaders of the underground metal movement for over 10 years. With over 1,000,000 records sold worldwide and coming off a successful tour as part of OZZFEST 2005, where they shared the festival's main stage with Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and others, the time is ripe for this Swedish quintet to continue their ascent. The band's recent success, as well as that of their counterparts -- including Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and Lamb of God.

With the February 7th, 2006 North American release of Come Clarity, the band has chosen a new label in Ferret Music to not only serve their legions of fans, but to introduce them to a broader audience in heavy music. The follow-up to the band's 2004 album, Soundtrack to Your Escape, Come Clarity features In Flames most ambitious songwriting to date.

Striving to make music he loved, Jesper Strömblad formed In Flames with Johan Larsson and Glenn Ljungström in 1990. After recording a demo, the trio garnered their first record deal and began work on their debut album. Entitled Lunar Strain, the release quickly became an instant classic in underground circles. A licensing deal with Nuclear Blast Records soon followed, as did the addition of both Anders Friden on vocals and Björn Gelotte on drums. In Flames then went to work on recording Lunar Strain's follow-up, The Jester Race. The album was an immediate success and the band's profile continued to increase worldwide as did their rigorous touring schedule.

After the recording of 1997's Whoracle, Johan and Glenn decided to leave the band and both Peter Iwers (bass) and Niklas Engelin (guitar) stepped in. With the fresh line-up in place, In Flames hit the road with Dimmu Borgir for a very successful European tour. The album ultimately became known in the highly factional underground metal community as an important release not only for In Flames, but for the entire melodic death metal movement.

At the conclusion of the album's cycle, In Flames' lineup again changed and the band restructured considerably. Björn switched from drums to guitar and Daniel Svensson (SACRILIGE) joined on percussion. In 1999, the band released Colony. Excellent reactions to the album as well as increased touring the world over turned In Flames into one of the most popular metal acts on the planet. 2000's Clayman topped its predecessor and the band received international acclaim. The success of Clayman gave the band a chance to share stages with acts such as Slipknot, Metallica and Slayer. The first In Flames live album, The Tokyo Showdown, soon followed, giving a detailed insight into the band's live competence.

After touring the world twice over in support of Clayman, In Flames released their two most successful records to date, Reroute to Remain and Soundtrack to Your Escape in 2002 and 2004 respectively. The invitation to join the 2005 installment of OZZFEST as a main stage act solidified In Flames' place amongst modern day heavy music's elite and saw the band break new ground, converting scores of new fans over the course of the highly-publicized trek.

Now with the imminent release of Come Clarity, In Flames are ready to take North America by storm with their best album to date. The band will finally call the continent their second home by touring the continent for more than half of 2006, beginning with a headlining tour set to launch in January that will include support from well known acts Trivium, Devildriver and Zao. Come Clarity features thirteen explosive tracks, including the roll-out single and video, "Take this Life".

Customer Reviews

Great album, but not as fun as the old stuff
Good album, especially song 4. They need to incorporate more guest singers. If you liked Soundtrack to your Escape, this is a little different. They lost a little of their unique sound on this album.

I like it
Im not a big fan of this band and hell i've only heard some of their old stuff but are you sure they had a nu mteal thing going on cause i never heard it and DON'T WANT TO.There's many of you trash talking this cd but why?it's a great album.Good swedish death metal,still heavy,still fast and the growling is awesome just not a big fan of the singing although he CAN sing i guess.Dude you gotta beat yourself really bad if you call this emocore ARE YOU KIDDING ME?Listen close to this and you might changed your mind now excuse me im gonna listen to some HEAVIER STUFF!

Possibly the best modern In Flames album
Come Clarity is the best album Sweden's In Flames has put out in long, long time. Their previous two albums, Reroute to Remain and Soundtrack to Your Escape, had a few good songs on them and were full of new ideas, but they paled in comparison to the band's earlier work. They seemed to represent a transition phase for the band, as if they were looking to redefine their sound but couldn't pinpoint exactly what worked and what didn't.

Thankfully, that phase seems to be over, and this new album will certainly appeal to fans of punchy, well-written heavy music. More importantly, it will allow In Flames enthusiasts to breathe a collective sigh of relief, since it seems that the band has some life left after all.

In Flames was one of the originators of the "Gothenburg" sound along with Dark Tranquility and At the Gates. This particular style of music paved the way for many of the modern metal bands you'll hear these days (quick, technical heavy metal coupled with plenty of melody and harsh vocals). In fact, the sticker on the cover of Come Clarity says "the band that paved the way for As I Lay Dying, Shadows Fall, and Killswitch Engage." The kicker is that In Flames is much better than all those bands, and they have the stunning back catalogue to prove it.

After expanding their audience considerably throughout the past few years with a more "accessible" style, they've managed to revisit their sound from the Colony (1999) and Clayman (2000) albums to an extent, which were full of fast paced tracks with great musicianship from every member of the band. It's not the melodic death metal from the mid-90's by any means, but it's still an excellent return to form for In Flames.

Come Clarity is more guitar-driven, more technical, more interesting, and heavier than their recent albums. The song writing is incredibly fine tuned and incorporates the effective parts of RtR and STYE, meaning a catchy chorus here and there, stellar production and songs that'll translate well to the stage (specifically "Take This Life," "Scream," and "Vacuum."). The acoustic breaks from the early days have all but disappeared for the most part, since the band doesn't really play acoustic guitars live (although "Come Clarity" is mainly an acoustic-driven song).

Most of the songs are pretty darn heavy (especially the second half of the disc) and will initiate mosh pits and headbanging worldwide. Some songs are downright awesome, including "Leeches," "Dead End" (which features Swedish pop starlet Lisa Miskovsky as a guest vocalist), "Versus Terminus" and "Our Infinite Struggle." The only downside to the album is that the great melodic guitar lines from classics like "Artifacts of the Black Rain," "Jotun," and "Embody the Invisible" are still kind of lacking.

This is not Lunar Strain, The Jester Race or even Whoracle. Those days have passed and the band has crossed the point of no return. The chances of a "December Flow II" are slim to nil, and some may say that the band is past their prime. Simpler songs, different vocals and weaker lyrics may be synonymous with modern In Flames, but Come Clarity is still a step in the right direction. The band has somewhat redefined their sound after several years of mediocrity, while rekindling a fire that has been absent in recent years.

In Flames is a highly, highly recommended band for metal fans, with a half dozen great albums and only a couple stinkers. Their live DVD, 2005's "Used and Abused... In Live We Trust" showcases the band tearing up the stage and is a good way to get acquainted with them (especially Set 2 of the Sticky Fingers show, which is basically a "greatest hits" of sorts). If you yearn for something a little closer to old school Swedish metal, you may want to check out Dark Tranquility's most recent albums, "Character" and "Fiction," but Come Clarity should definitely remain a blip on any metal fan's radar.