Reroute to Remain

In Flames were the first metal band I got into, and my first album by them was actually The Tokyo Showdown, the live album with pathetic sound quality but a fantastic setlist. Obviously since then I'm familiarised myself with all of their other material, yet I realised not long ago that I didn't actually own copies of Reroute To Remain or Soundtrack To Your Escape, the two albums that are constantly attacked for being 'mallcore', and other such insults to In Flames. Obviously I'd heard a good amount of songs from the two but now that I have the full album, I have to say it is not nearly as bad as everyone seems to think.

The first thing that will jump out at you when you pop this CD in is that there is a much heavier use of synthesiser and clean vocals in a lot of songs. I mean, In Flames have used keyboards since the very beginning, so I find it quite odd that people are complaining about this element. A vast majority of the keyboard use in this album is for soundscaping and atmospherics, rather than as a real key component of a song (which it has been in the past, remember 'Wayfaerer'?) and I find that it is used very effectively. Aside from a few intros and quieter sections, they are not massively noticable and listening to the whole album I never thought that they were emphasised too much or just not beneficial to the sound.

As for the vocals, I've never been a huge fan but I find no major problems with either Anders' clean vocals or his new style of screaming. The production of them in the studio is where the problem lies, they are very muffled and occasionally distorted and I think this is mostly down to the fact that Anders does not have a particularly strong voice. Sure, sometimes they're annoying but it's not difficult to ignore them. I think a lot of the best moments on the album are the choruses, where the clean vocals are almost always implemented.

That said, don't think there is no melody in the guitars. There always has been oodles of melody and harmony dripping from In Flames' guitars, and this album is no different. The only real difference is that a lot of the guitar parts are very rhythmic at the same time, rather than the previous formula where a lot of the time the guitars would be divided between one player playing the melody and another playing chords to provide backing. The riffs here are still incredibly melodic and the classic style of harmonies In Flames are known for is still there, but the addition of more rhythmic hooks (which are only used by sellout bands, obviously) spices up In Flames' sound.

I think that Daniel Svensson's drumming has improved with every In Flames album he's appeared on and with Reroute To Remain he's really brought some songs to life. While if you are listening casually, you will start to hear similar beats throughout, his performance is fantastic and some of his fills show his fantastic ear for what will fit with any particular piece of music. However, his bass drum is not nearly prominent enough, and this in turn plays down Peter Iwers' power on the record. His playing has never been at all noticable in any way behind his bandmates' thick guitar tone, which is sad. However, this problem is to be found in every In Flames recording, so it is no real reason to mark down Reroute To Remain.

The other main point of interest on the album is some of the more laid back tracks, such as 'Metaphor' and 'Dawn Of A New Day'. I think both of these are very interesting tracks which break a lot of new ground for In Flames, including some of the more 'classic' acoustic elements of mid 90's In Flames. I hope to hear more music like this from them in the future.

I find it quite odd that this is considered In Flames' 'sellout' album, because if you really believe they did sell out, Clayman is quite a similar album. I mean, a lot of songs on the album could fit right in on Clayman, and (to an extent) vice versa. All taken into consideration though, I think this is a good album. Not great, like The Jester Race or Colony, but certainly much, much better than what it is generally considered to be. It has a couple of stinkers (such as 'Cloud Connected' and 'Transparent') but songs like 'Trigger', 'Dawn Of A New Day' and the opening title track make Reroute To Remain an enjoyable album, worthy of the In Flames name.