Whoracle

For those within the one-time echelon of IN FLAMES/Gothenburg fandom, it all comes down to this...the penultimate FLAME-y album, one of the end-all-be-all melodic death metal albums, a masterpiece in every possible way. Sure, it all sounds pretty golden in that all-that-glitters catagory, and for my money consistent praise can only go so far until you feel the urge to partake in its wares for yourself, just to see if the positivity is justified.

Sorry, but it ain't.

I'll start with the good, firstly...the performance on the album is pretty top notch, tight, and showing more than a fair share of competence. Given their style you need to be able to wrap both hands around your instruments and let it rip as best as possible to keep those tasty melodies alive, and the definitely do, if not with more tightened chops. The likes of "Lunar Strain" and "Subterranean” showed a lot of promise in the musicality, but the performance was quite immature and sloppy. This time around, the twin guitar leads, punchy rhythm work, and snarling vocals go hand-in-hand-in-hand with a definitive skill and technicality that shows a band really on its mark, where the melody takes top billing over the riffing and arrangements, shown by the likes of “Jotun”, “Dialogue with the Stars” and “Episode 666”.

But unfortunately, it’s not a perfect picture all around…the overall feel of the album, including even the aforementioned good tracks, is a lackluster, boring, and increasingly unoriginal foray into middle-of-the-roadness that flitters by to become the most metallic of background music. Each song has the same tempo, the same melodies, and at times, the same damn riffs, over and over until the album’s completion. Seriously…if you skip half-way through the given song and listen to the next, you probably won’t even know the difference. This is augmented most noticeably with the likes of “Food for the Gods”, “The Hive”, and “Morphing into Primal”, each interchangeable by song title only. A good 80% of the album unnecessary filler, but it makes the whole album an unnecessary listen. Which I’m sure the band wasn’t shooting for.

So all in all this isn’t anything special at all. IN FLAMES have always been very hit or miss, but this album is one of their biggest MISS moments. Ignore this and seek out “Colony”.