By now you've probably made your mind up whether you like IN FLAMES in their current modern guise or not. If their chuggy, catchy rhetoric of the last two albums has made your blood run cold, or you are one of those boring people longing for them to make "Jester Race" or "Whoracle" Part 2 (which is quite frankly a pointless and irritating exercise) then "Come Clarity" will probably come as a bit of disappointment yet again. However, if you step back and examine it as a slice of modern metal -rather than a melodic death metal band gone astray - then I think IN FLAMES have finally come up with an album with a distinct sense of identity.
"Come Clarity" feels like a culmination of attempted ideas from the last few albums that have finally come to worthwhile fruition. Whilst "Reroute to Remain" was the band's first major move towards a less extreme and more catchy, chorus focused sound - and despite housing a couple of IN FLAMES best ever songs to date - as a whole album it just didn't gel, and at 14 tracks was far too long and overrun with filler. The follow-up, 2004's "Soundtrack to Your Escape" had some good ideas but almost all guitar melodies were removed in favour of harsh, clanking guitar riffs, and whilst it worked better as a complete work, no real gems came out of the album.
Learning lessons from both albums & melding the styles successfully - along with re-instating guitar melodies that wouldn't sound out of place on "Colony" - IN FLAMES have finally achieved the sound I feel they have been trying to perfect over the last few years.
As ever, the production is world class and Daniel Bergstrand does a stirling job. Opener "Take This Life" gives a poor first impression admittedly, starting with the same sort of harsh, clanky riffwork of "Soundtrack" and with only a vaguely memorable chorus (I find this an odd choice for the first single being one of the weakest tracks). Things soon improve however with "Leeches", "Reflect the Storm" and the fantastic "Dead End" - all being solidly written with excellent melody and riffing clout aplenty. The latter "Dead End" features a female vocal section from Swedish pop singer LISA MISKOVSKY. Initially coming as quite a surprise to hear IN FLAMES with female vocals, her voice compliments Ander's tortured growls perfectly making this a brilliant, catchy and unexpected album highlight - and not just another shot at the Femme Metal bandwagon.
Things go a bit Ozzfest for "Scream" but soon improve immensely with the album title track "Come Clarity". Showing a mature reflective side to Anders lyrics, this song about watching the years pass you by, features one of the most uplifting, air punching sing-along choruses you are ever likely to hear (it brings a lump to my throat so it does!). Proving that while IN FLAMES may not be that MeloDeath band you used to listen to, they are certainly masters of the epic, moving chorus.
Other album highlights include "Crawl Through Knives"(featuring melodies to die for ala "Coerced Co-Existence" and a chorus that gives "Cloud Connected" a run for it's money), "Versus Terminus" (A harsh drudge-tempo riff fest with yet more of that "Colony" flavour) and "Your Bedtime Story is Scaring Everyone" - an atmospheric long intro culiminating in a short, yet effectively intense album exit.
Perhaps this is a conclusion for IN FLAMES. After testing the water for the past few releases and finally getting that style JUST right, the title "Come Clarity" may very well be a nod towards that very factor. It does however beg the question - having successfully progressed to a place they want to be, where can the band really go from here? I can't answer that myself, as I'm really not sure what more IN FLAMES could have to offer. More of the same would be boring, but then I just hope the dreaded "return to their roots but be nowhere near as good" album doesn't happen either - I'd rather a band go out gracefully - than bow to old school elitism and fan pressure to retread old ground. I guess we shall have to wait and see what happens next - until then we have a very enjoyable album to listen to!
Standout Tracks: Crawl Through Knives, Dead End, Come Clarity.
