Maximum Metal Rating Legend
5 Excellent - Masterpiece. A classic.
4.5-4 Great - Almost perfect records but there's probably a lacking.
3.5 Good - Most of the record is good, but there may be some filler.
3 Average - Some good songs, some bad ones at about a half/half ratio.
2.5-2 Fair - Worth a listen, but best obtained by collectors.
1.5-1 Bad - Major problems with music, lyrics, production, etc.
0 Terrible - Waste of your life and time.

Note: Reviews are graded from 0-5, anything higher or not showing is from our old style. Scores, however, do not reveal the important features. The written review that accompanies the ratings is the best source of information regarding the music on our site. Reviewing is opinionated, not a qualitative science, so scores are personal to the reviewer and could reflect anything from being technically brilliant to gloriously cheesy fun.

Demos and independent releases get some slack since the bands are often spent broke supporting themselves and trying to improve. Major releases usually have big financial backing, so they may be judged by a heavier hand. All scores can be eventually adjusted up or down by comparison of subsequent releases by the same band. We attempt to keep biases out of reviews and be advocates of the consumer without the undo influence of any band, label, management, promoter, etc.

The best way to determine how much you may like certain music is to listen to it yourself.
Band
In Flames
Title
Come Clarity
Type
LP/EP
Company
Ferret Records
YOR
2006
Style
Thrash
3/8/2006 - Review by: Frank Hill
In Flames - Come Clarity - 2006 - Ferret Records

Track Listing
01. Take This Life
02. Leeches
03. Reflect The Storm
04. Dead End
05. Scream
06. Come Clarity
07. Vacuum
08. Pacing Death´s Trail
09. Crawl Through Knives
10. Versus Terminus
11. Our Infinite Struggle
12. Vanishing Light
13. Your Bedtime Story Is Scaring Everyone
After the letdown of the Trigger ep, and for some old-school fans the entire last two CDs (one of our staffers even wrote a scathing Where Are You? column about the band), In Flames is back with a tremendous effort that should make metalheads across the world happy and pick up a bunch more along the way through the sheer force of incredible music. Many had eschewed the more experimental, industrial sounds of the last CDs and were afraid the band had run it's course or were moving off into unwanted directions. While the artsiness is still there, the attack of the earlier albums is much more prevalent. For a later listener like me who sees the older music as too thrashy and the newer songs as too esoteric, "Come Clarity" is the golden release that combines both legacies. This CD might have the catchiest heavy music around.

The twin guitar riffs are just as stark and cold as the white cover; shredding and biting into your skin like a freezing winter blast. Anders vocals are more harsh for the verses and often pained in the warmer melodic verses and the thick rhythm section. Lyrically, they sometimes verge on whiney introspective questioning, but it's poetic enough to allow plenty of personal interpretation making In Flames, to me, the perfect existential band of the new mellenium. It's a beatiful blend of metal stylings that is rarely done better. Forget about all the other modern thrash bands--In Flames owes this style and you'll be hooked into the opening "Take This Life", "Crawl Through Knives", and "Versus Terminus" with their consistent thrash downbeat propulsion into melodic choruses. "Dead End" had me instantly with it's lovely female vocals by Lisa Miskovsky and it's wall of sound chorus of dual vocals. Only the remarkable "Come Clarity" is ballad-esque and can you get a cooler title than "Your Bedtime Story Is Scaring Everyone"?

With killer recent releases from Soilwork and Dark Tranquility as well, this decade old style is still as fresh as ever. My faith in metal is renewed and with "Come Clarity", In Flames deserves to stand in the pantheon of the greatest metal bands of all time. It's the kind of CD that urges you to share its power and brilliance with everybody. Anybody into Melodic death/thrash and New Wave of American Metal bands should to pick this up.

I would recommend spending the couple bucks more for the extra dvd, but note that they aren't performing, though--it's the album played while they mimic the music and some band pics.

Bottom Line: Tight, abrasive, yet commercially accessible modern thrash. Not a bad song in the bunch for me so "Come Clarity" gets the highest marks.

Score: 10 of 10


--Nailer 03.08.06



  • 1 :REVIEW COUNT
    N/A :AVE RATING

ALL REVIEWS FOR: IN FLAMES
TITLE
DOR
COMPANY
REVIEWER DATE MADE RATING
A Sense of Purpose
2008
Nuclear Blast
Frank Hill6/12/2008
3
Battles
2016
Nuclear Blast
Eric Compton1/19/2017
3
Come Clarity
2006
Ferret Records
Frank Hill3/8/2006
-
Lunar Strain/Subterranean (Reissues)
2005
Candlelight
Eric Compton6/17/2005
-
Reroute to Remain
2002
Nuclear Blast
Frank Hill2/4/2003
4
Reroute to Remain
2002
Nuclear Blast
Guest1/21/2003
4
Siren Charms
2014
Sony Music
Frank Hill10/20/2014
3
Sounds of a Playground Fading
2011
Century Media
Eric Compton8/5/2011
3.5
Soundtrack to Your Escape
2004
Nuclear Blast
Greg Watson4/30/2004
-
The Mirror's Truth
2008
Nuclear Blast
Frank Hill3/14/2008
4
Trigger EP
2003
Nuclear Blast
Frank Hill2/20/2004
-

ALL INTERVIEWS FOR: IN FLAMES
INTERVIEW INTERVIEWER DATE TAGLINE
Anders FridenGreg Watson7/9/2004


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