Where Are You - In Flames

Where did it all go wrong? I have pondered this question many times, only to come up with the same answer as which came first, the chicken or the egg. I don’t know that an answer exists, but I am determined to get to the bottom of this tangled web of confusion. The bottom line is, Where Are You In Flames?

Am I a death metal fan? Not as big as a lot of people, but In Flames are one of my top two bands (the other being Hypocrisy) that invited me in to that unknown world and opened the floodgates for me to swim in. Their version of "melodic" death metal really helped to create an entire movement, along side Dark Tranquility, Sacrilege, and At The Gates.

Here is a bit of reading material, for those who do not know the background of the group. In Flames was formed in 1990 when Jesper Strömblad decided to leave his band (Ceremonial Oath) to pursue a new direction in music. He later found Johan Larsson and Glenn Ljungström and formed the first version of In Flames. They quickly smacked a demo and joined the Wrong Again family. The somewhat unstable (in the terms of line ups) released "Lunar Strain", followed closely by the golden masterpiece that is known as "Subterranean". Tired of borrowing personnel, Anders Friden and Bjorn Gelotte gave the group a more steady line up. Not exactly as Johan Larsson and Glenn Ljungström left the band, but soon were replaced by Peter Iwers and Niklas Engelin. Niklas left the group to focus on Gardenian. This moved Iwers from drums to bass and allowed Daniel Svensson to give In Flames a pulse.

After a few years of trying, the group was signed to Nuclear Blast (after the release of Subterranean), and blew up their fair share of speakers. With each release being better than its predecessor, In Flames struck gold with the release of "Clayman". One can call that desert, because what followed makes even the strongest man lose his lunch. Let’s call "Reroute to Remain" what it truly is, a failed experiment. Even Doctor Frankenstein knew when his monster needed to be put to sleep. He did not try again. In Flames surely did, releasing the most horrendous EP of all time, featuring a cover of "Land Of Confusion" by Genesis. Even my dog left the room on that one. Just when you thought the worst was over came "Soundtrack To Your Escape", and an appropriate title it was, after hearing the first song or two, I was ready to escape by jumping out of a window. Where are the guys who released such classics as "Subterranean", "Whoracle", "Colony", and "Clayman"? Will we ever get another classic from them?

Change is inevitable, and often times it is a good thing; however, this is a classic tale of “Beauty and the Beast”. We all have witnessed the beauty in sound that they are capable of, now it is the beast's turn. Even the loading page of their website (www.inflames.com) has the band heads drawn out exactly like Limp Bizkit has been known to do. They were one of the best bands in the world, should they really try to model themselves after one of the worst bands?

The guilty parties are Anders Friden (vocals), Jesper Strömblad (guitar), Bjorn Gelotte (guitar), Peter Iwers (bass), and Daniel Svensson (drums), and the label that allowed this catastrophe to happen is none other than Nuclear Blast (www.nuclearblast.de). Is the label 100% responsible for the train wreck called In Flames, I would venture a guess and say NO! But their hands are not 100% clean either. We now know the line up did not change in between "Clayman" and today, so what happened?

My question is simple, Where Are You In Flames? Where is the band that released such great material, who helped define an entire genre with their creativity and musical craftmanship?

Entire Catalog
Soundtrack To Your Escape 2004
Trigger 2003
Reroute To Remain 2002
Tokyo Showdown 2001
Clayman 2000
Colony 1999
Whoracle 1998
Black-Ash Inheritance 1997
The Jester Race 1995
Subterranean 1994
Lunar Strain 1994