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Oh the good old days..where are they for these guys?

Judging from the crap they spewed lately long gone.

Part of me wants to hear this, given how their last was ok for what it was. The rest of me wants to run screaming.

Start running Zad

RUN FAST! get away now that you can!

I agree with Steve and Alex run run forest ruuuuuuuuuuuuun!!!!!

Am I the only one who thinks these guys were never that good anyway? I mean no disrepect, but for 90s melodeath I'll take Gallery (or Slaughter of the Soul, to state the obvious) over Jester Race any day.

Nah, they had their moments on Jester race, but they at least had an ounce of talent back then. Nowhere near comparable to how great ATG was.

Would like to hear an opinion from someone who liked A Sense of Purpose .. the reviewer mentioned classics a-plenty, but nary a comparison to their most recent.

a sense of purpose was good, the new one not so much...very meh

I expected a score along these lines.

this album really wasn't that bad, i like a couple songs but there other albums are definatly better.

Just as I expected. Still going to check this out though, despite that it'll probably be a disappointment.

Bands evolve my friends. In Flames have [b]evolved[/b] into what they are today. They are not the same as they were, but still have many of the same characteristics that they have always had.

The album opens with a serenade type clean guitar beginning the first song then straight into the trademark skipping rhythms and melodic screams In Flames is known for. The chorus is a melodic Maiden type melody with some great raspy melodies by Anders.

The second song, Deliver Us, begins with a synthesized melody that quickly becomes guitar and seamlessly enters a intertwining groove. The chorus is a raspy vocal melody again. Pretty cool and memorable.

All For Me begins with a clean guitar part that goes into a deep groove. Next is a chunky stop and start riff with a noodling lead behind it. Super cool backing lead BTW. The interlude has some queasy clean vocals that are somewhat off putting at first, but I do like this song as a whole though.

The puzzle is one of my favorites on this CD. Fast paced and intense at the beginning and a great little solo. I love the high pitched screams Anders reaches on the chorus.

Fear is the Weakness begins with a short clean intro and then into a beautiful melodic guitar part. Another great solo in this one too; short and tasty. All in all a melodic sing a long song.

Where the Dead Ships Dwell is very reminiscent of the album Sense of Purpose. Catchy and Epic.

The Attic reminds me of Satellites and Astronauts without the heavy part. I wish they would have gotten heavy. The extra bluesy leads are new. It's pretty and creates a solemn atmosphere. A quick little ditty that I could take or leave.

Darker Times has a flowing groove riff at the beginning and into a melodic raspy chorus. The solo is really cool. Short and forgettable unfortunately.

Ropes begins with a great little guitar melody line and drops into some clean vocals by Anders then back into the catchy little riff again. Another great little solo. The clean vox are not Ander's strong point, but the raspy melodic voice is pure gold. The guitar melody and solo make this song cool.

Enter Tragedy is another of my favorites. Nice heavy beginning and a tad more upbeat. Chunky chorus with melodic death rasp vox. Again great little solo. Enter Tragedy! Do you question me? I question you. Great lyrics.

Jester's Door is a throw away track. Spoken word or some shit.

A New Dawn has some deeper melodic death vocals in the beginning then into a beautiful and epic guitar riff with melodic death rasp vox. Some clean vox for transition into the chorus. It has a pretty guitar interlude with some tasteful violin added. Another good little solo.

Liberation begins with guitar part that reminds me of a 36 Crazy Fists song off their fist album which was actually a pretty good album. Not my thing, but pretty cool. I don't really like this song right now, cause it's just too pretty and I can't dismiss the similarity to the 36 Crazy Fists song.

All in all, I like this album. I give it a 83. Only two duds. Three if you count the talking song. If you have enjoyed In Flames in the past, I am confident that you will enjoy the majority of this album. I believe the reviewer gave this an emotionally driven 55 score. I understand his grievances, but I do not agree that they destroy the album.

I like The Attic. Perhaps In Flames should stay away from metal and do something else. They have something.

That's actually a very good point. Personally I thought A Sense Of Purpose was pretty good, in fact I actually consider it the band's best album since Clayman. This album is not much like that at all. Most of the songs here are slower, and the catchy, quick guitar melodies are almost completely gone. Even Soundtrack To Your Escape had more exciting songs than this does, though it is somewhat similar in the way that the sound is mostly driven by heavy riffs...and not much else. I think this album is actually meant to have a darker feeling to it, but on Soundtrack there were subtleties that made some songs interesting, whereas here the songs are just thrown at you with hardly any attention to detail.

Just listening to the first track now... I have the feeling I'm really going to like this.

I have to agree with voxmonster. This is a damn good album. Sure there are a few duds but overall pretty awesome! Stand out songs for me are the opening title track, Fear is the Weakness, Darker Times, Ropes, and Enter Tragedy.

Not sure where missing Jesper's guitar solos comment comes from because this album has more fast and technical solos since Clayman? Plus a ton of twin guitar harmonies and best production since Clayman too!

Just cause there it's a little more modern and less death it's not that far removed from what In Flames has always done. They have changed slightly but it's been far exaggerated over the years. In Flames has kind of suffered from that syndrome where a few people start calling them Mallcore or whatever then everybody starts to believe it and then it just snowballs! You just have to listen to this and block out all the preconceptions so that you can critically form you own unbias opinion!

I haven't listened to In Flames in ten years and I couldn't care less about the public's appraisals of their albums. Even so, this album blows chunks. If there were a mall in my hometown, this is what I'd put on during visits to it.