Classic Album Anniversary: In Flames - Clayman (2000)

"Never been able to use the force
I only have it read to me
Despite all the misguided faith

I'll find a place in this mess"

In Flames' fifth full-length album Clayman was released 15 years ago. It is largely considered their last (pure) melodic death metal album and a watershed moment in the band's history, as the following albums would see the band embracing the influence of modern American metal and divide the fanbase.

Clayman is definitely a guitar album: although Anders Fridén continued to add melodic vocals and spoken word sections to the band's music, the majority of the time he's screaming and it's the guitar tandem of Björn Gelotte and Jesper Strömblad that drives the songs - the guitar playing isn't extremely technical, but the Swedes have a great sense of melody, and the harmonies and solos are often hummable. Clayman can be seen as a sibling of its precedessor Colony (1999), since the line-up and the studio where it was recorded are the same, and the musical style is similar, although Clayman is more accessible, including more clean singing and keyboards.

"Only for the Weak" is the most popular song on the album and still gets played regularly at In Flames' live shows - Fridén always tells the people in the audience to "jump the f*ck up" at the start of the song and they do accordingly. The song is full of infectious melodies and is arguably the catchiest (melodic) death metal song of all time. "Pinball Map" is another hit, juxtaposing fast and aggressive verses with a poppy sing-along chorus - this song paved the way for In Flames' new direction, as there aren't a lot of melodic leads here. The title-track is a self-portrait of Anders, perhaps with some irony thrown in: "I've tried confidence, had it for breakfast today". Opener "Bullet Ride" and "Square Nothing" on the other hand are rather suicidal and depressive lyrically, but musically they are fast and heavy like most of the other songs, although the beginning of the latter may mislead you into thinking it's a ballad. The actual ballad of the album is "Satellites and Astronauts" - I always thought this song was filler, but now I can appreciate it and I think it adds some variety to the album.

"Brush the Dust Away" shows off Daniel Svensson's impressive drumming and the lyrics seemingly criticize the sensationalization of violence in the media. "Swim" is a throwback to the futuristic sci-fi themes of In Flames' earlier albums and includes some cool wah-wah riffing. My favorite song on the album is "Suburban Me", which has a rocking vibe and blows off the roof with guest guitarist Chris Amott's (Arch Enemy) blistering solo. The remaining two tracks, "...as the Future Repeats Today" and "Another Day in Quicksand" aren't on par with the rest, but not as weak as some of In Flames' later songs, and the album is so short that it's easy to listen to it in full without skipping them.

While Reroute to Remain (2002) and Come Clarity (2006) are fairly solid albums for the most part and the rest of the newer In Flames albums each have a couple of good songs, I have to agree with those who consider Clayman the end of the band's golden era. While it may have been the beginning of the end and not a masterpiece like Whoracle (1997), Clayman is the sound of a band with a clear vision and a goal, on the edge of a breakthrough.

Rating: 4.5/5

Classic Album Anniversary: In Flames - Subterranean (1995)

"My spine shivers with the touch of your lips...
My pale skin turns red when we kiss...
Piercing your nails deep into my back...
As I slowly kiss your ivory neck..."

Subterranean is an EP Swedish melodeath pioneers In Flames released 20 years ago. As numerous EPs by other bands, this release has faded into obscurity and is mostly remembered by die-hard fans of the band's early works. Is this lack of attention justified or is Subterranean a hidden gem in the In Flames catalog?

Subterranean was recorded at a time when In Flames was still just a project and lacked a stable line-up, having to hire session members in order to record and perform live. This release features founding members Jesper Strömblad (guitar), Glenn Ljungström (guitar) and Johan Larsson (bass), along with session vocalist Henke Forss and session drummers Daniel Erlandsson, who would later join Arch Enemy, and Anders Jivarp of Dark Tranquillity. Henke Forss' vocals are more black metal-sounding than future frontman Anders Fridén's, and his lyrics include a lot of romantic imagery (as seen in the quote from the title-track above), which would be more at home on a gothic metal album. In other words, his style wasn't a good fit for In Flames, so it's not surprising that the band didn't keep him.

The songs are typical mid-90s Gothenburg metal with guitar harmonies, harsh vocals and double bass drumming, as well as folky acoustic sections. Opener "Stand Ablaze" is arguably one of the greatest In Flames songs ever, as the guitar melodies in the last 1½ minutes are pure ear candy. It's also the only song on the EP that is known to have been played live, although it hasn't been resurrected since 1999. "Stand Ablaze" sets the bar so high that the remaining four tracks can't live up to it, although the title-track is pretty good. "Everdying" ends with a nice acoustic outro, but it also feels slightly tacked-on. "Timeless" is an instrumental filler track and "Biosphere" isn't particularly memorable.

The reissue comes with four bonus tracks: two of them are demo versions of songs that would be recorded for The Jester Race, but with different vocalists, and the other two are cover songs. "Dead Eternity" sounds fairly close to the album version, with the exception of Jocke Göthberg's voice, which sounds fairly black metalish like Henke Forss'. I actually prefer his performance to Anders Fridén's strained vocals on the final version. "The Inborn Lifeless" features Per Gyllenbäck on vocals, and it's an early version of "Dead God in Me" with different lyrics and a shorter ending - not as good as the album version, but it's interesting to hear a different take on a familiar classic song. The cover of Metallica's "Eye of the Beholder" is almost identical to the original song, with the exception of the faster tempo and some additional screams in the chorus. Guest vocalist Robert Dahne tries to sound like James Hetfield, but the results are horrendous. In Flames manages to inject more of its own sound into Iron Maiden's "Murders in the Rue Morgue", but this cover isn't amazing, either.

The problem with Subterranean is a lack of focus: if In Flames had been a proper band at the time the EP was recorded, they could've refined the songs more. However, as the bonus demo tracks show, In Flames was taking steps towards the sound that made them famous on The Jester Race. Subterranean isn't an essential release by any means, but "Stand Ablaze" is definitely worth listening to, and the EP can be recommended to those who love The Jester Race and want to hear what came before it.

Rating: 3/5