In Flames -- 'A Sense of Purpose' [review]

In Flames - A Sense of Purpose
Koch Records (4/1/08)
Metal

Sure, the die-hard In Flames fans and metal elite will continue to bitch and moan that the band is creating the same album time and again (at least since the release of Reroute to Remain). The fact of the matter is that no band even comes close to In Flames when it comes to powerful, melodic death metal.

On A Sense of Purpose In Flames manages to ratchet up the melodies to amazing degrees, from Anders Friden’s vocal work (much less strained than previous outings) to the striking guitar play from Bjorn Gelotte and Jesper Stromblad.

And unlike, say, Soundtrack to Your Escape, which sounded very repetitive over time, A Sense of Purpose is constantly shifting direction. There’s the electronic bliss of “Sleepless Again” (chock-full of impressive solos), the urgent riffing on “I’m the Highway” (with some frantic drum work from Daniel Svensson and nice, intricate guitar back-and-forths mid-way through the song), and the one-two punch of “Sober and Irrelevant” (showcasing maniacal guitar riffs aplenty) and “Condemned” (featuring some of the best metal drumming of the year).

Even when they really slows things down (on the eight-minute plus “The Chosen Pessimist”), it’s like some sort of controlled explosion that showcases a very different side of the band. And the irresistible catchiness of “Disconnected” immediately gets under your skin and aches for repeated listens.

Working within the confines of melodic metal, the band takes more than enough chances and manages to craft such hook-laden tracks that it's almost impossible to resist. If there’s one thing you can count on with In Flames, it’s consistency. What you don’t expect is an out-of-left-field contender for album of the year. The band finally has a handle on its “new direction” and the results are astonishing.

Children of Bodom -- 'Blooddrunk' [review]

Children of Bodom - Blooddrunk
Fontana Universal Records (4/15/08)
Metal

It would appear as if Children of Bodom likes taking a different approach with each new album, as seen with the evolution from 2003's Hate Crew Deathroll (an explosive assault) to 2005's Are You Dead Yet?, which was a little more raw and less expansive. And now, with Blooddrunk, the band have taken the aggressive approach one step further.

The album spills out of the speakers like a wall of sound, as everything is thick, compact and foreboding. The band has incorporated more thrash elements to its repertoire, and it gives the material more of an edge than on its previous album. The rest is vintage Children of Bodom, with killer solos, mind-bending riffs, plenty of keyboards, choking double-bass drumming and a lot of melody to temper the breakneck pacing.

Within Temptation -- 'The Heart of Everything' [review]

Within Temptation - The Heart of Everything
Roadrunner Records (7/24/07)
Metal/goth


Within Temptation's fourth full-length album, The Heart of Everything, is supposed to be the band's big North American coming-out party. At least, I'm sure that's what Roadrunner Records would have liked. The truth is, there's not a big North American market for this specific brand of metal.


For many years, European metal bands with an operatic tinge have thrived overseas (Nightwish, Within Temptation, Leaves Eyes), as these bands are earning huge numbers with each new album. But mainstream North America has been slow on the upswing.


Make no mistake, these bands are doing something very unique on the metal scene. The operatic nature of the vocals gives the bands' sound a whole new dimension, with the voice being used as another instrument as opposed to the main attraction with the instruments backing.

Perhaps the biggest misstep with The Heart of Everything was using "What Have You Done" as the lead-off single. Sure, it's probably the strongest track on the album, with front woman Sharon Den Adel trading vocals with guest vocalist Keith Caputo (he of Life of Agony fame). But this track is far from the norm for the album. Anyone expecting the next Evanescence would be sorely mistaken (not that that's a bad thing). Rather, check out "Hand of Sorrow", a track that opens with a full orchestra before the drums and guitar kick in. Adel's vocals sound like they belong in Phantom of the Opera instead of fronting a metal band. But that's the point.

So what does the band do right? The orchestration is lush, the riffs are weighty and intense and Adel can really wail. On the title-track, she really carries the procession, soaring above the metallic interplay between guitarists Robert Westerholt and Ruud Jolie (with some solid soloing from Westerholt). And the demonic muttering adds a nice subtle touch, too. Or a song like "Howling", with assaulting riffs that groove around the rhythm section with authority, is a perfectly acceptable metal anthem. The band can even add an edge to slower tracks. "Frozen" would come across as a typical power ballad, if not for the thunderous bridges around the chorus and the chunky guitar-play.

The negatives are few. "Our Solemn Hour" has enough of a hook, but the Latin chanting seems to hinder any full development on the song. Unless you're really into the subgenre, the latter songs really start to blend together, with Adel relying too much on the beautiful singing part of her performance. And then, just to rub it in, a second version of "What Have You Done" (and extended version, no less) closes the album. The first version was obviously mixed to be a rocking single, while the later is more in-step with what the band does (on a side note, this might not be the perfect Within Temptation song, but it is a killer track, and Caputo sounds fantastic mixing it up with the band).

The Heart of Everything is a great album for what it is, and few bands pull off the mix of metal and orchestration this well. This is definitely the band's best offering to date, but it still remains to be seen whether this brand of metal can find a larger audience outside of Europe. For anyone that likes beauty in their metal, Within Temptation will fail to disappoint. Even for those not of the metal persuasion, there's something to like.

Nightrage -- 'A New Disease is Born' [review]

Nightrage
A New Disease is Born
(Lifeforce Records)

Nightrage seems to have made the transition from supergroup to "just a group" as smoothly as possible. While replacing a vocalist is never an easy task, replacing someone as renowned and respected as Tomas Lindberg could have been a deathknell. Instead, bassist Henric Carlsson recruited Jimmie Strimell for vocal duties and then built an entire new unit around the two (Marios Iliopouos on guitar and Alex Svenningson behind the drums).

So never was an album title more apropos: A New Disease is Born explodes out of the gate with the hammering "Spiral," and the new sound is immediately clear. The growls are less gutteral, the harmonies more melodic, the riffs less explosive. But the overall package is just as potent.

While similarities could be found, Strimell does anything but attempt to channel Lindberg. His dual vocal styles offer a great juxtaposition for the band's songs. He can tear up the mike on tracks like "Encircle" and "Death-Like Silence," but just as easily (actually) sing with the best of 'em on tracks like "Spiral" or "Reconcile."

The best part of Nightrage's sound is the driving melodies. There's subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) guitar riffs on a majority of the songs ("Scathing" and "A Condemned Club" especially) that come in unexpectedly to add that extra element to turn straight forward metal into sometime more ...

Rightly so, Nightrage was once at the forefront of the new European metal movement. But this is not the Nightrage of old. The fundamental sound of Nightrage (the soul, if you will) is alive and well in this new beast. While another album or two may be needed to see if this new incarnation of the band has staying power, A New Disease is Born is one hell of a re-debut. Any fan of the thrash/power/death metal blend European bands are perfect at crafting should pick up this album that will end up flying under the radar of most.

Dimmu Borgir -- 'In Sorte Diaboli' [review]

Dimmu Borgir
"In Sorte Diaboli"
(Nuclear Blast Records)


As much as Dimmu Borgir's Deathcult Armageddon put the band on the mainstream metal map, In Sorte Diaboli seeks to grab a stranglehold on the newfound fame and cling on for dear life.

That's not to say In Sorte Diaboli is a snapshot of a band "selling out," but more of a band seeing what worked on the last album and ratcheting up only the most successful of elements.

What Diaboli has to offer, it delivers in spades. The vocals are even more sinister, especially the screeching inflections littered throughout "The Conspiracy Unfolds"; the band is much tighter (if that was possible) than on Deathcult; the drumming, truly the highlight of Dimmu Borgir's sound, is off-the-charts -- the double-bass on "The Chosen Legacy" is especially noteworthy; the orchestration, while toned down, is even more "scene setting" in nature, and really adds a special dimension to Dimmu Borgir's attack. Of special note is the U.S.-only bonus track "The Heretic Hammer"; it does little to mess up the album setlist and would actually make for a perfect lead-off single, with some of the best rhythm guitar and orchestration of any Dimmu Borgir song.

The mis-steps, while few, are still impossible to miss. The harmonizing on "The Sacrilegious Scorn" seems way too forced; much of the album's piano interludes detract too much from the song at hand ("Sacrilegious Scorn" is once again most at fault here). The band also skipped any non-English tracks, which is shame given long-time fans' appreciation of DB's roots.

At the end of the day, the band's surprising success with Deathcult and stint on the Ozzfest mainstage obviously had an affect on the group's follow-up effort. Far from a swing and a miss, Diaboli still has that air of "not quite hitting the mark" given the steps taken over the past few albums in terms of the band tweaking and modifying its sound.

Lacuna Coil -- 'Karmacode' [review]

Lacuna Coil
"Karmacode"
(Century Media Records)


Fans of Italy's Lacuna Coil have waited almost four years to see what the band was going to come up with when it came to topping 2002's "Comalies."

And here's your cliched question: Was "Karmacode" worth the wait?

Upon first release, "Comalies" wasn't the big hit it was to become. Apart from diehard fans, the album stalled on the shelf until Evanescence exploded onto the scene. People were suddenly interested in any hard rock/metal act out there and latched onto Lacuna Coil in the process making the band the best selling act in Century Media history.

But that's where the comparisons to Evanescence end. Lacuna Coil has been together for 10 years at this point. The band's sound, to some extent, is etched in stone. You have the growling male backing vocals, the beautiful female lead, the dueling guitar solos, thunderous drumming and groovy bass-play. Mixed together and infused with a worldly attitude (some synth for Euro-metal flavor and some native groove) and you have Lacuna Coil.

The band had to be feeling the pressure to follow-up its most successful album to date. Would it have the guts to try some new things or simply trot out "Comalies Part 2?"

Lacuna Coil pretty much picks up where it left off with "Comalies." There was talk of the band adding a more "American" feel to the album, which essentially boils down to the group keeping an eye on making songs more "radio-friendly" (the songs didn't really get any shorter or simpler). There's a handful of interesting hooks sprinkled throughout the album, most notably Cristina Scabbia's awesome melodies in "Our Truth." The band adds a few moments of string-orchestration on a few songs (a welcome change-of-pace from the gritty guitar interplay) and even tries its hand at a cover (Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence"). And, overall, the disc has a far more upbeat "sound" than the band's previous efforts (which had an almost goth feel to them at times). Ultimately, there's enough new elements (in very small doses) to make this a solid follow-up.

But it's not all good. For some reason, upon first listen most of the songs come across, for lack of a better term, two-dimensional. "Fragile" and "To the Edge," the first two songs, feel like they go on for ages and seem completely and unnecessarily repetitive. However, after a few listens the songs grow on you and actually start to sound a little better. The biggest problem with "Karmacode" is that there doesn't really seem to be any breakout hits on the album, it sort of just feels "there." "Comalies was a huge commercial success and the band had a four year lull in recording, so you'd imagine there might be something more to offer.

As bad as those negatives sound, the truth of the matter is that Lacuna Coil really isn't the big "one-hit," explosive band one might think, given the hype. The truth is, the band is perfect at making these subtle albums that continue to grow on the listener with each repeated visit. Nothing may jump out at you, but you'll start to find it impossible to turn the album off. While I think the band could have done more, the truth is that Lacuna Coil made a great Lacuna Coil album. "Karmacode" will start off as a blimp and end up being one of the best albums of the year.

Amorphis -- 'Eclipse' [review]

Amorphis
"Eclipse"
(Nuclear Blast Records)


These days, it's hard to pigeon-hole Finland's Amorphis into the metal category ... the band has more of a folk-metal feel for lack of a better phrase. The group is technically sound on the metal front, but adds a certain element to the chords and melodies, giving some of the songs an almost-medieval tone. When the band started out in 1990, it was purely a death metal outfit. But, over the years, the group's sound has evolved. Amorphis' last couple of albums with Pasi Koskinen in the vocal slot further expanded the group's direction (you could almost consider "Am Universum" a hard-rock album), drawing influence from a variety of places while keeping the same core principle. When Koskinen left the band following 2003's "Far From the Sun" release, fans began to wonder if the band would call it a day.

It did not.

The addition of Tomi Joutsen breathed new life into Amorphis. The group was rejuvenated and ended up crafting what is destined to be one of the strongest metal releases of 2006: "Eclipse."

The core, creative and vast sound of Amorphis is intact. The songs are full of elaborate guitar riffs, full drumming and expansive interplay between the guitar solos and bass-bridges. As impossible as it sounds, the band is completely metal but hardly metal all at once (think Dream Theater's earlier work mixed with European flavor and less overblown).

Joutsen's vocals are deeper in delivery and add a hard-rock element to the band's sound. Joutsen even offers up some death metal growls in limited quantity, a welcome addition to long-time fans and something that had all but disappeared from the group's last few outings. The guitar work is spot-on, the drumming is top-notch and never overpowering, and the bass offers a subtle presence to proceedings. The album pulls you in from the onset and is sure to win the band new followers.

Unfortunately, the production was a little muddy at times. Joutsen is a fantastic addition to the band, but his vocals are almost washed out in the first couple of tracks, overpowered by the band and guitars in particular. The problem is even more apparent on the US release of the album, which features a new (bonus) track ("Stone Women") with the vocals on a better level with the rest of the tracking. Literally, that is the only problem I have with the release. The spattering of death metal growls left me wanting more, but that can probably be considered a positive.

Amorphis really deserves much more attention than it gets. The group is one of the best European metal acts out there and, while a hit abroad, hasn't really caught on with the American audience. The band is a tight metal outfit, with enough riffs to appeal to any metal fan, but also with enough outside influence to be enjoyed by any fan "heavier" music. The new vocals add an awesome new dimension to the band which shows little signs off slowing down. Highly, highly recommended.

Children of Bodom -- 'Are You Dead Yet?' [review]

Children of Bodom
"Are You Dead Yet"
(Century Media)


With every new outing, Finland's Children of Bodom continues to blow away its contemporaries in the metal scene. Building on the foundation laid with 2003's "Hate Crew Deathroll," CoB has managed to take its sound to an even more extreme peak. The guitar riffs are even more overblown, the synth solos are even more epic, the vocals are even more "nasty" (aggressive with a twist) and the bass and drum work is downright destructive.

Overall, Children of Bodom have almost become the quintessential European metal band. The group has molded an amazing sound pulling from the death and thrash corners of the genre, incorporating keyboards to perfection and infusing just the right amount of pop hooks to craft "Are You Dead Yet?" The group's sound is uniquely its own and instantly recognizable. The album explodes out of the gate with "Living Dead Beat" and never lets up. The title track settles into a groove and proves to be catchy as hell; "If You Want Peace ... Prepare for War" is an in-your-face metal anthem and probably as heavy as anything CoB has dared to put out; the band ends on a fun note with a sick cover of The Ramones "Somebody Put Something in My Drink." Indeed, CoB is known for its fantastic covers and this is no exception.

There has been complaints in the past that frontman Janne Warman's vocals are a little too garbled so that may make Children of Bodom an acquired taste. A couple of tracks in the middle (most notably "In your Face" and Bastards of Bodom") are almost an afterthought and pull down the overall "feel" of the album. With a forgettable mid-section, listeners may want to skip over some tracks to get to another good song. One of the best aspects of CoB's sound has been the keyboard solos, but those seemed toned-down on "Are You Dead Yet?"

(As an aside, and this has nothing to do with the band, but it was well-known that the group also put together a cover of Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me" and I was disappointed the label chose to leave it off the US release (though there is talk of a re-release later this year with extra tracks).)

Children of Bodom merge thrash riffs and death drumming into a metallic monolith. There's just the right edge of pop and industrial to make this more than just a run-of-the-mill metal release. If you want comparisons, think In Flames more recent outings or maybe a group like Skyfire or Lullacry (with a male vocalist).

Children of Bodom pulls from a variety of metal influences and is filled with enough hooks to keep you interested from the very first listen. While not as hard-hitting as "Hate Crew Deathroll," "Are You Dead Yet?" still blows away a good portion of what has been showing up on the metal scene as of late.

The Project Hate MCMXCIX -- 'Armageddon March Eternal' [review]

The Project Hate MCMXCIX
"Armageddon March Eternal"
(Threeman Recordings)


The Project Hate MCMXCIX is a metal band out of Scandinavia. The group is a brutal mix of European death metal in the vein of Dimmu Borgir only much tighter and more advanced from a music (and talent) standpoint. All this brutality is tempered with delicate (albeit operatic) female vocals. The band is largely known only in the underground metal circuit and that's a real shame. The music is much more complex and the band deserves to break moreso than the similar-sounding Nightwish.

***

This album can appeal to so many metal genre fans. There's a hint of industrial grind; there's the epic feel permeating each track; the European groove oozes out of each minute of the disc; the death metal vocals are clean enough to actually mean something. In fact, I applaud the vocal work on both ends of the vocal spectrum as it all sounds clean and it's clear a lot of work went into the recording process.

***

The theatrics of the female vocals sometimes seem wedged into the tracks. There's a way to make the switches work (and when they do, the juxtaposition is amazing) ... Project Hate knows how to do it smoothly, but too often prefer to simply ram the breaks in with little rhyme or reason.

***

Take Nightwish (or Lacuna Coil if you're unfamiliar with the former) and mix it with symphonic European metal. Each track feels like an epic with plenty of operatic filler.

***

If you are a fan of metal/rock bands that trade female and male vocals but wished there was more of a death metal edge, this band is for you.

Nightrage -- 'Descent Into Chaos' [review]

Nightrage
"Descent into Chaos"
(Century Media Records)


What is there not to love about the Swedish metal supergroup, Nightrage? The group features a veritable who's who from the European metal scene in it's ranks: ex-Exhumation axe-slinger Marios Iliopoulos handling lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars; lead guitarist Gus G. who has previously worked with Firewind and Dream Evil; bassist Henric Carlsson who worked with Cipher System; ex-Septic Flesh drummer Fotis Benardo; and most notably, vocalist Tomas Lindberg formerly of At the Gates, The Crown and The Great Deceiver.

The combined force of the members allows the band to craft sick, melodic metal, heavy on the epic riffs and twisted back beat with the perfect twist of death metal vocals.

It would almost seem as if it was the duty of any fan of heavy metal to seek out the latest Nightrage album, "Descent into Chaos."

The disc, the band's second offering, explodes out the gate with "Being Nothing," complete with machine-gun drumming and Lindberg's comfortable growl. Gus G. and Iliopoulos run rings around each other with each riff, making even the simplest structures seem like epics.

From the opening notes the band sounds tight-as-hell and never lets up. From the choking riffs of "Phantasma" or the intricate guitar-play in "Drug," to the old-school metal feel of "Poems," there isn't a weak link in this set. Even the haunting instrumental "Solus" swings from beauty to brutality in its short couple of minutes.

Of particular note, "Frozen" features Dark Tranquillity's Mikael Stanne contributing some cleaner vocals to juxtapose Lindberg's intense guttural howls. Coupled with that, the song (like most of the others) is chock-full of solos. And speaking of solos, it doesn't get much better than the crushing "outro" guitar work on "Omen" (and I particularly enjoy the ethereal undercurrent throughout the track).

Everyone shines on this album. The guitars are thick, the drumming is spot-on, the vocals are killer and the bass work, though subtle, pretty much holds the package together.

Nightrage might be flying under most people's radar and that's a shame. You have no idea what you are missing and owe it to yourself to check this album out. There is no reason this band isn't being pointed to as leaders in the genre, in the same fashion as The Haunted or In Flames.

Children of Bodom -- 'Trashed, Lost & Strungout' [review]

Children of Bodom
"Trashed, Lost & Strungout"
(Century Media Records)


Hailing from Finland, Children of Bodom continue to prove themselves as part of the metal elite in the European metal scene. Lead guitarist and front man Alexi Laiho, drummer Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka T. Blacksmith, guitarist Roope Latvala and keyboardist Janne Warman continue to craft killer, melodic heavy metal to rival the best the genre has to offer.

The band's last album, 2003's "Hate Crew Deathroll," landed on many best-of lists for the year. The group toured throughout 2004 and are currently holed up in the studio crafting an album for release this fall.

In the meantime, fans can make due with "Trashed, Lost & Strungout," a new EP showcasing the band's crushing sound.

The title track off the EP is fast-paced riff-heavy thrash song brimming with melody (what is becoming a trademark Children of Bodom sound). Picking up where the band's last album left off, the album pulls from older influences like Slayer or Anthrax and infuses a more modern twist (in the vein of newer In Flames) to create a twisted wreck of a metal masterpiece. According to the band's fan site, Scythes of Bodom, the band premiered the track during a summer tour last year. After making an appearance on back-to-back nights at two festival dates, the bands stopped playing it as bootlegs started to pop up online (though the band used the song on a couple of fall mini-tours).

The EP also features the debut of the new track, "Knuckleduster." More mid-tempo, the track comes across like a hefty blend of Godsmack, Sepultura and In Flames. The riffs are intentional and crushing, Laiho's vocals are as crisp and angry as ever and there's some fantastic solos featured in the song.

The band does a great job of twisting a cover of Alice Cooper's "Bed of Nails" (originally recorded for Cooper's 1989 release, "Trash"). While the guitar has the hint of the pop-rock sound from the original release, the scratchy vocals, Warman tearing it up on the keyboards and the sick drumming and bass-work gives the song a modern feel. Then, the band seems to flip a switch right before the end of the track, turning into a meta-death metal number with the double-kick drumming and a more rapid delivery.

Rounding out the set is a cover of Andrew WK's "She is Beautiful." While it's pretty obvious Children of Bodom is performing the song, the band stays true to the source material, albeit souping the track up slightly with a fuller guitar sound and more guttural vocals.

Clocking in at just under 15 minutes, this EP is either a taste to tide fans over until the next album (due out this fall) or a cheap introduction to a band any metal fan would gladly add to their collection.

Nightwish -- 'Once' [review]

Nightwish
\"Once\"
Roadrunner Records


Though Nightwish's latest offering, "Once," has been available for months overseas, it is finally seeing release stateside via Roadrunner Records.

The follow-up to the band's successful 2002 release "Century Child," is already a hit in Europe -- "Once" has been certified platinum in Germany (sales in excess of 200,000 copies) and double-platinum in the group\'s native Finland (sales in excess of 60,000). The group\'s latest single off "Once," "Wish I Had an Angel," entered the Finnish charts at number one, and the group headlining hometown performance at the Helsinki Icehall sold out in one day (all 6,000 tickets).

Not bad for a little band out of Finland.

But, can the success translate into the American market?

The band was snatched up by Roadrunner Records, no doubt, due in part to the wildly successful Lacuna Coil (on Century Media). Though some may argue, the success of Lacuna Coil was probably due to the success of Evanescence last year (it should be pointed out, Lacuna Coil and Nightwish each have a solid catalogue and had been making music for years prior to Evanescence's inception). Times are good for rock/metal outfits headed by female singers.

But, while Evanesence is readily accessible to fans of rock and pop, and Lacuna Coil can be enjoyed by fans of metal and rock, Nightwish is a little harder to place. The band fuses a solid offering of European metal (read: heavily orchestrated, elaborate, epic in scope and usually catchy) fused with orchestral vocals courtesy of frontwoman Tarja Turunen (who is trained in classical singing).

The group is rounded out by Tuomas Holopainen (who wrote all the songs on the album) on keys and piano, drummer Jukka Nevalainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen and bassist Marco Hietala (who also trades vocals on some of the tracks with Turunen a la Lacuna Coil).

The vocals range from straightforward singing to operatic offering. When Turunen's voice is more muted there is a definite "accent" to the sound (usually it's rare to notice something like that when musicians sing in English). Hietala's offerings, while few, do nicely offset Turunen's sometimes overblown vocals.

The songs have a hint of metal to them, but the band overall sounds more like a soundtrack to a medieval novel.

Most of the tracks on "Once" are tight, metal offerings with a twist. There are a few exceptions: the lengthy "Creek Mary's Blood" (clocking in just under nine minutes), the epic "Ghost Love Score" (nearly 10 minutes in length) and the haunting "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" (translated roughly to "a death creates an artist") sung in the band's native language. Listening to "Ghost Love Score" feels like watching something like "Lord of the Rings," there's an air of medieval magic to the song. Heavily orchestrated, the song flies by and hardly sounds as long as it is.

"Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" sounds like something taken out of a Broadway musical or movie soundtrack -- very different for a metal band to be offering up.

"White Night Fantasy" and "Live to Tell the Tale" are bonus tracks for the U.S. release of "Once." The disc also features the video for "Wish I Had an Angel." Turunen recently spent time in Finland recording two traditional Finnish Christmas songs for her first-ever solo CD single, due in Finland in December, so I\'m not sure how much longer the singer plans to stay with Nightwish.

So, who would have thought there was a way to mesh metal and opera? Normally such an undertaking would fall flat, but Nightwish pull it off nicely. It may not be album of the year, but "Once" is worth the purchase.

In Flames -- 'Soundtrack to Your Escape' [review]

In Flames
"Soundtrack to Your Escape"
Nuclear Blast Records


It feels like Sweden's In Flames is one of the metal scene's best-kept secrets. The band cranks out album after album of solid material that could appeal to a broad range of listeners, yet they seem to have nothing more than a cult status in the U.S.

The band has been cranking out albums since 1994, but it was the release of 2000's "Clayman" that seemed to establish In Flames in the U.S. (the band had been a big hit in Europe and Japan for longer).

While the band has featured a revolving door of members over the years, the band's current lineup -- guitarists Bjorn Gelotte and Jesper Stromblad, bassist Peter Iwers, drummer Daniel Svensson and vocalist Anders Friden -- have crafted a solid, if not entirely inspired, follow-up to 2002's "Reroute to Remain."

"Escape" opens up with the hard-hitting "F(r)iend," with Iwers and Svensson laying down a thick beat that the guitarists paint over with melodic riffing. "F(r)iend" is a little more abrasive than most of the album's other tracks, with Friden growling and snarling through the verses.

Overall, "Soundtrack" has an almost ethereal feel to it, showcased in tracks like "The Quiet Place," which opens with synth-tinged guitar riffing, or "Evil in the Closet," one of the disc's more intriguing tracks (a ballad at that!). Friden creates an interesting atmosphere with his voice and the band's musical arrangements sound interesting and layered.

Really, it's the instrumentation that makes In Flames stand out in this day and age. Even tight three or four minute tracks sound epic in nature, due in part to the layered sound the band creates. That, included with the vocal arrangements, gives the band a fuller sound than most other metal bands in the scene today.

That said, "Escape" isn't necessarily a bad album. It stands good on it's own. Taken as a piece of the band's catalogue, "Escape" just seems a rehash of "Reroute" without the outstanding tracks like "Trigger" or "Reroute to Remain." Most of the band's fans are turned off with this, in addition to the fact that In Flames essentially started out as a death metal band and have matured over time adding more melody and keyboards.

"Soundtrack to Your Escape" is a strong release that has suffered the fate of those waiting for it having higher hopes. It's a good album to introduce a new fan to the band, but not the best it has to offer. The disc's stronger tracks come towards the end of the release, so if you check "Escape" out, make sure to give the later tracks a chance to sink in.