Year: 2020
Total Τime: 3:37
Label: Nuclear Blast

    During 2020, IN FLAMES have a double celebration. Firstly they celebrate the thirty years for their existence and secondly the twenty years since the release of “Clayman” album. So, they decided to re-release one of their best albums and write the tracks from scratch.

   So, here they re-wrote the self-titled song from that album, giving us a taste of what’s going to follow… This is a wrong movement in my opinion, for various reasons. Going to the song, at the beginning the intro is coming from a terrible synth loop. As we begin listening to it, we realize that the band does not seem to respect its own past. The track has changed to a large extent: we hear keyboards not just in the background, but also being quite predominant sound-wise, while the guitars have been diminished to a secondary role. The track somehow is having an electronic obscurity in the background. The production is way too clean, which worsens the song significantly. Of course, it is less “Metal” song than the original. The vocals are Anders Friden’s well-known last-type vocals, and at some moments they sound like he is having a hard time trying to perform them.

   Surely everyone will be waiting to see how IN FLAMES has changed this song and if its adjusted to their new standards. The answer is unfortunately: YES! Somehow in all of this, there is something worse. The production. It sounds unfamiliar to my ears. You can try to listen to it. If you succeed and pass the initial (bad) surprise, get ready for more in the rest of the track. And then for some others tracks, as it seems…

Rating: N/A
Editor: George Kourou
Related Link: IN FLAMES – Official Website: