The story with IN FLAMES is well known, so I go straight to the point!  Having listened to the album about ten times and being from the fans who loved them also after the ‘’Reroute To Remain’’ era, I will say with certainty that ‘’I The Mask’’ is the best album they have released since “A Sense Of Purpose”.

In this album, the only ones from the original line-up, Friden & Gelotte, surprised me to a certain extent because the downturn they had, seemed to be difficult to change. They decided to give more speeds to some of their tracks, which are well-written with quick melodies and the classic IN FLAMES riffing, melodic choruses with harsh and clean vocals and the characteristic solos that reminds us the old IN FLAMES era. Negative thing is the presence of some “soft’ songs which are good, however they are too “pop” for the old fans of the group.

Summarizing, “I, The Mask” is a good return for IN FLAMES, including songs that deserve to be written under the big brand name of the band (“Burn”, “I’m The Mask”, “Call My Name”, “I’m above”) and some pretty moments with well-written songs but quite “soft” in contrast with the rest. In case this album has had another four songs of high quality, we would be talking about one of the best albums in 2019! The sure thing is that the whole album sounds interesting, as we get a good shot of IN FLAMES, a thing that we had many years to enjoy…

7/10

Tolis Evagelou