A Sense of Purpose is a huge step, or in some peoples' opinions a great fall for In Flames. Looking back at the previous In Flames albums, A Sense of Purpose doesn't have a style close to any of the previous albums, however if you are a long-term In Flames fan, you will have already noticed that the raw "Death Metal" sound that In Flames possessed with the earlier albums, for example Lunar Strain, Subterranean and Jester Race is slowly progressing to a less "death metal" sound towards a more clean, "pop" sound. Although, I would still not describe In Flames as "mainstream," I believe that "A Sense of Purpose" is the most "mainstream" sounding album to date, attracting new In Flames fans that would not usually listen to In Flames. If you own the In Flames album, "Come Clarity," and like the cleaner sound In Flames adopted in that album, I believe that is the closest preview to this In Flames album, which furthers the transistion In Flames have made to an album full of songs with clean vocals and less raw "screaming" from Anders Friden. This could be a disappointment for those In Flames fans that enjoy the raw death metal sound of the earlier ages, but although the genre may not be consistent with past In Flames albums, the songs on A Sense of Purpose are still exceptional for the new genre that In Flames have progressed into. With the rapid, harsh, yet soulful tracks, such as "Delight and Angers" and "Sleepless Again." This album also includes the longest In Flames track ever, "the chosen pessimist" however this adopts a more vacant "progressive metal" style, more related with bands such as "Opeth" and "Tool," however apart from that track, the general speed and melodic death metal influence is still fluent within this album. On a positive note, the up to now quite "boring" drumming in most In Flames songs has been replaced by a more adventurous, pace changing drum style, a welcome change, giving the songs a more interesting undercurrent in comparison to past tracks. Furthermore, even the cover
of this In Flames album symbolises the huge step In Flames have taken with this album, the album presenting a colourful image of a more "scene" looking character instead of the usual abstract covers presented in albums such as "Soundtrack to Your Escape and Whoracle. In conclusion, just because you liked previous In Flames albums in no means means that you will like this one, it is good, if you like the cleaner, more mainstream sound, however if you are a fan of albums such as "Lunar Strain" and even "Whoracle" you may be greatly disappointed, because the In Flames that created those albums, is no more, whether this progression is a good thing is up to you, in my opinion, this time, "In Flames" have delved a bit too far into the "mainstream" sound.
Here is my opinion of each individual track:
1. The Mirrors Truth - This song has strong, loud "gritty" vocals, which is the vocal style that Anders has seemed to adopted in the later albums. It has a typical, harsh, very busy In Flames "Pre-chorus," then the chorus breaks into clean vocals, with gradually a gradually more screamy sound to the end of it, setting up the angry, out-of-control tone adopted throughout this album.
2. Disconnected - Starts with heavy guitar, typical of earlier In Flames music, however for those old fans, this song really does set you up for a downfall. The introduction for this song comprises of brutally heavy guitar, a shock for the listener after the more toned down "Mirrors truth" track one. Unfortunately, in my opinion this introduction does not reflect the rest of the song at all, however the first verse is also very heavy starting with, "Look at the dead outside my window!!!" yet by the time the chorus comes along, the song has already fallen into clean, agonizing vocals "You receive what you giiiiiiiiive," which sounds very simalar to the chorus of "Dismiss the Cynics" in Soundtrack To Your Escape, with the lyrics "A Mystery of Tiiiiiime," its in the same agonizing tone anyway... in my opinion a great disappointment. This chorus is the most blatantly obvious example of how In Flames have changed from Death Metal, to Emo. "I Feel like Shit but at least I feel something," in no other album would they have even considered writing lyrics anything like that in my opinion.
3. - Sleepless Again This song includes a lot of the multiple voice undercurrent, it is hard to explain, but if you listen to the chorus of "Egonomic" from "STYE" you will know what I mean. Quite an "average" track in my opinion, quite a good beat, but no stand-out points or nothing that makes it better than any of the other tracks except for one thing. A SOLO. In Flames actually bothered to put a solo in a song! Listening through their past songs, there hasnt really been many decent solos in their career, so yes listen to the solo, the rest of the song... meh... average!
4. - Alias
In my opinion one of the best songs on the album, it is completely different and the weird rhythm makes the song interesting. The lyrics to this one sound as if they mean something deep, however I have had no luck trying to work out what they mean. The chorus is also clean vocals though, but this track's lyrics and sinister tone reminds me of past In Flames songs, a real break from the sharp, obvious, brutal tracks that make this album long enough to sell..
5. - I'm the Highway
Another set of great verses, with the pre-chorus "In dark moments, I know better, Within destruction, I see clearly" screamed a real punchline for the song. However, when it hits the chorus, its another agonizing set of clean vocals, which really spoil the song in my opinion, because they add nothing to the song. A potentially fantastic and original song, ruined by the agonizing clean vocals spat out in every new In Flames song.
6. - Delight and Angers
Good intro, fast drum roll, not like In Flames, usually they aren't particularly imaginative with their drumming. Well, after the good intro, the verses bring the tone down with rough but not a screamy verse, then the best part of the song, the chorus. Although another melodic, clean chorus, this one actually sounds good, and fits in with the song perfectly, "please heal me... can't sleep thought I was unbreakable but this is killing me.. call me everything make me feel unbeakable, lie and set me free," in my opinion the best part of the album, this chorus is very catchy and will definately have you singing in your head those words afterwards.
7. Move Through Me
I believe this is a "filler" track, nothing special. Sounds like something they just threw together, realised it blew and added a decent solo to keep everyone happy. Well it hasn't fooled me... this is without a doubt the worst song on the album...
8. The Chosen Pessimist
Eight minutes long? Thats not like In Flames I hear you say? Well you will be right, because it isn't the fast paced, intense In Flames song you are used to. The first 6 minutes are more "prog-metal" sounding, then after 6 minutes the true In Flames breaks out. However, these last few minutes of "In Flames" sound isn't worth waiting 6 minutes for, nothing special, unique but not good.
9. Sober and Irrelevant
I believe this song is average, in tone with the rest of the album. The lyrics don't really fit though, but I think thats a purposeful technique used to highlight the words "Sober and Irrelevant," which are the only words you remember hearing, because apart from those words, that don't really fit, the rest of the song is actually pretty average stuff.. A tiny guitar solo, they really have been generous with their guitar solos in this album actually...
10. - Condemned This track is unique, the lyrics are different, they've bunged some effect on his voice, makes his voice sound weird, i'm not sure if i like it, i've asked some people, kind of mixed opinions about this track. It has a solo too though, which kinda rocks. But the vocals are pretty much clean-ish all the way through, not "In Flames" sounding stuff..
11. Drenched in Fear
I forgot about this track after I listened, so I had to listen again, thats how average it is, it has some nice instrumentals but not a memorable track in my opinion.
12. March to the Shore
Awful, the verses are passable however the agonizing clean vocalled chorus ruins the song, especially for the terrible lyrics at the end of the chorus which completely ruin the song and made me laugh. It was like I had written the lyrics or something?! "march to the shoooore... you are a killer!" You are a killer?! possibly the worst lyrics I have ever heard from In Flames..
13. Eraser
I like this track, the chorus is really hard hitting, and it has an electronic intro which isnt really like In Flames, a kind of beat. The only thing I can compare it to, is when I went to see Motorhead live when playing the intro to Overkill, and they used the same sound effect with white strobe lighting flashing, if you can relate, thats as near as I can get. I like the "Delete the past.." thats really catchy chorus.
14. Tilt
Forgettable, boring, nice title, but the song, meh average!!
15. Abnegation
The most "emo" track of all, the vocals are really annoying and it sounds like I am listening to some poncy little emo band. This is supposed to be IN FLAMES people! definately the most embarassing and disappointing song I have ever heard from In Flames, being quite a hardcore fan, it actually depresses me listening to this...(which is what emo should do, but thats not the point because I am depressed for different reasons by this track, not because of the pathetic emo lyrics with the weird accent he puts on in the chorus)
So yeah, its a controversial album, you've heard my opinion, but I think every In Flames fan has a different opinion, it is certainly different anyway. I'm not a fan of it, but I recommend you buy it, just to see what its like I guess... Send me your comments on my review, I want to know what other In Flames fans thought of this album :)
Thanks for reading (1712 words)
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This is much better then your first attempt and well deserving of a very helpful. xx
daylehall 05.05.2008 13:36
Hello and welcome to Ciao. Your review will need a lot more info for you to get higher ratings. Try having a look at other peoples reviews on the same subject to give you an idea of what sort of info people are looking for. xx
May 5th, 2008
(May 6th, 2008)
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