IN FLAMES — A Sense of Purpose (review)

IN FLAMES — A Sense of Purpose album cover Album · 2008 · Alternative Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
A Sense of Purpose is the 9th full-length studio album by Swedish melodeath/ alternative metal act In Flames. The album was released in April 2008 by Nuclear Blast Records/ Kock Records.

I was actually pretty impressed by the last album by the band Come Clarity from 2006 and I expected In Flames to continue their vital approach to melodic death metal/ alternative metal on A Sense of Purpose. After listening to A Sense of Purpose it´s safe to conclude that they certainly do just that. This is another high quality melodic death metal release by In Flames yet it´s a step down compared to Come Clarity if you ask me. I can´t put my finger on exactly why but maybe A Sense of Purpose is a bit softer and more polished than its predecessor or maybe the two albums just sound too much alike in the end. The good thing is that you can pick any song off this album and they are sure to be a great listening experience. Powerful and melodic metal songs each and every one of them. The bad thing is that the songs are pretty formulaic and tend to sound too much alike.

The musicianship is as always of high quality and the production, while being a bit too polished for my taste, is also really professional and well sounding.

Overall A Sense of Purpose is a good release, but a bit too standard compared to the band´s best output IMO. A 3 star rating is deserved.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us