IN FLAMES — Clayman (review)

IN FLAMES — Clayman album cover Album · 2000 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Stooge
The first two tracks, “Bullet Ride” and “Pinball Map”, are powerful tunes to kick off the album. “Bullet Ride” is highlighted by the rock-solid groove of a riff that plays at the intro and throughout the song, as well as it’s strong pre-chorus. “Pinball Map” has some damn strong drumming by Daniel Svensson and memorable solo section with twin guitarists Bjorn Gelotte and Jesper Stromblad.

“Only For The Weak” has nice guitar harmonies during the verse of the song, but I find the chorus to be hard to listen to at times. It sounds a bit too dense with its use of synth, though it is catchy. “As The Future Repeats Today” is perhaps one of the heavier songs on the album with some forceful riffing. “Square Nothing” is a nice song which starts off with a minute or so of clean guitar and vocals, then picks up and becomes heavier for the rest of the song.

“Clayman”, without question, is an In Flames classic and a definite highlight on the album. A trademark In Flames guitar harmony strengthening the chorus, the whole band playing intensely, and Anders is sounding his best on the album. The powerful “Satellites and Astronauts” follows a clean verse (which has a beautiful melody) and heavy chorus pattern.

I’m not to big a fan of “Push The Dust Away” as a composition, but the execution is solid. The next track, “Swim”, has a great guitar lick during the verse. I wish I knew which guitarist is playing it. I don’t find “Suburban Me” to be very memorable, though Arch Enemy fans should be interested since Chris Amott adds a solo to this track, which I believe is the shining point of the track. “Another Day In Quicksand” ends the album on a strong note.

My main complaint with this album is in the vocal department. Though tolerable, there is a definite change in Anders Friden’s delivery that wasn’t there on past albums. My brother and I often joke that there are certain spots on the album (particularly on “As The Future Repeats Today” among other spots) where he sounds like Sylvester or the Tazmanian Devil from Warner Brothers cartoons. There’s also something about the production of this album that doesn’t sit well with me. It sounds as if almost everything is turned up too high in the mix, similar to Metallica’s “Death Magnetic” but not nearly as bad.

Despite my issues with certain aspects of the album, Clayman is still a great album. It’s one of the more popular In Flames albums, but it flaws and some below average tracks make it fall short of being an essential metal album.
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