This is not death metal. I don’t care what anyone says, this is most definitely not death metal. Death metal is aggressive. Death metal is fueled by hate. Death metal is a musical release of pent up anger and frustration. Death metal is a style of music that when you hear it you want to punch everyone who looks at you funny in the face. Clayman is upbeat. Clayman has almost danceable rhythms. Clayman contains tracks where there are actual clean vocals. Clayman makes you want to hug everyone. I could easily see music like this getting regular video play on MTV, and that, most obviously, is not death metal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely against music which is not death metal, and there are even a handful of non-metal bands who are somewhat mainstream who I will openly admit to listening to. The difference between In Flames and those bands is that those bands actually record music I would willingly want to listen to, In Flames‘ latest release Clayman is music that could be used to torture me. Now, I know people will be calling my review unfair, and possibly even downright wrong, however, listen to the album and compare it to Lunar Strain or even The Jester Race, and tell me that In Flames haven’t become soft. In Flames have basically taken the basic sound on Colony a step further towards commercial acceptance and availability. I’m honestly not sure if fans of Colony will enjoy this release, it’s kind of difficult to tell, although I would say the majority of people who liked it will like this new one, however, I’d have to say anyone looking for something aggressive will be heavily disappointed by the latest In Flames release. Right now I’m going to line up all happy swedish death-rock albums, hop into a ‘71 Barracuda, toss The Crown’s Deathrace King into the stereo and peel out over all of the horrid releases rendering them into little more than burning melted plastic on the pavement.

Written By: Teufel