Umm… what? I don’t quite get what this album is supposed to be about. Is it supposed to be a return to In Flames of old, or is it supposed to be nu-metal taken to the next level of lameness? The latest release by Sweden’s In Flames is like a journey of self-discovery for a sexually confused teen. On one hand, he looks over and sees breasts and enjoys it very much, but on the other, every time he’s in the men’s shower after gym class he always feels like dropping to his knees in front of his classmates and making like a circus seal. The album starts out with "F(R)Iend", an aggressive, angry and almost heavy Swedish death metal track. Listening to this opening track made me believe, momentarily, that In Flames had finally realized that their previous six studio efforts were, to put it mildly, quite crap, and that they were prepared to return to the style they’d began their career with, which would have been a move I would have approved of. This false hope was quickly crushed, much like my hopes of ever winning the lottery, when the second track, "The Quiet Place" kicked in, which has, and I hate to use the term, but the GAYEST keyboarding I’ve ever heard on any song, by any band in the entire history of music. Even Rob Halford, George Michael and Elton John will have their stomachs churn at this one. What makes it worse is it sounds like Jonathon Davis on vocals, the whole whiny "I’m sexually confused and 99% retarded" whimper that makes you want to bootfuck him with your steeltoes. The rest of the songs are basically somewhere between the first two songs, they include really whiny vocals mixed with death screeches with music that’s somewhere between In Flames of old and insert-name-of-any-nu-metal-band-here. To be fair, this is by far the best In Flames album recorded in the past six years, but even Yani is much heavier in comparison to Colony, Clayman and Reroute To Remain, so that’s not really saying much. Overall, my earlier analogy rings true, In Flames do sound like a sexually confused teenager, the only thing is, even if you like girls, if you suck dick and enjoy, you’re still gay. The exact same can be said for all fans of In Flames‘ material over the past nine years.

Written By: Teufel