Come Clarity [Bonus Track] (CD - 2006)

Recording information: Dug Out Studio; The Room.

Garnering a respectably sized international audience with 2004's SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR ESCAPE, Sweden's In Flames followed up two years later with another fierce set of forward-thinking metal on COME CLARITY. As always, the Scandinavian ensemble deftly mixes various strains of the genre, incorporating thrash, hardcore, and death metal to create a formidable whole that's unremittingly aggressive yet still relatively accessible. This is due in part to vocalist Anders Friden's focus on melody, occasionally playing down his tortured screams in favor of straightforward singing, as best revealed on the propulsive "Take This Life" and the plaintive title track. As committed as ever to scathing guitar lines and jackhammer rhythms, In Flames produced, perhaps, its strongest and most confident outing yet in COME CLARITY. minimize