Artist: In Flames
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release Date: 9/3/02
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Title: Reroute to Remain Artist: In Flames Label: Nuclear Blast Records Release Date: 9/3/02 |
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Abyss's Review:
There is just no getting around the fact that this album is a disappointment. This isn't to say that this album is worthless, but it's the type of album you have to struggle to defend, rather than the type that just speaks for itself. Anticipation was high for this one. Their last album, Clayman, saw the band edging their sound toward the mainstream, making the metalhead in us all quite nervous. This album continues the trend unabated, leaving less and less of the Gothenburg sound this band helped create, while simultaneously adding more clean vocals, rock guitars, and saccharine melodies.
"Sure, the intro sounds like it came out of Michael Sembello's "Maniac" from the Flashdance soundtrack..." For those of you who have heard the four song sampler that's been making its way around, you've already heard the best material on this album. The title track and "Cloud Connected" are the best songs on the record, but even they are hit and miss. Let's take "Cloud Connected" for an example. Sure, the intro sounds like it came out of Michael Sembello's "Maniac" from the Flashdance soundtrack, but it soon gives way to a driving guitar riff (by far the most compelling riff on the album) that reminds you what band this is and where they come from. The unfortunate thing is that that small, fleeting part is all that you really have to hold onto before the song drifts in and out of different pop influences.
And that's pretty much the story for the whole album. Like Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity (not the new album), and Amorphis before them, In Flames has watered down their sound and veiled it as 'growth.' The unfortunate part is this is probably the least successful attempt out of all of them. The songwriting simply isn't there, as there are only a few good riffs, and really no great complete songs. Even the best tracks on this record are sub par, a mixture of bad ideas and poor execution. Case in point: the song "Metaphor" an innocuous ballad that not only has a forgettable melody, but also has vocal lines that sound like an Elmer Fudd impression minus the speech impediment. The vocals are poor throughout the album. Anders' clean vox just aren't very good, often a poor mimmic of Korn's Jonathan Davis, which just adds to the lackadaisical songwriting to result in an album that just seems half-assed.
"While I'm sure that this band's diehard fans will defend this album until the end, I doubt many of them will return to it all that often." While I'm sure that this band's diehard fans will defend this album until the end, I doubt many of them will return to it all that often. And while it sounds nothing like it, this album reminds me a great deal of Metallica's black album. In the way that that even though that album was bad, it showed that the band still had something. You wanted to like it more than you actually did, which made the whole experience all the more frustrating. The talent is still there, but it's becoming less and less obvious. One word review: Eh.
Death's Review:
"Follow your instincts . . . they usually take you home."
"'What the hell is this?' was my first reaction." In Flames followed their instincts in creating their new studio effort Reroute to Remain, but many fans will undoubtedly complain that those instincts appear not to have taken the band on a straight path back to their Gothenburg, Sweden home. Instead, In Flames stretch out their sound quite a bit, seemingly unafraid of the inevitable backlash such changes seem to engender in the metal community.
In fact, you could feel the collective metalhead masses getting nervous when the label released a four-song sampler to the majority of the metal media (rather than the full album, an apparent attempt to combat on-line piracy) and a two-song split-sampler (also featuring two songs from the new Meshuggah) to the fans. Many of the key tastemakers in the genre only had the benefit of two or four of the album's fourteen tracks by which to develop that oh-so-crucial first impression. As one might expect, the sampler included some of the album's most commercially palpable tracks, "Cloud Connected" (for which there will be a video) and "System" among them. People freaked.
As much as I like In Flames, and as much as I now come out swinging in full defense of the new album, even I shuddered a bit at this marked step toward a more commercial In Flames, with whinier, Depeche Mode/Cure style clean vocals interspersed amongst the death metal screams, and subtle underlying electronic elements and strange melodic vocal patterns enveloping the entire album. "What the hell is this?" was my first reaction. I was not alone. The staff here at Metal Judgment has its own email list where we discuss issues relating to the administration of the site, share email messages we get from the readers, and sometimes just kick back and talk metal. The new In Flames has prompted some interesting comments among the MJ faithful on this list. Like this one from retired MJ-staffer Pestilence, actually one of the kinder and more-reasoned indictments I've heard:
"They definitely are into Depeche Mode. As a matter of fact, a lot of European metal bands embrace the Depressed Mode. I have no idea what their intentions are, but associative logic has me tending towards the musical expansion rather than the sell-out. But of course this could be a double-edged sword. They have been touring the US rather extensively, so the exposure is there. This new In Flames could be an attempt to embrace their influences (the non-Maiden variety of course), while attempting to break into a new market at the same time. Either way the bottom line is the same. It will flop. Quote me on that."
With all due respect, Pestilence, I disagree. Of course, while I am often hoping that metal's young stars will break out a bit and flex some commercial muscle, I certainly do not want to see that happen at the expense of the style and integrity that made the band cool in the first place. Yet in the end, I love this record, and when viewed on its own merits it is quite the rewarding experience. My prediction on the commerciality of In Flames new endeavor? Despite the possible backlash, this will be the band's most successful outing yet.
"So go out and get the new In Flames like you know you want to, and don't let your buddy telling you he heard it was "gay" hold you back." Like Requiem said on the same list, "I heard it today and I don't think it's all that bad. Give 'em a break. It's sure as hell not nu-metal and it's not a far cry from the last album which wasn't a complete piece of shit as far as I'm concerned." Absence of enthusiasm aside, Requiem is right. This is not that far a cry from Clayman when you get right down to it. Of course, you need to hear the whole record to understand this. There are some really heavy tracks on this album, like tracks three and four "Drifter" and "Trigger," each of which have parts that make me want to break everything in the room. There are fast and blast beats and several thrashy parts on this record. Even the "commercial" material like "Cloud Connected" is catchy as hell (just try not to bang your head to that main riff), while "System" has a death/scream verse with a fast, spit-out-with-spite type of vocal delivery.
So at the end of the day, this is no Load. This is more like …And Justice for All than anything else by our fallen Metallic heroes, due to the album's deep, layered feeling, its length, and its outstanding and progressive production aesthetic (I know, the production on Justice has some flaws (no bass?), but it feels epic, as does Reroute to Remain). I think that people are going to like this better once they hear the whole album. I think they are going to like it even more with repeated listens. The album grows on you, and its absolute catchiness gets under your skin. People are going to like this new In Flames record better a month after they've had it than they do they day they bring it home. Give it the time, it is worth it. This is an excellent record.
I'll hold back the fifth skull due to the relative absence of extended Gothenburg type melody twin guitar melody (there is some, just not enough), the toned down guitar solos (they are still there though and sound good when they appear) and the downright weird country-style ballad that appears at the end of the record (I'm not kidding, I think there is a fiddle in there somewhere) which literally doesn't make any sense to me. So overall, I like 13 of 14 tracks, with four or five of them sure to please even fickle, "old school only" In Flames fans, with the more open-minded of us sure to enjoy many, many more. So go out and get the new In Flames like you know you want to, and don't let your buddy telling you he heard it was "gay" hold you back. I know my patience was duly rewarded and I have not been able to take this out of the 6-CD changer in my car for a month.
Hel's Review:
After years and years of listening to a certain band, all of their releases tend to co-mingle in your mind. At least, I have always found this to be the case in my personal experience. Perhaps it is one of those personal quirks, the way in which my mind functions differently than everyone else's (there seem to be a few of those for me). In either case, I decided to dig out of the mountain of boxes that surround me on the other side of my move across the U.S., all of the In Flames CDs I could find. I did fairly well, I found Lunar Strain, The Jester Race, Whoracle, and Colony. The box containing Clayman I have still not found, but oh well… So I put these four in my player, and for several days just let them go 'round and 'round.
"The two songs that I had initially judged as potentially good have now been downgraded to merely adequate." Incorporating Reroute to Remain into this cycle was a severe disappointment. The fundamental problem, I think, lies in the fact that they abandoned their longtime producer to go with some famous big-name hack. I first developed this theory upon listening to the four-song sampler that arrived in my hands mere days after seeing them perform a couple of the new songs live in their opening slot on the Slayer tour. The difference between the live presentation and the recorded version was striking.
This recording relegates the guitars far into the background, and overlays everything with a very fuzzy techno effect. This is insulting enough, but the occasional effects overlaying the vocals at certain points continue to add insult to injury. The two songs that I had initially judged as potentially good have now been downgraded to merely adequate. The album as a whole, if produced in the fashion in which I had become accustomed, would have probably received a four skull rating - the songwriting has ultimately not deviated that far from their past efforts, but the way in which these songs are produced is absolutely criminal.
"I'm sorry, guys, I really wish I could give this a glowing review, but I just don't believe this album deserves it." The other potential swing factor is their "ballad" - a piece of crap fluff entitled "Metaphor." In the past, they have, from time to time, included a strange, straight out of left field track. On Lunar Strain, for example, "Hårgalåten" filled this role - an instrumental, folk-inspired track. I have always tolerated these "experiments" with good humor - until now. This song is a thinly veiled attempt at an AOR radio track, and I find it schmaltzy and completely distasteful. I feel like I need a bath afterwards.
It is neither easy nor pleasant for me to sit here and write even a mildly negative review of In Flames' new record. I was an instant convert when I saw them live for the first time, and quickly purchased as much of their back catalog as I could find. Each new album they have release since, I have snapped up and listened to with eager anticipation. I have admired their music and supported their career, rooting for them to succeed with all my might.
But I can't give this record the support I'd like to. In Flames is a better band than the material on this record exhibits. I'm sorry, guys, I really wish I could give this a glowing review, but I just don't believe this album deserves it. One part of me hopes you will achieve the commercial success you so clearly want. The other part of me hopes you fail miserably so that I can hear another amazing In Flames record a year from now. In either case, I wish you all the best. But I have to tell it to your fans straight - from a band that, in my opinion, has always put out outstanding material, this is a mediocre album at best.
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