. . .
In Flames is not a name uttered much around these parts. But despite all the stick they get in the metal world, I have tremendous respect for them. They aren’t my favorite band, but I will pick their music over much of what’s “tr00″ or underground. I especially like their records after when they supposedly “sold out”, from Reroute to Remain onwards. The crisp, dry sound of their last two records is a marked contrast to the over-production to which their Gothenburg peers succumbed. I don’t have much use for In Flames’ reputed classics – Whoracle, Colony, Clayman. They’re dull as dust to me. But The Jester Race – wow! One of metal’s all-time great records, absolutely. Its folk/prog influences had a freshness that disappeared when In Flames settled into their melodeath groove. (It reappeared when the band started getting adventurous again, with Reroute to Remain.)
We’re teaming up with Good Fight Entertainment for a massive In Flames giveaway. Good Fight has reissued much of In Flames’ back catalogue – and we’re passing it along to you. The haul is six CDs, one DVD, and two t-shirts:
1 copy of The Jester Race
1 copy of Whoracle
1 copy of Colony
1 copy of Clayman
1 copy of Reroute to Remain
1 copy of Soundtrack to Your Escape
1 copy of Used & Abused – In Live We Trust DVD
2 In Flames t-shirts, in winner’s size
For a chance to win, simply name in the comments box below your favorite In Flames album. (I am personally curious about the results of this poll.) You can only name one. You can say that you don’t like any In Flames record, but then you won’t be entered in the giveaway. This contest is limited to the US and Canada. (Sorry, everyone else!) It closes a week from today, Thursday, January 20, at midnight PST. I will pick a winner randomly. The suits at Good Fight want you to read some small print below. As they say, flame away!
. . .
. . .
THE SMALL PRINT
- “We reserve the right to substitute different designs based on availability”.
- “All of the classic In Flames titles like Clayman and Reroute to Remain are back and available now at your favorite music retailer like FYE as well as digitally at iTunes.”
. . .
IN FLAMES LINKS
Good Fight store
In Flames on Twitter
In Flames on Facebook
. . .
My favorite was a Greatest Hits or Best Of compilation, but I don’t see it online anywhere so maybe it was fan-made. :\
Least favorite: A Sense of Purpose (2008)
I have to agree with your selection of The Jester Race as one of metal’s classic albums. It was one of the first albums I heard when I was getting into “real” metal, so it will always have a special place in my heart.
My favorite is Reroute to Remain, even though it was the song “Embody the Invisible” that originally turned me on to them. The first time I heard “Cloud Connected” and “Trigger” I was blown away.
I just wish they weren’t so hit or miss live! I was disappointed when Throwdown and Nevermore blew them away a few years back.
CLAYMAN
for me, that one is just hits hits hits from start to finish. i still enjoy it a lot. reroute to remain has some good stuff too, after that i kind of forgot about them, i should investigate sometime.
Hands down my favorite by In Flames is The Jester Race. I even like it more than Slaughter of the Soul (Oh, I went there!).
It’ a shame they rarely play any of their old material live anymore.
I LOVE colony. Its easily their best. From the amazing keyboard melody on the title track to the peacefulness of Pallar Anders Visa this album is fucking amazing. Scorn blows me away every time I hear it. I could listen to this album endlessly its so amazing. The drumming off this album is excellent. If you have to pick up an In Flames album, defiantly make it this one.
Colony has to be my favorite. Stared at the cover for longer than I can remember. The whole late 90’s Nuclear Blast Euro-Metal package for me! Oh, the music is decent too….
The Jester Race. I also like the evil wizard tower cover art.
_The Jester Race_ is the only one I own, so I’m going to have to go with it by default. I think I bought it because it was the most highly recommended over at Encyclopedia Metallum, and I find it to be a better-than-serviceable blasting-it-in-the-car-on-the-way-to-work-on-a-morning-when-I’m-tired-and-really-don’t-want-to-go-to-work kind of album.
My favorite is Soundtrack to Your Escape
It’s Jester Race for me as well. I don’t have any problems with Colony or Whoracle, but for whatever reason, they wore out their welcome for me very quickly. Jester Race just has better songs, in my view.
It’s between Clayman and The Jester Race for me. Oddly enough, these were one of the first two death metal albums I heard and both have tremendous nostalgic value for me. On the same note of nostalgia, I would choose Clayman as my favourite.
I’d go with Whoracle on this one.
In Flames was my introduction to metal. My friends and I were screwing around, playing some form of Smash Brothers or another, and listening to whatever pop trash 9th graders listened to back then. Our other friend just arrived after us not seeing him all summer, and his hair had grown extraordinarily long. He went to the ipod speakers we had set up in the garage, turned off the Justin Timberlake, and threw on “Take This Life” off Come Clarity. The other guys complained about the noise, but my mind was blown. This was the music I needed to have in my life. So naturally I told them to shut their faces.
I explored their discography, and while they have many other, far superior albums, Come Clarity will always have a special place in my heart. Without it, I never would’ve discovered the music that became the soundtrack to my life. Thanks In Flames. *sheds manly tear*
I’ve always liked the Jester Race too
Man, this is evil… forcing us to admit our guiltiest pleasure in a semi-public setting!
In the spirit of that, I suppose I might as well be honest and give it to Reroute to Remain. What came before was probably more legit, and what came after I actually tried and failed to get into, but RtR had so many awesome hooks that completely overcame the lame art and embarassing album subtitle (“14 Songs of Conscious Insanity”). Favorite song is track 2, “System”. My old roommate, who hated In Flames, described it like “Alien Ant Farm covering Labyrinth-era Bowie”. He’s probably right, but that chorus kills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WBwsiYvfyw
Colony
The Jester Race
Whoracle. Drove to HMV in Toronto just to get this…..metal was hard to come by in small cities in the 90’s….
The Jester Race is a classic for sure. Although it is hard to go wrong with Clayman… but I still want to know, what the fuck is a Pinball Map?!
Clayman, hands down.
I’m going to have to go with Whoracle.
Soundtrack to Your Escape
The Jester Race…hands-down.
Clayman
Come Clarity fo’ sho’
Reroute To Remain
“The Jester Race” for sure.
i dont have a favorite, because i dont really listen to in flames, which is why you should give them to me, so i can educate myself
Come Clarity is what got me into In Flames and is still my favorite album.
Lame because I’m echoing a lot of other people, but ~The Jester Race~ is my favorite, because it is either that one or ~Come Clarity~ (the only other one I own, and still like)… ~The Jester Race~ has better songwriting and is obviously a much more influential and “creatively original” record considering its time and place in melodic death metal’s chronology.
It’s gotta be Jester Race, but according to iTunes I listen to A Sense of Purpose a helluva lot more…can’t beat Jester Race though.
Colony FTW.
Colony. It is possible that I may have listened to Whoracle and/or Clayman more in my lifetime.
“The Jester Race”
Jester Race…
Whoreacle. I win.
Whoracle. It’s what got me into them and I’ve got a major fondness for it.
I don’t understand the stigma associated with liking In Flames. They do the same thing they’ve been doing forever. I started listening to them over 10 years ago and they just keep improving. That said, my favorite In Flames record is Come Clarity. I have all their albums, and that’s the one I keep coming back to. I can’t seem to get enough of “Reflect the Storm,” that pre-chorus kicks so much ass. “Take this Life” is another standout track for me. I’m a sucker for strong melodies, I guess, and the chorus just delivers in spades.
The Jester Race for me.
Jester Race all the way for me. I dig that entire album, but I think the crazy riff mid-”Dead Eternity” is still on of the most epic moments in metal. Over the years I’ve seen In Flames quite a few times (with mixed results), and I’ve always screamed out the title of that song, hoping for a reaction. Finally at some awful club in New Jersey (circa 2002) it got a rise out of Anders, and he responded “We can’t play that fast anymore.” That bummed me out, and clearly they can still play as fast as they please. Either way, it’s an album I’d love to see in the decibel Hall of Fame.
Also, please don’t enter me in the contest, I’ve got all these albums and plenty of In Flames paraphernalia. I just wanted to chime in and publicly reaffirm my guilty pleasure and support of the band.
Lunar Strain
Hmmm this is a hard one. Each album is a work in it’s own right, but I’d have to go with Reroute to Remain. The first album I heard by them and has a lot of personal value to me.
The band never did anything to me
I enjoyed Whoracle.
I’ve always been partial to The Jester Race as well.
The first three records are all amazing, but I’d pick The Jester Race. December Flower is one of my favorite songs, and the solo kicks ass.
No one here should feel guilty … if Bill Fuckin’ Ward name checks your band at every opportunity that says enough.
For evidence of Mr. Ward’s In Flames fandom, see:
http://picasaweb.google.com/billwardpics/BillWard#5309765851979139938
http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/features/3263/Immerse-Yourself-In-Flames-At-Ozzfest
My first IF was “ClayMan”, and it’s still the one I hold nearest to my heart.
So, best album: “ClayMan”.
Sometimes I think, though, that their best songs are all on “Colony”…
My fave has to be Jester Race. Got into the band with Soundtrack To Your Escape and Come Clarity, but looking into their first album a little later just blew me away. Goliaths Disarm their Davids was most-played song of mine for weeks.
My favorite is Colony because it’s the only one I own. But, I’ve been meaning to get more of their albums so hopefully this contest will help me with that.
Jester Race hands down – it’s an absolute classic. I’ve briefly listened to the rest, but have not been impressed enough to listen more.
The Jester Race hands down. Followed by Subterranean (which is an EP and doesn’t qualify I guess) and Lunar Strain. If any of you saw the DVD they put out a few years back they did a set of the old classics and people went APESHIT over ‘em. I mean it wasn’t the usual reaction to “oh it’s Behind Space” the difference between audience enjoyment was palpable.
Anders just has to stop watching old Korn and Deftones videos and trying to copy their moves the whole “I put my hand on my back pocket while I jump up and down while trying to sing a chorus that I clearly wasn’t made to sing” it’s one of the reasons that I stopped giving a damn after Reroute.
I don’t like any In Flames record, but hey, It’s a shame I can’t enter to the giveaway… >:/
Jester Race. Always has been a bit of a guilty pleasure.
Lunar Strain, 1993… Period.
COLONY without a doubt. I liked Soundtrack too as far as their newer stuff goes.
I do not wish to be entered in the contest, just adding my thoughts.
Looks like I’m the only one whose favourite In Flames album is A Sense of Purpose. I thought the lead guitars were a huge step up from the few albums before it, really catchy and lots of good songs on there. Bonus tracks from the Mirror’s Truth EP are great to boot.
Soundtrack to Your Escape
just realised i’m not eligible for said contest. ah well.
Reroute to Remain has gotta be my favourite..
Reroute To Remain, because of all the feelings I still get from personal stuff happening at the time of purchase. I know they made better stuff, this just sticks for me.
Also Come Clarity and A Sense Of Purpose were a real let down, and it really bugged me that they couldnt pull the massive sound of “Soundtrack” in the live setting.
I guess I would say Whoracle, just because it was the first one I heard. I love the Jester Race, but found myself going back to Whoracle like an old, familiar friend.
Clayman.
I celebrate their entire catalogue, but Whoracle is my favorite.
It was their first album I spun all the way through, while driving through a snowy backwoods gravel road. It was my first gateway into actual metal and it will always have a special meaning to me.
Colony, hands down.
Reroute to Remain
Reroute by far. Great production and it tastefully straddles the line with mainstream metal.
Mine is Colony, probably because I heard Embody the Invisible often enough playing Tony Hawk’s Underground back in the day that it leaked into my actual In Flames opinions.
Clayman
Though this is not an easy choice . . . .
My favorite In flames album is Whoracle. (Oh, and buy an iPad!)
Definitely Reroute to Remain. Every time I hear that album, it reminds me of driving around North Carolina (before I ditched cars forever and moved to NYC). It kept me sane in the traffic.
Jester Race.
I’m going to say ‘Clayman’ it’s the record that got me into them, and it continues to hold up in my opinion!
Clayman
I stopped paying attention around Come Clarity.
whoracle
Absolutely Jester Race…Thanks for providing opportunities like this along with all of the consistently excellent journalism
My favorite In Flames album is Whoracle.
I enjoyed Clayman the most!
The Tokyo Showdown live album was what got me hooked to In Flames back when I was getting back into listening to extreme metal in the very early 2000’s. My favorite tracks from that live album are Jotun, Episode 666, and Food For The Gods, so I’d have to pick Whoracle.
Back when I was religious I was looking for inoffensive metal and I ended up with Reroute to Remain. I was quite taken with Cloud Connected for it’s big, dumb, simple riff. Catchy as hell. But after a while I grew wearisome of the saccharine production. I now hold that record up as a paragon of how not to produce metal. I’ve always wondered if their earlier work was more primitive but never bothered due to there being an overabundance of bands worthy of my time. Free stuff on the other hand…
I’m gonna have to go with “Whoracle” as being my favorite.
Whoracle.
Reroute to Remain
I didn’t realize Whoracle is that popular (given the votes in the comments); it gets my vote as well.
Reroute to Remain, It’s the album that got me into the band.
Clayman gets my vote.
“The Jester Race” is their finest with “Whoracle” not far behind.
The Jester Race has always been my hands-down favorite.
Well fuck me sideways…leeets go with Colony.
Wow, somebody who feels like I do towards In Flames releases? Madness! I maintain to this day (and to the dismay of my metal-loving acquaintances) that my favorite IF album is Reroute to Remain. Although I love all of their albums save their most recent (which wasn’t terrible, just boring), Reroute to Remain is the best combination of songwriting, emotion, and production.
Colony!
Jester Race
Come Clarity!
I’m going to have to go with Whoracle. It wasn’t the first In Flames album that I heard, but it was the one that made the strongest impression upon me.
1. Jester Race
2. Colony
3. Clayman
4. Whoracle
Reroute to Remain. Part of my teen years soundtrack. Ahhh good times.
Colony is the best
Clayman, just a classic that is an amazing listen every time.
Come Clarity. Pop-metal at it’s finest \m/\m/
Colony for sure, although I stopped paying attention to them after Soundtrack to Your Escape, so I have no idea what any of the newer albums are like. That being said, this post and looking at the tracklistings of all those old IF albums makes me want to listen to them again.
The Jester Race. No question. Several other ones are very nostalgic for me to this day, but none of them have the power, beauty, and grace all wrapped into one that TJR nailed so well. Still, Colony had some pretty great hooks!
i always forget how much I like this band. I lost interest after these six records, but they are all solid.
Whoracle would be my pick since that was the one that got me started with them. Gimme these reissues.
Dood I like the sellout albums, I’m sticking it to the underground, I’m different
My favorite is In Flames-Colony!
JESTER RACE is the only one I own and it rocks. I love the unabashed Maiden aping. Not sure why I never got the others because I hear really good things. Here’s hoping…
It’s a toss up between The Jester Race and Colony for me. The others all have their moments, and even then, I think The Jester Race wins out!
wow….im shocked whoracle isnt getting more love. I bought that album on a whim not long after it came out not knowing anything about it other than terrorizer said it was good. That album knocked me on my ass for sure. keep in mind this was back when melodic death metal wasn’t beaten to death. I they kinda lost the plot after colony in my ears, but whoracle and jester race will always get an occasional spin from me till the end of my days.
Clayman!!
Soundtrack, First album of In Flames I heard and the one I still listen to the most.
I am going with ‘Colony’…it was the first one I owned and loved. Such great songs…
Jester Race
The one that first grabbed my attention was Whoracle way back when, so that has a special place in my heart.
The Hive might be my favorite song.
My favorite album is Reroute to Remain.
The Jester Race, by far. Lord Hypnos and Dead Eternity back-to-back makes me lose my shit.
Subterranean
First album I heard from them, and was hooked immediately.
A Sense of Purpose!
(esp. loved the last track “March to the Shore”)
Jester Race..so good..for some reason it reminds me of playing nintendo 8 bit..not sure why.
The Jester Race!!! The Jesters Dance, Graveland, Dead God in me, The Jester Race, its just their fucking best!
Reroute to Remain!
Whoracle still gets the most plays for me. It’s where their catchy as hell guitar lines were at their most memorable.
Gotta say my favorite is The Jester Race. I had been a casual fan for a while, but for some reason the intro to the track “The Jester Race” just hooked me, so I’ve gotta say that’s my favorite record since it made me delve more deeply into In Flames.
Soundtrack to your escape. My first In Flames album, you tend to have a fondness for first albums!
Come Clarity
THE JESTER RACE, followed closely by CLAYMAN
CLAYMAN.
The album builds on their previous efforts, with better songwriting and stronger riffs and hooks. To me, it’s their pinnacle, and it was all downhill after.
Whoracle is definately my favorite, it is a classic.
Come Clarity is the In Flames album I listened to most. I loved the early classics, but the hooks on Come Clarity are the strongest the band has produced. Combine that with killer riffs and fantastic production, the album really has it all.
Colony. Its a nice album
Clayman was my introduction so it’s my go to album. I guess I’m alone in liking A Sense of Purpose.
I actually love every album they’ve released. To me, they never sold out, they’ve just experimented with their sound, and I feel like every style they’ve played they’ve been really good at. Colony is probably my favorite album though, mainly because it was the first one I heard and it really got me into them and the rest of the melodeath scene.
Definitely Whoracle. It contains all the elements of In Flames I love, and I haven’t ever gotten tired of the thing. 10 years I’ve been listening to that…damn.
Gonna have to go with The Jester Race.
Clayman is their best.
(Whoracle on a close second)
Reroute to Remain
I have to go with Whoracle.
I remember I saw them open for Earth Crisis when I was in High School and I thought they sounded like videogame metal ala Sonic The Hedgehog. There was a dude next to me loving it, banging like crazy and signing every word. He looked at me and said that “I would appreciate this someday”. He was sort of right I guess…
Come Clarity’s my favorite, just because it was the first time i had listened to them.
Colony; the songs off that album were as responsible for getting me into good metal as any I can think of off the top of my head. On top of that, I can put that CD in any day of the week and listen the whole way through with a smile on my face.
Whoracle. First contact with one of my favorite bands of all time.
My favorite In Flames album so far would have to be “A Sense of Purpose” with “Soundtrack To Your Escape” coming in second.