Well, it seems that Anders was telling the truth. Lo and behold, Come Clarity is indeed a return to the guitar riff, the melodicised solo and the dual harmony. But is it a triumphant return? In a word: no. It is however a promising step up for the band after 2004's mediocre Soundtrack To Your Escape. It seems that Jesper still knows how to play a few of those sweet riffs of times past.

The album opens, as did STYE, with what is probably the fastest and best song. This time around it's called 'Take This Life'. It bursts into action, with some fast riffage and very busy drumming, before Anders chimes in. The chorus is one of those somewhat uplifting ones In Flames have been doing of late, but it is exceptionally well written and easily the catchiest (and least cheesy) they've ever done. 'Stay a while and breathe me in'. This bodes well, what a cool song. You'll notice too that the riffs are MUCH more melodic than STYE.

'Leeches' is the next track and is an unfortunate letdown. The chorus is pretty bad, showing that although Anders has improved he's still not the best of singers. The lyrics are bad and almost embarassing, and about half of the riffs are cool. It does however have a great solo.

'Reflect The Storm' seems to be a bit more of a letdown. The main riff is jumpy and reverby in a very interesting way, and the riffage recalls Colony, but that damn chorus! It's mozerella cheese right there. Good song, not great. 'Dead End' mixes things up with a female vocalist doing a 'duet' with Anders, and it works very nicely. Great playing, though that distorted bass can irritate slightly.

'Scream' is quite easily the worst song on the album, and not for lack of good riffs and playing. It's the stupid lyrics and vocals of 'you scream I scream'...wot? For icecream? Pa-leez.

'Come Clarity' is another great song letdown in part by Anders. The fantastic acoustic playing is beautiful, and it includes the best guitar on offer here, recalling in large parts The Jester Race and Whoracle. Wtf is Anders doing though!? He sounds ok in the chorus but he is like a strangled cat in the verses...yikes. Loving the solo though, despite the fact it falls flat when compared with the ones on the older albums.

'Crawl Through Knives' has the original name of the album before it become 'Come Clarity' and is a decent track...with another cool solo! I've always felt that the solos were integral to In Flames sound and that's why I'm so glad to see them return, though most of them are too short and do not progress that well. On this track it sounds like Jesper breaks his usual mold a bit, and that's welcome.

'Vacuum' is overall an average song, but it contains far and away my favourite part on the album at 2:10-2:43. Holy SHIT that's awesome, welcome back to Whoracle land people. I wish that bit was longer. 'Pacing Death's Trail' is more of the same...the same being alright playing and a catchy-ish chorus. Not too bad. There are some good melodies on display here and there.

'Versus Terminus' is what I'd call the most powerful track...not in the sense of being the best, just the most hard-hitting. It thrashes along nicely. 'Our Infinite Struggle' is also a strong fast number and I like the stop-starting of the verses. 'Vanishing Light' contains a main riff that catches your attention and despite that distorted bass is a good one. The final track, the stupidly named 'Your Bedtime Story Is Scaring Everyone' is a non-descript ambient like number with some bips and background noises of little overall note.

To conclude, I've seen some early opinions of this album as being a glorious return to form, and somewhat ridiculously as 'the album they should have released instead of Colony'. I couldn't disagree with that last statement more. 'Come Clarity' is a fine offering, but it lacks the distinction, clarity (guffaw), originality and playing chops of previous albums. It has good riffs and solos but the majority and lumped together in a way that serves to generation an impression of sameness across the board. Perhaps that could be seen as cohesiveness? I see it more as a lack of truly compelling material despite the return of short solo bursts and harmonic interludes. These guys have clearly still got the ability to write catchy and appealing tunes, it's just the material doesn't feel fresh enough. Overall, it's a solid album that works as a whole, but doesn't leave a big impression on the listener. Now something like 'Colony' has me enthralled from start to finish, whereas a lot of 'Come Clarity' can be blocked out for sameness. I'm probably a bit harsh on In Flames these days, I just like their older albums a ridiculous amount. Maybe I'm a little biased, maybe even a little jaded, but I can't shake the sense that they aren't back in the zone yet. Regardless, if you're an In Flames fan you'd do well to pick this up. You may be pleasantly suprise. I can't really say very many bad things about 'Come Clarity'...it's a good album.

written by Tim Blake

Playing time: 45.41