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Rating: When we talk about In Flames, three albums come to mind for all the lovers of the genre: the debut album (with sounds often bordering on melodic black metal and at times with nods to Swedish folk songs), the legendary "The Jester Race," and yet another gem of their discography, "Whoracle."
Many, perhaps too many, consider "Clayman" an album not up to the band's past. I, however, say that the transition between "Colony" and "Clayman" is almost painless, in the sense that it is the exact continuation both musically and vocally, dedicated to melody and the use of clean parts.
It is true that with this album our guys come closer to the ears of the masses and move further away from their beginnings, but despite this, the grit and speed have remained almost unchanged. As have the melodic parts, with improved production, more complete than before, and credit goes to Anders who (as he already attempted at times in the past) proposes clean vocal parts from this album on, contrasted by scream parts sung with great skill, delivering an excellent interpretation.
As for the songs, I cannot fail to mention the best ones. The opener Bullet Ride with its beautiful fast pace, which gives way to Friden's clean voice, then maintains a more measured rhythm that is easily memorable. Two other pearls of rare beauty are the following two tracks "Pinball Map" and the legendary (essential live) "Only For The Weak". The first starts fast with a splendid riffing, the tempo is captivating and keeps us excited throughout the song, with a splendid central break. The mid-tempo of "Only For The Weak" (probably the best track of the batch) is built on a very catchy main riff and adorned with hints of keyboards in the chorus. A chorus that calls the listener to stand up, jump, and sing aloud. A truly valid song and surely among the top choices in the entire discography, as appreciated by the fans.
Another splendid track is "Square Nothing", initially masked as a ballad, it then unleashes with great delight for the listener who has only a hint that it could unleash, but when it seriously does, it's almost as if Friden and his mates release a force that has been held back for a while, but which then cannot be contained and explodes. All the remaining tracks have great absolute value, but I particularly emphasize the title track and still "Brush The Dust Away", "Suburban Me" and the closing "Another Day In Quicksand" all characterized by stunning riffs and energetic choruses.
The rhythm section in all the songs is well highlighted, and the drive of the fast parts never decreases unless a melodic break or a guitar solo intervenes.
In conclusion, a more "modern" album than the previous ones, which gathers acclaim from a broader and less partisan audience, but it is not a commercial album (as many claim), it is simply an album very loaded with both death/thrash parts and melodic parts, but also catchy, and honestly, let me say, I find nothing wrong with it being catchy, and catchiness in my opinion does not make it "rightfully" a commercial album.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Pinball Map (04:10)
As I aim for that bright white day
Conflict serum is my aura
It seems that life's so fragile
I guess I'll fly some other time
I lack from superhighway thoughts
Won't live as long as the city lights
Soaked by underwater times
Electric splash on a midnight drive
Wish I could rape the day
just something radical
Lost the sense of sweet things
Who's gonna take me widely?
Guided by the pinball map
The driver, still unknown to me
Who was sent to glorify?
Before we injected this common pride
Sometimes I don't belong
Release me from your world
Pacified by the small things in life
I wait for earthquakes to rearrange
Never been able to use the force
I only have it read to me
Despite all the misguided faith
I'll find a place in this mess
Wish I could rape the day
just something radical
Lost the sense of sweet things
Who's gonna take me widely?
Guided by the pinball map
The driver, still unknown to me
Who was sent to glorify?
Early morning moments
A glimpse of joy
But soon it's over
And I return to dust
As I try to be
Everything and everyone
I shrivel up and waste away
-Solo-
Wish I could rape the day
just something radical
Lost the sense of sweet things
Who's gonna take me widely?
Guided by the pinball map
The driver, still unknown to me
Who was sent to glorify?
Before we injected this common pride
03 Only for the Weak (04:57)
I can't tolerate your sadness
Cause it's me you are drowning
I won't allow (allow) any happiness
Cause everytime you laugh, I feel so... guilty
I feel so guilty
Am I forced to have any regret
I've become the lie, beautiful and free
In my righteous own mind
I adore and preach the insanity you gave to me
Oh, sell me the infection, it is only for the weak
No need for a sympathy, the misery that is me
I've lost the ability to paint the clouds
Cause it's me you're draining (you're draining me)
I'm stuck in this slow-motion dark tale
Cause everytime you run, I fall.. behind
I fall behind
And so I hear my voice again
The tale of the bitter man who I am
Shake the silence and hear what it says
The tranquil pride that become the lie
Oh, sell me the infection, it is only for the weak
No need for a sympathy, the misery that is me
Sell me the infection, it is only for the weak
On bleeding knees, oh, I accept my fate
[instr. part]
Sell me the infection, it is only for the weak
No need for a sympathy, the misery that is me
Oh, sell me the infection, it is only for the weak
On bleeding knees, oh, I accept my fate
Sell me the infection, it is only for the weak
No need for a sympathy, the misery that is me
Oh, sell me the infection, it is only for the weak
On bleeding knees...
04 ...as the Future Repeats Today (03:29)
For so long I tried to be like you,
Pushed aside with no time to evolve..
A
There`s no place that still remains
Just deserted space all left in grey
Why did we lose, the knowledge of time?
Is this the price, the hell we pay?
The poisoned fear known to man
is he who try to find his path
The collective force blaming you
"This is day day we split in half"
Thrown to the gallow, forgotten and sore
sworn to be different in what way I can
The sultry taste that is special to me
is the last gleeful glimpse of a bitter man
Down and troubled, in search for better days
Back to the beginning, I`m at the end
All my time, compressed to itching moments
as the future repeats today
So impressed, lost the faith in all I had
Broken down, I`m on my way to be dissolved
The hopes and prays of things to come
I`ve lost them all with glory
Urgent to aim for that short-lived joy
I see gold in all that lies before me
And so we ignore the beggers cup
Praise your act in the Grand Finale
Teach the unborn the winners sign
a welcome grin to the world Royal
05 Square Nothing (03:59)
For all the times you left me bleeding
Clouded, weakend by the haze
Cut of my pride, enough to forgive
Reconcile, back to square nothing
Spent some quality time with the demon of mine
I like the way you struggle but you know I'm here to win
It seems I lost my direction
Don't have the strenght to let it slip
Have no desire for the shore
Just let me play here for some time
Is this how I want to spend my days?
Shadowed, it fears me, my utopia
Try to find some peace to destroy
These are my sins, I'm heading to fall
Never understood though I accepted
All the weakness that I discover
You gave me a place to hide and lost the key
Drowend my head just to see it sink (to the bottom)
Spent some quality time with the demon of mine
I like the way you struggle but you know I'm here to win
Spent some quality time with my borrowed smile
The gleam is replaced, rip me open and erase me
Spent some quality time with the demon of mine
I like the way you struggle but you know I'm here to win
Spent some quality time with my borrowed smile
The gleam is replaced, rip me open and erase me
06 Clayman (03:30)
Your self control makes me feel alone
I've tried confidence, had it for breakfast today
I've lost the perfection, a mess without words
As the seasons change I'll continue to ignore
The image I project is me without me
The picture that I scanned is borrowed
After the education you stopped making sense to me
Seems to me that it's all the same, time and time and time and time again
Slowly, What I believed in, turning into a lie
To aim and miss, my supernatural art
Spending too much time with myself
Trying to explain who I am
How come it's possible
I wish there was a way
I feel so invincible
I'm the sculpture made out of clay
I need someone to break the silence
before it all falls apart
I need something to cling onto
before I break you in parts
So afraid of what you may think
And all the plastic people that surrounds me
I have to find the path to where it all begins
To teach the world my supernatural art
How come it's possible
I wish there was a way
I feel so invincible
I'm the sculpture made out of clay
07 Satellites and Astronauts (05:02)
Since the day of my departure
I've been stumbling through reality
I play my symphony in reverse
as I aim for that special path
Be gentle to the tear in this eye
Lonesome arms, lost its wings again
Buy me a trip to the moon
So I can laugh at my mistakes
You see, I can see the end from here
From this perspective it looks kind of silly
Satellites and astronauts
Tell me there are greater things ahead
Make me feel like a man
A silent cry from the middle of hell
(I - the irony - I promise, I'll be mature
So please, please invite me
please, invite me, to your shelter again)
Been hiding since I heard "never"
Take me back to yesterday, I need to grow
Buy me a trip to the moon
So I can laugh at my mistakes
You see, I can see the end from here
From this perspective it looks kind of silly
Satellites and astronauts
Tell me there are greater things ahead
Buy me a trip to the moon
So I can laugh at my mistakes
You see, I can see the end from here
From this perspective it looks kind of silly
Satellites and astronauts
Tell me there are...
Steal my mask, and make me pay
I need a new skin, I'm going insane.
08 Brush the Dust Away (03:19)
In the most desolate corner
A bad case of the urban blues
Another brick in the living shadow
All inhale the downward spiral
Hey, get in line for tragic
Let us dance to the pistol magic
Just aim and end another
Think of me, as I rape your mother
Another player joins the table
Who I can or cannot trust
When do we get assigned?
Pure and precious with bad intensions
Hey, come and join the show
All the cameras are ready to go
Just aim and end another
Think of me, as I rape your mother
A single step - a garbled life
Where's the profit?
Your rage - the pain
Will it all be worth it?
Genetic, it seems to be....
Abandon, the mass ideal
We think we're in control then we become the things we hate
Lets re-unite and brush the dust away
Obtain a prosperous future
and the admiration of all
Act in the sensations media hour
All inhale the downward spiral
09 Swim (03:16)
As we build a brand new planet
Lets reconstruct and get it straight
Unlock forgotten skills
Travel to a new dimension
Souls from the dark seduction
(Take heed), we are the new invention
We're the settlers of year zero
Lets reconstruct and take it back
*chorus*
Leaders of our time
Heading for a downfall
The threshhold of revolution
(Take heed)The last freedom call
Blanked out fire etched on the chrystal display
The seas are deep
You better swim
Don't go numb
Collect the word, add some gold and give it back
The seas are deep
You better swim
Don't go numb
From a thousand branches
Spreading the new voice
(guitar solo)
As we're heading for the throne
Connect, evolution will begin
*chorus*
10 Suburban Me (03:37)
The self-infected state of mind
A one-man struggle beneath the tower
I think the clock still exist
God just forgot to tap my shoulder
I woke up today
I wish I felt something
The odour of my apathy
Just might be true
I want to be the things I see
The pilgrim that is me
But I know I ain't that free
The suburban that is me
Spirits rise and miss the eye
Covered by the stench of judgement
As gods reflection tests my pride
I serve the failure that's haunting me
Twisted visions torturing
Who claims to be the one?
That filtered smile
Just might be true
On half-speed tonight I suffer
Satisfaction brings the unheeded
Can you hear the message
As I wrestle with the clouds?
I'm on the way to succumb
It just might be true
11 Another Day in Quicksand (04:08)
The other side of the platinum door
another day in quicksand
Still feel close to nowhere
I hope this is the right way
How come you see me as an enemy?
We just think in different words
I see beauty in dead flowers
I let the tide show me what's next
But all you do is fade away
There's no shame in being the fool
I've been to places you'll never find
The empty plate that you call home
Won't bring glimmer to future year
By myself, staring into space
You're just bored of the silence it makes
12 World of Promises (03:51)
They come from a land were the sun don't shine
running away from the cold
They travel so far in the name of love
hoping the dreams will come true
Walking the way through endless fields
trying to make it together
And they will give anything
just to be free from the pain
and they won't surrender
Living in a world of promises
Living in a world of dreams and hopes
Living in a world of promises
Lost in the city wondering why
no one will open the door
It's more to the truth than meets the eye
something they all felt before
And they will give anything
just to stand tall once again
and they won't surrender
Living in a world of promises
Living in a world of dreams and hopes
Living in a world of promises
In the tan of the night can hear them crying
out for a life to hold on to
Somebody knows were the answers lying
wait for your trails and don't let go
Living in a world of promises
Living in a world of dreams and hopes
Living in a world of promises
13 Strong and Smart (02:37)
One lie was all it took everything ended right there
You didn't seem to care One lie
I walked away weight on my shoulders was heavy
Barrel to my head
Will you give me a good excuse
Will you let me die right here and now ?
I can't think of another way
But I'm open to any good advice
Everything is falling apart
Trying hard to be strong and smart
One day was all it took
Start to get back on my feet heart begin to beat
One week I'm feeling great dancing around in the street
Feeling young and free
Will you give me a good excuse
Will you let me die right here and now ?
I can't think of another way
But I'm open to any good advice
Everything is falling apart
Trying hard to be strong and smart
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