Published on Aug 18, 1999
One thing that I’ve noticed about metal these days (having the
opportunity to listen to a lot of new bands as the pile in the
inbox grows like a stack of child’s blocks) is that there aren’t a
lot of chances being taken with the overall sound. I mean, you’ve
got your crunching guitars, double-bass work on the drums and
singers who sound like they’ve got their manhood inside a food
processor. I love metal, don’t get me wrong, but I often find
myself wishing I could hear something
different.
Enter In Flames, a Swedish quintet, whose latest album
Colony sonically breaks the mold. And while it takes a bit
of an adjustment period, the time you’ll spend with this album
proves to be worth it.
The group – vocalist Anders Friden, guitarists Jesper Stromblad
and Bjorn Gelotte, bassist Peter Iwers and drummer Daniel Svensson
– realize that going for the million-notes-per-second jugular isn’t
the best course of attack for them. Besides, that schtick has been
done to death. Instead, they focus their energies on songs that
have melodies that don’t resolve with each other, but create
interesting sonic overlays. All the while, Friden pushes the tracks
over the top with his gritty but powerful vocals.
From the opening track “Embody The Invisible,” you know that
this is going to be an experience like no other you’ve been on in
the land of metal. True, it’s not something that you’re going to
warm up to in the first listen; the first time I sat down with this
disc, once I got over the pleasant shock, I found my mind
wandering. I don’t know if it was because I was trying to digest
too much of a new sound to my ears at once, or that I happened to
be at work while I listened to the disc, but it became interesting
background noise for a while.
Tracks like “Ordinary Story,” “Zombie Inc.”, “Coerced
Coexistence” and the title track all show that this band has the
potential to break out and make a name for themselves once metal
makes its inevitable comeback (I’m pegging it to hit around May
2000). The difficult part, of course, is going to be getting
listeners to take a chance on this one – and it might be more
difficult because this is an album that takes at least three
listens before one can really start to appreciate it.
I mean, there are moments you’ll love right out of the box. The
instrumental “Pallar Anders Visa” is an interesting “intermission”
of sorts, while tracks like “Resin” and “Insipid 2000” all have
more than their share of moments.
Colony is the kind of disc that you’ll want to check out –
but only if you’re ready to put some time into the disc. Just like
studying for the big final, all the hard work will pay off.