Album Review: In Flames - 'A Sense Of Purpose'
Riffing all the way to the bank.
Ever heard the expression “it’s
the straw that breaks the camels back”? Well after years of questionable
releases following 2000’s “Clayman”, In Flames have finally gone
full tilt with the final step in the process of selling out with “A
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Sense Of Purpose”. I really don’t want to come off as one of those
jaded metal journos that cries sell out at the first sign of accessibility
but read on and I shall take you on an evolutionary journey of a band
that want your bucks and make no attempt to lie about it.
Let us begin by breaking the
record down somewhat so I can explain to you every gosh darn thing I
found wrong with A Sense Of Purpose and everything they could have done
to avoid writing such an dismal excuse for a metal record. Naturally
starting at track one, “The Mirrors Truth” is an enjoyable little
ditty sporting soaring melodies and more hooks than granddad’s fishing
hat but right off the bat, the almost sterile production destroys any
potential displayed early on. To make matters worst, this is peak of
the album and it’s a slippery slope from here on in. Track number
two entitled Disconnected widens the already gaping holes with some
downright disgraceful lyrics including but not limited to “I feel
like shit but at least I feel something” while jumping between melo-death
inspired stadium rock and clean guitar interludes. “Sleepless Again”
is an enjoyable listen, on par with the aforementioned opener but the
rest of the disc fails to retain any sort of continuity, jumping randomly
from some of most clean and safe Swedish death riffs you’ll ever hear
to more of that sappy acoustic guitar pussyfooting.
A few tracks down the line
and we hit rock bottom with one of the worst ideas since Soulfly; an
8 minute track smack dab in the middle of the album. There aren’t
enough minutes in the day to explain everything wrong with this picture
but “The Chosen Pessimist” is not only poorly slotted into the track
listing but is also 8 minutes and 13 seconds of utter rubbish that benefits
neither the album nor the listener. I can’t stands no more folks.
my time soldiering through the rest of A Sense Of Purpose and having
done so, I now know that I should have just threw it out the fucking
window. I may be coming off unnecessarily harsh but having suffered
through the uber nu metal inspired excretions that were “Soundtrack
to Your Escape” and “Come Clarity”, I’ve been pushed too far
by Anders and his dreadlocked cronies. I can’t help but draw the obvious
parallels between In Flames and Metallica in the sense that fans have
been begging for a return to the format of old but instead, we got “St
Anger”. Well fellow Jesterheads (the official name of devoted In Flames
fans), this is your St Anger; a pointless segue that fails to neither
fatten nor fill.
While the direction of previous releases
has been questionable to say the least, this is the first record where
In Flames fuck the fans that made them the mega force they have become
with this shameless attempt to tap into the radio-metal market. The
worst thing about “A Sense Of Purpose” is that I really want to
like this record but after defining an entire genre of metal with albums
like “Colony” and “Whoracle”, such a lackluster release is unacceptable.
"The Mirror's Truth"
– 3:01
"Disconnected" – 3:36
"Sleepless Again" –
4:09
"Alias" – 4:49
"I'm the Highway" –
3:41
"Delight and Angers"
– 3:38
"Move Through Me" –
3:05
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