In Flames - Jester Race: Black Ash Inheritance

Remastered reissue of their 1995 album along with bonus 'Black Ash Inheritance' EP. Bonus tracks, 'Goliathas Disarm Their Davids', 'Gyroscope', 'Acoustic Medley' & 'Behind Space'(Live). Digipak. Nuclear Blast America. 2002. Album Description

:: shakes head at lame folks::

This album is a great album, its typical In Flames...I do not understand why people bother to rate the music if they don't like it or don't have anything remotely intelligent to say to give insight to the tunes...the album features some great tunes such as Goliath's Disarm your David's, Acoustic Medley, Jesters Race and Dead Eternity...its face paced metal, with the feeling to get you moving...I give it 5 stars due to anyone who like catchy music and is into "scream/growl metal" would like this band July 10, 2008

Masterpiece in Every Way

Let me qualify that I don't dislike IF's new material. From a musical standpoint, no its not as good b/c I like complex music. But it has its merits in its own way, most notably the lyrical content in "Come Clarity." Frankly, they sound like a completely different band today. I'm not a purist by any sense of the word. A band must change its style to even hold my interest, and I think IF quit melodeath precisely because they'd done it for so many years they got bored. I don't blame them. I wouldn't like doing the same crap for ten years. That said, I'll make my 2cents brief.

My favorite band during this era (was) Dark Tranquillity. (Bands like Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel made me abandon anything with the name "death metal." My loss, Just finding out about Amorphis too.) They've been displaced. Still a great band, this album simply shines on every level, from production (big with me) to raw content. Everything shines through. Quite possibly my favorite, though it takes more than four consecutive(!) spins to qualify that. That I can listen to it that many times in a row should tell you something, and tell you what was lost in IF's quest for identity. (Mostly lost, there's hints here and there.)

April 14, 2008

Great Melodic Metal!

These Swedes pack a powerful punch! I wish you could award decimal places because this album is a 4.8 in book. Fantastic, start to finish. If you are more of a Black Metal fan, this may not be the group for you, but if you value musicianship look no further. In Flames has the best musicianship of any other metal group, PERIOD. Just listen to thier ability to incorporate acustics seemlessly into the full-on metal feel that the rest of the album carries. This albuim is epic and an instant classic. "Jester Race", "Lord Hypnos", and "Artifacts Of the Black Rain" are the highest points on this album. Fantastic, a must own! March 4, 2008

Thank god for Amazon (and In Flames!)

A couple of years ago, I heard a few songs from Soundtrack to Your Escape. Nothing seemed to stand out (it was a boring car ride, so I *was* paying attention to the music). Like a fool, I equated In Flames to that album and gave their earlier (and later) releases, and in fact the whole subgenre of melodic death metal a miss for all these years.

I can't believe how big of an idiot I was. I came to Amazon to check out the reviews on Dark Tranquillity's (call me a blashphemist) new album on a friend's suggestion, and decided to see what people thought of IF's work. I have read most reviews for Jester Race, and after purchasing and listening to the album 2-3 times, I completely understand the superlatives people use in these reviews (and about IF "selling out").

The album is magnificient. You can practically feel the youngsters' (they were young back then) desire to express their unbounded talent in these songs. I mean, cmon, those double lead riffs in Moonshield are, to me, as good as Gilmour's High Hopes solo (again, totally subjective... that's why music is such a tease). The lyrics are also dark, abstract, and heavy. Anders Friden (sp?) does a good job of delivering them as well; I haven't seen many death vocalists pull off the singing so cohesively with the guitar. Overall, I probably haven't been floored by a single album like this since loop-playing Master of Puppets back in the day.

Highlights: Moonshield (if that wasn't obvious), December Flower, Artifacts of the Black Rain, ... Hell, every song is so freaking good.

I do however wish people would stop blaming good bands like IF of selling out. They made a different kind of music, and in total, they gained more fans. That is probably more important to the band than a single "hardcore" fan's devotion. Yeah, the people who comment here probably don't like it, but we do have their earlier albums, right?

EDIT: I don't agree with the last paragraph anymore (see my review on Come Clarity); I now think In Flames did "sell out" in a way. This review was written before I had time to look over all of IF's work and history. (Just to be clear in case someone reads my CC review and think I'm a hypocrite :). January 24, 2008

Instant Euphoria...

Not only is this In Flames greatest achievement - this is one of the greatest metal albums ever written! Quality metal that is so simultaneously fast and melodic is indeed hard to come by. This album even surpasses such metal classics as 'Master of Puppets', 'Piece of Mind', and 'Rust in Peace'. Whether you like throat vocals or not (and these vocals are a unique brand of throat vocals) the songs will send you into immediate euphoric metal bliss - and the instrumental pieces are brilliant! Combine the best thrash, melodic, and death metal you can think of into one album and you have 'Jester Race: Black Ash Inheritance'. The first moment I heard this masterpiece I was hooked - if you have any love for metal then your collection is incomplete without this album.

RECOMMENDATION: Other great Swedish metal bands to check out include At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, Opeth, Soilwork, and many others. Start with this album and let your journey into metal euphoria continue... May 17, 2007

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