In Flames
A Sense of Purpose
Koch
And that purpose is... more melodic death metal!
While I’d never draw a direct sonic comparison between In Flames and Korn, the two have a lot in common when it comes to their career trajectory. The most obvious parallel being their starting gate position at the forefront of two very different, but equally overblown extreme music trends: nü-metal and the greatest oxymoron to ever emanate from Gothenburg, melodic death metal. Say what you will about what Korn stand for, but their self-titled debut had some decent, decade-defining songs on it, especially the “arrrrre you readddddy?” opening of “Blind.”
They might not be as platinum-coated as Korn, but the same balance of subgenre significance and solid songwriting runs through In Flames’ dense back catalogue. That includes the Top 100-cracking Come Clarity, which peaked at No. 58 thanks in no small part to the one-two punch of “Take This Life” and the Nine Inch Nails-leaning (check out those synth washes!) “Leeches.” Which leads us to A Sense of Purpose, In Flames’ ninth full-length, a.k.a. the point where the band deviates from the Korn-y path above by simply doing what they do best (harmonized guitar leads, good cop vocals that are starting to completely eclipse the bad) and never experimenting with something as horrendous as an Unplugged album.
In other words, In Flames are fully aware that they helped invent this whole melodic death metal thing alongside At the Gates, and they’re not afraid of embracing that fact. So, yes, A Sense of Purpose is more of the same for better (“Alias” is a clear hit single contender on par with “Take This Life”) or worse (“Move Through Me” has some oddly similar chord progressions to the group’s last LP). And somewhere in between is the eight minutes of “The Chosen Pessimist,” an attempt at doing something profound that doesn’t take enough creative chances to really stand out. All and all, this is a good, competent effort, but it’d be nice to watch In Flames walk off the deep end a bit next time around. —Andrew Parks
