GammaInk

I've always felt this sophomore album was the most underrated Machine Head album. In fact, for me it is right on par with the albums commonly regarded to be their best: Burn My Eyes, Through the Ashes, The Blackening. Some things that might have put people off are the cleaner production style, and a move away from the thrash influence. This was before they got the terrible idea of joining the nu metal movement though, and we get a streamlined, well produced record fueled by the (still) ... read more

I remember not understanding why, after Come Clarity, In Flames jumped ship on this style. To me, the logo, artwork and sound came together so perfectly. A colourful heart, but rough around the edges. This roughness seems, in terms of production, a (debatable) choice, because this album's predecessor was given a crystal clear production. The songs are so strongly written though, that this hardly becomes an issue. Come Clarity remains, to this day, one of my favourite In Flames albums.

Very solid album, that does suffer a little bit from a shifting identity. It starts out doing a great Darkside impression, then follows it up with some banging post punk vibes in Absolute Body Control. After that, tracks become a bit more generic. There are still some decent things to be heard, but it's so opposite to the sounds of the first four tracks, and lacking a lot of the distinct personality. I've just been content switching the album off after #4.

This album was and is criminally underrated by critics. This band coming back 12 years after the last albums critics did like, apparently, not having fallen apart from drug use or personality conflicts, and rocking this damn hard is honestly incredible. If you just want bangers, I feel like this album already has you covered with hardly any filler material, but there are a few tracks that lyrically and musically go a step further and really reach another level, such as Dimebag tribute "3 ... read more