'Come Clarity' is the latest offering from Swedish melodic-death legends, In Flames. The hype surrounding this album upon release was that the In Flames of old has returned! Well that's half true; this is their most straight forward metal release since 2000's 'Clayman.' However, the band continues its more melodic approach here with more clean singing than ever. The general format is mostly the metalcore standard of cookie monster verses and clean choruses. Shades of their former greatness are present with some complex riffing and harmonies, but mainly the songwriting seems somewhat uninspired. It seems like the band never really finds their groove on this album. You keep waiting for them to break out with a killer tempo, but it never comes... or they will break into an awesome harmonized riff but it will only last for a few seconds before it's broken up by a generic stuttering chop or an annoying nu-metal chorus. That, combined with the lack of variety, leaves you with the feeling of an incomplete listening experience.
"Versus Terminus" contains some complex note playing that is reminiscent of the days of 'Whoracle,' but the chorus promptly slaps us with the reality that those days are long gone. "Crawl Through Knives" has a nice, rolling riff, but again it is broken up by a generic metalcore chorus. The title track has an excellent acoustic intro, but it goes downhill fast when Anders starts singing in his "clean" voice. It would have been best left as a 40 second acoustic interlude. "Pacing Death's Trail" is perhaps the strongest overall track on the album. It contains some excellent pacing and axemanship, and would have fit in nicely on 'Clayman'.
'Come Clarity' isn't a bad album, it is just lacking. Fans will likely find something to like on here, as there are some great moments, but don't expect a full regeneration.

TRACK LIST:
1. Take This Life
2. Leeches
3. Reflect The Storm
4. Dead End
5. Scream
6. Come Clarity
7. Vacuum
8. Pacing Death's Trail
9. Crawl Through Knives
10. Versus Terminus
11. Our Infinite Struggle
12. Vanishing Light
13. Your Bedtime Story Is Scaring Everyone

Review by Paul Jackson