Afro Lint wrote:
Emperor Me wrote:
Just got done listening to the album myself...and...
Wow. Am I dreaming, or is this the best thing the band has made since Colony? I can't thing of a good word to describe something that is capable of stepping both backwards and forwards at the same time, in the best possible ways of each, but rest assured I would be using it to describe A Sense of Purpose if I could.
It almost makes me feel kind of guilty for not waiting for the official release date. Almost
.
I've been reading this kind of response on the album at a few sites now. WTF? This album is basically NO DIFFERENT than Reroute To Remain, Soundtrack To Your Escape, or Come Clarity. When Reroute... came out, people were like: "What the fuck? Well, it's different...but I guess it's not that bad." And then when Soundtrack... came out, people were like: "Fuck this! More of this shit? This album is fucking gay! Fuck this nu-metal bullshit!" And then when Come Clarity came out, people were like: "Guess they're not changing back, huh? Well, I guess this is decent." And now it's like people have just gotten used to this sound so they're like: "Fuck yeah! This is their BEST album in years! It's old school...some."
Pffft! The last four albums have generally been exactly the same; but this new album is the most melodic album the band has ever done! Come Clarity is the only album out of the last four that had a bigger dose of that straight up old school melodeath style. This album is not channeling that melodic death metal style of old like Come Clarity did. A few songs like "Sober And Irrelevant" and "March To The Shore" definitely have elements of it, but there's surely no nod to the old school at all here. And like I said, it's largely the same style of the last three.
With that said, it's a great album. In Flames found a niche after Clayman, and I don't think they're moving any time soon.
Well obviously I can only speak for myself, but that's simply not how I view the progression at all. I'm sure that's mostly due to the fact that I hopped onto the In Flames fan-ship with Come Clarity and worked backwards from there, as opposed to standing by every single release since the beginning. Nevertheless, I have listened to each one many, many times, and have noticed
massive differences with each. After having heard A Sense of Purpose I really do think it, too, stands apart from their other works, but is also the overall best album they've produced since 2000.
Yes, the
core style is the largely same, but, as with all their albums, the subtle changes and tweaks really make a huge impact. Unlike many, I came to eventually accept R2R and STYE, but I couldn't help but feel that were too many missed oppurtunities, and while I absolutely loved CC I ultimately found it too cold and calculated in contrast to the band's generally upbeat nature; on ASoP, they stick to their chosen path while simaltaneously fixing these percieved flaws. Besides, no one can ignore the existence of its "The Chosen Pessimist", which is truly unqiue from everything else the band has ever done.
Also: no nod to the old school? Really? Hell, I thought that the acoustic midsection of "Alias" sounded like it could've come straight from Lunar Strain! I know CC already had recieved the "old-school meets new-school" label when it came out (or at least, that's what the band said about it), but ASoP definitely deserves that title more.
Sorry for the ramble
.
