IN FLAMES, CARNAL

The Swedish deluge

06.04.2009 Warsaw/ Progresja (POL)

IN FLAMES, undoubtedly, have played a vital role in the history of metal. These guys hailing from Gothenburg are considered to be the pioneers of melodic death metal – the genre which have as many fans as opponents among metalheads. Despite the growing popularity of this kind of playing and the whole range of the cheap imitators of the Gothenburg sound being, unfortunately, a plague in the metal scene these days, IN FLAMES still play music which is quite unique, fresh and outstanding. What is more, the Swedes usually give really good and powerful concerts so the one they were to play in Poland attracted attention of many fans and was sell-out a week before. This fact was easily noticeable in the club, where the sweat was literally pouring from the ceiling because of the stuffiness and the lack of space.

But let me start from the beginning. At 8 o'clock sharp, CARNAL – the only supporting band that night hit the stage. Well, their music definitely was not my cup of tea and I chose talking with my friends over watching their whole gig. Maybe I am an ignorant but I prefer such bands as IN FLAMES playing without any supporting groups. Nevertheless, many people enjoyed CARNAL and reacted enthusiastically to the modern sounds they were producing.

A few minutes after 9 PM, the long-awaited performance began. IN FLAMES started with “Pinball Map” a killer song from their best, in my opinion, album – “Clayman”. This was probably the best choice for the beginning. Unfortunately, it turned out that the Swedes played as a quartet without Jesper being in rehab. If I had known it before, it would have been probably the source of great anxiety to me since playing melodic death metal without the second guitarist may seem to be pointless because the harmonised parts constitute the essence of this kind of music, but somehow IN FLAMES managed to make up for it. Going back to the setlist, I have to admit, that I'm a little bit disappointed. They played four songs from their latest album “ A Sense of Purpose” among which was my favorite one “Alias” and it was rather predictable since they were promoting this album on their tour. However, when it comes to the rest of the setlist, I have an impression that it was compiled according to the rule “the older the album, the fewer songs”. Thus, there wasn't any song from “The Jester Race”, “The Whoracle” was only represented by “The Hive” (surprisingly) and “Colony” by the title song. To my surprise, the Swedes reached for such songs as “Drifter” and “Egonomic” from “Reroute to Remain” and, honestly, I would sooner they had played some old hits like“Moonshield”, “Episode 666”, “Gyroscope” or “Ordinary Story” than these mediocre songs but, of course, the perfect setlist is a personal thing. The rest of songs included typical IN FLAMES anthems like “Only For The Weak”, “Cloud Connected” or “The Quiet Place.” Musically, the performance was, as you may suppose, up to the mark. I was especially impressed by Peter's playing. Due to the lack of the second guitarist, the bass became clearly audible and it was easily noticeable that he is a damn good, precise musician possessing unbelievable skills. Also, attention should be paid to Anders Frieden, whose singing skills have improved in the recent years. This time he sang clearly and confidently, however sometimes his voice was barely audible. Such sound problems occur from time to time that night, nevertheless the energy put in the performance by IN FLAMES compensated for them to some extent. Unfortunately, the concert lasted only an hour and a half and the Swedes left me with a thirst for more, especially keeping in memory the gig they gave three years ago which was much longer. Maybe the lack of Jesper was the reason for such a short performance? I don't know, but I know that I want more for sure!

Pictures by: Neil Lim Sang