Kev Rowland
Like many metalheads I’ve always had a soft spot for the melodic death metal of Swedish band In Flames. They have built a massive reputation over the years, and their live shows are renowned for their intensity. But, due to living at the end of the world, and not having easy access to music magazines, I don’t always keep up with the scene as I should, and it has been a while since I last heard any of their material. What we have here is a live album, released in 2016, of a 2015 concert from their hometown, so I settled down, plugged in my headphones and turned it up.
A few songs in and I started searching the web to see what other people were saying about this album, and everyone seemed to be agreed that this is just a tad short of awesome, and mighty fine on so many levels. This means that I must be the only one who thinks the guitars are too low in the mix, and that the drums and vocals are taking too much prominence, and that the material simply wasn’t what I was personally expecting. Much of this is from the latest albums, which admittedly I hadn’t hard, but I swear there are times when they morphed into a heavy version of My Chemical Romance, which isn’t what I was expecting at all! Of course, they aren’t the first band to change since they first started, and they have been around for a long time (and have released a couple of other live albums to boot), but this isn’t an album I could get into and enjoy. Looks like I’m in the minority, won’t be the first time, and I doubt it will be the last. For fans only.