Customer Reviews

Lunar Strain//Subterranean

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Depending on how well you know your black metal, this may be a little-known piece of In Flames trivia. Prior to the release of the Jester Race album, Anders Friden led vocals for Dark Tranquility and Mikael Stanne led vocals for In Flames.

However, in 1995, the two bands performed, for lack of a better term, a vocalist trade. Anders Friden went to In Flames, and Mikael Stanne went to Dark Tranquility. Both bands are currently experiencing a great deal of success, so it appeared to work out for the best.

You'll be able to detect a distinct difference in the style of music on the Lunar Strain and Subterranean album compared to the other In Flames releases. The frequent use of acoustic guitar, piano, and violin arrangements is definitively characteristic of Stanne's influence. Pay particular attention to Starforsaken, Hargalaten, Stand Ablaze, and Timeless - the differences in style are easy to spot, and the similarities to Dark Tranquility will be readily apparent.

Enjoy!

I bought this album on a whim and word of mouth from a one or two people around me and was blown away. In Flames definately has a sound that is their own. This album, unlike their latter releases, has a strange mix of both melodic death metal and a traditional sweedish folk sound. Higly under rated as compared to their more well known more recent releases, Lunar Strain adds a mix of Violin and Cello for "In Flames" and the intro to "Dreamspace" while still maintaining a truely melodic metal sound. Tracks such as the opening track "Behind Space" and "Upon an Oaken Throne" make the album have a powerful feel, and yet "Hårgalåten" brings some classical beauty as well. Since getting Lunar Strain I have continued to get every In Flames release to date and have seen them every chance that I have gotten. I would recommend this band and any of there releases to anyone how likes metal and/or appreciates good harmony between the band and its music.

I originally wrote a review for this cd sometime ago but deleted it. I had said that this was my first death metal cd in a long time but I am going to wait and say that for the Cynic cd I'm going to get at the end of the week. Anyway, this is a combination of death metal like Death but mixed with melodic guitar playing similar to Iron Maiden. This is a good package here and has some sick songs on it especially Everlost part 1 and part 2. This style of death metal is usually called melodic death metal or Gothenburg metal. Gothenburg is the city in Sweden where this style supposedly originated from. This is a well done cd and I suggest to those who like good metal, In Flames, brutal metal mixed with melody, or good music to go pick this one up.

Ok i actually have a re-release of lunar strain and a re-release of subterranean and both are great. But Subterranean is a musical masterpiece. Stand Ablaze is my alltime favorite song ,thats right even above all the classic rock and what not. That song changed the way I look at metal. The guitar riffs in that song alone are enough to buy the albumn. Is Jesper a guitar/song writing machine or what. Lunar Strain has some major high points as well.

Lunar Strain (tracks 1-10)
First In Flames album. It is raw and unfocused. That's what's great about it. Unexpected things happen in unexpected places. For instance, there's an all-violin instrumental, and a track done entirely using female vocals. I want to say that it's almost experimental, like they were trying out a bunch of different styles to find a sound. Of course, production quality is not the best, but after the initial listen one hardly notices anymore. It is just a little flat sounding.

Subterranean (tracks 11-15, or 11-17, not sure if those two were included on the original cd)
Heavenly. But then again, I listen to guitars more than drums or vocals or anything. Dead Eternity also appears on The Jester Race, but this version is done quite differently and adds a new perspective on the song. The Inborn Lifeless, one will see, is Dead God in Me with different lyrics (or is it the other way around?).

Overall, I probably wouldn't recommend this as a first experience with In Flames (check out The Jester Race or Whoracle.) But a good buy for someone who has a couple CDs and wants to hear how it started.

The vocals suck worse than ever, some of the guitar parts sound the same, and the production quality sucks. I truly believe that this re-issue is highly over-rated. Even the original pressings of these two release are over-rated. "Lunar Strain" and "Subterranean" are In Flames first two albums. With these two releases In Flames helped forge Melodic Death Metal. And they are great release, but they are not the best of what Melodic Death Metal has to offer. The drums are plain and boring, there is virtually no bass guitar heard(Heresy!). The guitar work is good, but not the best ever.
I feel that "Lunar Strain" and "Subterranean" are too highly over-rated releases that do not represent In Flames all that well.

This album only features Jesper of the current lineup and is great record though in its own right. Lunar Strain/Subterranean featured songs are Behind Space, Clad in Shadows, Upon an Oaken Throne, Subterranean and Biosphere. Overall the albums shows what Jesper is trying to do as a musican, but won't be all the way completed until Andres and Bjorn join and then Peter and Daniel later. For new In Flames fans I would recommend Colony, Clayman, and the new album Come Clarity before I would purchase this album. A good album but not exactly In Flames.

Let me start this off by saying I love Sweden, especially its music. Nearly half of my favorite bands come from their. In Flames, however, are by far my favorite. Godly riffs, smart lyrics, and strained vocals really make me all fuzzy feeling. With all albums but Reroute and Soundtrack under my wing, its time to give this CD a shot, so where to begin?

Well, first thing you will notice is the vocals. The singer is not, and I repeat, is not Anders. Although this singer does his job good, (cant remember his name, believe hes from Dark Tranquility), he doesnt lay a finger on Anders in term of range and compassion. Another thing you will notice is the folk-inspired theme, which is probally due to the fact that Jesper's father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather were all Swedish folk musicians. And finally, The guitars dont sound nearly as good as they do on Jester Race, merely because Jesper isnt as good as a guitarist on this record, (in particular, his solos are very sloppy.)

However, this is still a required buy, especially if you love everything Gothenberg. My favorites from this CD include Biosphere, Upon an Oaken Throne, Starforsaken, and Behind Space, but I did not once skip.

Get this CD, and enjoy, for the future of melodeath, and metal in general, looks bleak...

what a great way to start up in flames. this cd is much much different than thier newest crappy album (come clarity) or whatever. the vocals as someone else said are a little primitive. vocals on the other cd's "clayman" and reroute are more fixed up sounding and seem almost like he is screaming with some kind of special effect. the vocals in this cd are very raw and frankly if the music wasn't so good it would drag it down. a lot of the riffs are awesome. not to mention these guys play a mean melodic riff here and there like in the end of the first song. it sounds like something straight out of pirates of the caribbean or something. very good stuff. it is much more metally than thier latest album which are beginning to move toward that nu-metal as i lay dying style. yuck... so anyways i'd say fans vary for this cd. your either a "clayman" fan or a "lunar strain fan". if you liked this cd, go ahead and buy the "jester race/black ash inheritance". it is much like this one but the vocals have begun to improve.

this band is absolutely stellar. they have amazing tone and all of their songs rock. the only reason why i gave this a 4 star rating was,

THE CD CASE SUX!!!! i opened up the plastic wrap and the thing started to fall apart on me?!?! besides that it was awesome