Customer Reviews

Reroute to Remain

5 star:		(114)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This album seems to have disappointed a lot of In Flames' more passionate fans (some have even used the term "sellout," which is a debate I really don't want to get into). However, I don't really see what the problem is. I find this album to be In Flames all the way, and not much of a departure from "Colony" or "Clayman" at all. I really think a band as skilled and creative as In Flames would have a hard time making an album I didn't like.

If there is one thing this album is, it's infectious, especially by metal standards. It contains some Swedish-style riffs and melodies that can get caught in your head for days (I've had that experience myself). Although In Flames may have softened their sound a bit since their early days, there are still some really aggressive moments, and some top-notch songwriting. The opening title track, "Drifter," and "Egonomic" contain some of the band's heaviest riffing, and some of Anders's harshest vocals (at least lately) before getting melodic in the choruses. "System" is a somewhat experimental song that expertly mixes rousing speed metal with some softer elements. "Dawn of a New Day" has a folkish sound that sounds a bit out of place at first, but it provides a nice interlude in the middle of the album. And yes, "Cloud Connected" and "Black and White" DO sound a bit nu-metalish, but I still think they have that In Flames stamp on them, and with their abilities they make the songs work. I'm not really a nu-metal hater anyway, so I don't have as much of a problem with these songs as some might.

Anyway, this is in my opinion a very strong album, in spite of what some naysayers may believe. In Flames have shown themselves to be masters of mixing heaviness and melody, and harsh and clean vocals, and "Reroute to Remain" is no exception. They're not really a melodic death metal band anymore, but in this case I choose not to lament what was but to enjoy what is. Some of the best metal of 2002 is on here.

This isn't In Flames' best work. That goes to the amazing The Jester Race album. Anyway, this isn't about The Jester Race. This is about Reroute To Remain.

Let's talk about the singing first. Anders' voice isn't as deep as it was on The Jester Race or Whoracle. It's more like Clayman except he doesn't sing real low like a whisper like he did on Clayman. When he isn't screaming or shouting(most of the album is like this) he tries to sing. He isn't that good but it fits the music really well. Gives it a folk sounding feel. In Flames has always had folk elements in their music so there is no point in complaining about this people. I wouldn't say they are still melodic death metal but they are, without a doubt, still metal. I don't worry about genres that much but if i had to put them into a section of music, I would call them melodic heavy metal.

The riffs on the cd are excellent. They may not be super complicated but they are very heavy and real written. I don't play guitar and don't know much about it so I'm not going to start saying that I can do better because I can't. And i doubt many of you out there who bash this album could to because i don't think most music fans are guitar gods. There are lots of counter melodies played along with the standard riffs but you really have to listen to them at first because the production on this cd is really bad(not to the point of it being incoherent though). There are some solos on here but not as much as their earlier releases. But this isn't too big of a problems because, on a whole, In Flames' music has not been about solos. Take the songs for what they are and rock out to them. Not every song has to have a minute long guitar solo. As long as the songs are good, everything is fine. Solos are only good if they need to be in the song, if it calls for it, otherwise they just sound out of place.

This cd is really bass heavy and it's finally great to hear the bass player. Awesome stuff. The drumming is pure genius. It's just as good as the drumming on whoracle, if not better. You can tell technique is focused on the drums instead of just trying to see how many double bass beats you can do in one minute.

This album is also so fun to listen to. I don't think I've ever heard such an addictive, catchy album in all my life. There is a very experimental song on here and it does have a slight country feel to it but it's not a country song and it's very good. It breaks up the tone of the album and introduces something fresh. The whole album has it's own sound though I don't see myself getting tired of it anytime soon.

So, do not complain about this not being the jester race. There is no point in them making a jester race two or jester race: rematch. If you want to hear the jester race, then put the jester race in your cd player and listen to that!!!

UP THE IRONS!!!

I've been anxious to get a review up for this album, but it's been hard to decide what I think. My first impressions were not good at all, but the best albums always take time to grow on me. And my, oh my, has this grown on me the last couple weeks. I don't know if I'd call it their best album, but it's definitely up there with the rest of them if you take a step back and realize it's a GOOD THING that they refuse to rehash the same old stuff on every album. Besides Korn's first album, I've listened to very little nu-metal, for obvious reasons. Reroute to Remain definately has a nu-metal edge to it, but they marry it perfectly with their signature Gothenburg sound. The result ranges from songs that are amazing ("Trigger"-what a chorus!) to non-memorable ("Dismis the Cynic", "Free Fall").

Nearly every song has a hard shell with a chewey middle: old-school structure, with harsh vocals sung during the verses, but the refrain is usually very melodic and super catchy. The opening track falls in that catagory perfectly. Other tracks like "System", "Transparent", and "Cloud Connected" go a little overboard on the emo-like vocal refrains. It borders on annoying at first, but after a few spins I realized it fits in OK. However, other tracks like "Minus" and "Ergonomic" are much better and will get stuck in your head. "Drifter" and "Dark Signs" are straight up old school In Flames with only a few new twists. "Dawn of a New Day" and "Metaphor" fall into the super mellow catagory: "Dawn of a New Day" is good (weird to think it's In Flames though...sounds like Linkin Park or one of those other radio bands), but the violin (or should I call it a fiddle) in "Metaphor" is out of place. It's a decent melodic tune otherwise. "Black and White" is a great ending to the album--almost power metal with a great epic-sounding chorus!

The production couldn't be any better, the songwriting is exceptional, the artwork is top-notch, and the overall sound is a completely unique blend of everything In Flames has evolved to be. I can understand the purists who question why In Flames would stray from previous efforts like this, but at the same time they're evolving and branching out into unparalleled and exciting new territory. I give my enthusiastic thumbs up.

First: This is the only death metal album i own. The true is that i'm more into other metal styles, but this album is absolutely great. I supose that it's because with R2R In Flames have changed their style, becoming less "death", but come on, if old In Flames fans give this 3 stars because it's "like linkin park", what would they give to limp bizkit?
Reroute to Remain is a 5 star album comparing to the average music quality nowadays.
When i bought this, i expected 2-3 mediocre song. And i didn't find them. At first i didn't like the singing style, but the singing on the choruses is great, so i liked the album. Then i got used to the singer's voice, and now i love it.

1-Reroute To Remain- Good beginning. Great chorus. 9.5/10
2-System- The best part of the song is the chorus, with clean vocals... 9.5/10
3-Drifter- My 14th favorite. 7/10
4-Trigger- My favorite. Perfect. Great chorus. 10/10
5-Cloud Connected- The first In Flames song i heard. I loved it and now here i am. 10/10
6-Transparent- 8/10
7-Dawn of a new day- A softer one, to relax after the first six songs. 8.5/10
8-Egonomic. After relaxing a bit, a harder song. The drummer must be exhausted after playing this one. 7/10
9-Minus- 9/10
10-Dismiss the Cynics- 8.5/10
11-Free Fall- Great beginning. Another great chorus. At this part a realized that i was hearing an awesome album. 10/10
12-Dark Signs- 9/10
13-Metaphor- Musically this could be a love song, but lyrically is far from it. 9/10 (i love soft songs)
14-Black & White- Another great chorus. Good way to finish the album. 9.5/10

I recommend Reroute To Remain to every metal fan in the world (except to Limp Bizkit fans, those don't know what good music is).

That's it, now i must go to check their other albums...

In the context of the rest of their career, this In Flames album feels to me a lot like Metallica's Black Album feels. They seem to have shifted their focus from the heaviness and intricate dual-guitar leads of their earlier work to a more accessible riff-based metal complete with catchy sing-along choruses. Don't get me wrong, many of the songs still have some fast death parts, but almost all songs contain catchy segments as well (songs like "Egonomic" and "System" illustrate this phenomenon pretty well). They have also added more slow experimental songs here ("Free Fall", "Dawn of a New Day", "Cloud Connected") in the tradition of Clayman (think "Only For the Weak"). There's even a light song ("Metaphor") that seems like it would fit right in on U.S. modern rock radio, something I would never have considered for In Flames before now.

The end result is something I enjoy a lot. I'd recommend it for any metal fan who isn't only into harsh death stuff. It's very listenable still heavy enough to get the adrenaline flowing. But at same type it saddens me a little that they'll probably never release another album in the style of Jester Race or Whoracle. If this is their "Black Album", I sincerely hope the next one isn't their "Load".

I am one of the greatest In Flames Fans. Actually I'm a great fan of Melodic Death Metal. In Flames introduced me to this genre and I was completely blown. They have been my favourite band ever since I was subjected to the immortal "The Jester Race". That was about 5 years ago. In Flames is definitely one of the greatest bands that the world has ever seen.

I have already reviewed all of In Flames' releases and left this one for last. I was surprised to see that other In Flames Fans are going as far as to say that they have sold out, and that they are losing their intensity by changing style. Hey, have you guys heard this cd. It is extremely intense and powerful, and the melodies are always present. So what makes this album different? Well the sound is definitely changed. Additional sounds were added by keyboards and programming. I guess that people refer to the songs "Metaphor", and "Dawn Of A New Day" when they mention the word sell out. Well I believe that they don't know what they are talking about. If I were able to write a song as brilliant as "Metaphor", there is no ways in hell that I will not release it. Those kind of songs only come around once every 10 years. Amature reviewers would not not know that though. I realised we are dealing with children complaining, well children, let the wiser men comment on this masterpiece, this isn't your playground.

The album starts off with the title track. Again subjecting us to a powerful song at the beginning of another immortal record. The main difference between this album and their previous ones can be heard in the second track "System". One of the best songs here. The brutal chorus at the end of the song will definitely blow you off wherever you are. The third song "Drifter" is written in a similar style to their previous works, a mighty powerful song. "Trigger" and "Cloud Connected" are probably the most famous songs here. Both have been released as singles and videos have been made for them. Really good songs. Their melodies perfectly combine with these songs.

"Transparent", "Egonomic", "Minus", "Dismiss The Cynics", and "Black & White" are all powerful songs. This kind of brutality is not present in the previous effort "Clayman". None of these are weak songs. In fact what distingiushes this album from the previous is that there are no average songs here. "Clayman" I believe was an inbetween step to achieve the perfection we have in this album. I have to mention that my 3 favourite songs in this album are "Egonomic", "Dysmiss The Cynics" and "Free Fall". The latter starts of with a tune that seems to come from an old music box and is then elaborated on by the godly In Flames Guitars.

"Day Of A New Dawn" and "Metaphor" show us a different aspect to In Flames that we were not exposed to before. "Metaphor" like I said before is a song that very few bands can accomplish composing and it is indeed a blessing for us. I love this band. They always give you something more, everytime.

If you are new to this band, buy this record, or if you prefer start with the earlier releases, either way once you listen to them, you will get all their albums. In Flames is a gift from the gods.

This album was a very good album. It just goes to show that In Flames can write pretty songs too. Just because there is singing doesn't make it mainstream. What is wrong with being mainstream anyway? It doesn't make a band suck, or make them sold out. Stupid people make a stupid world. Your not cooler if your 'Underground'. This album is a good album to buy, with songs like Trigger, System, and Cloud Connected. I would recommend this cd to everyone who listens to metal. This cd is not bad like everyone makes it out to be.

In the words of Soilwork, "Where is the face that I used to know?"

I shared a similar reaction that many other reviewers have expressed: "Is this really In Flames?" Yes, they have changed their sound substantially. I've listened to their older albums (Jester Race, Whoracle, Clayman, etc.), and I've enjoyed all of those as well. This cd took a few spins to grow on me, and now I realize what a great work it is. I've never been much for nu-metal (Linkin Park, Full Devil Jacket, etc.), and I have to say this is probably the closest to nu-metal that I'll ever go. (Gothenburg style all the way!) It's a cool mix of thrash riffs, the standard death metal growl, and clean lyrics that produce very catchy choruses. My only qualm about the album (save for a couple of songs that aren't so good) are the lack of solos. In Flames have seemed to insert these new catchy choruses where some nice guitar solos would have gone in some of their older work. I'd give this album five stars if they didn't alomst remove the awesome solo work I'm used to from their older stuff. But it's a good album overall.

This is in my opinion, one of the greatest albums known to mankind. It doesn't compare to the old IF, but anything that the band puts out is amazing. I just got this CD about 3 days ago and I love it. It is much better than STYE, which is another great album I own. It has the same sound but a little bit more melody than STYE.

The vocals are extreme and very well writen. The lyrics are very creative. Guitars.......uh, the distortion is way too extreme on some parts of the album, but other than that, the two guitarist have done an excellent job on this release. Dan did a good job with his drum work, some great double bass rhythems, especially on Free Fall durring the verse. It's pretty creative. Now, the bass is unlike any other album. It has a great presence durring some verses while there is an absence of guitar. This is very catchy and original. I never heard a band who has done this. For example, listen to Trigger, Cloud Connected, Dismiss the Cynics, Free Fall, or Dark Signs.

This is recommended to any1 who likes STYE, or any true IF fans. Some say the new stuff is no good but you must expect the band to change thier sound after 8 albums. The band is not weakening, I think they are still original and strong. It may take a few listenings to get familiar with the new sound, but any metal fan would enjoy this CD.

When I first picked up Reroute to Remain when it first hit stores I was a bit shocked and afraid to listen to it a second time, not knowing if it would grow on me at all. True their style has changed, but not as much as everyone says. True, they tuned down, but they still have the same root of melodies. Anders sings his ass off in this one, clean and death metal vocals give it a nice contrast. Have they commercialized? My answer to that is no. You still dont see these guys chilling on TRL sipping starbucks. Most bands that were kind of underground are now gaining exposure from such shows as Headbangers Ball and Uranium...which isnt a bad thing. Would it be so bad if good metal surfaced to mainstream?