You can’t really say these days what was planned for a while and what was more of a spontaneous idea due to the current pandemic situation and all the downsides that comes with it. In the end it also doesn’t really matter since fans and metalheads get some new stuff for the record players. It can’t compensate for a live show, we are all missing so much right now, but at least it helps to heal the wounds.
A bit of a cure comes Swedish Metal veterans In Flames that re-issue one of their cornerstone albums in a new outfit. 30 years after founding the band and 20 years after having unleashed with ‘Clayman’ an excellent album, the band decided to re-release the album in a lightly different anniversary version.
Next to the by Ted Jansen remastered ‘Clayman’-song, the anniversary edition includes five bonus tracks. ‘Themes and Variations in D-Minor’ is a new instrumental with a strong Classic expression being a deviation from the standards In Flames usually has in their offer. The rest of the bonus material contains newly recorded versions of songs like ‘Pinball Map’, ‘Only For the Weak’ and others. Not more but also not less.
‘Clayman’ is certainly a milestone album for the band, Swedish Metal and Melodic Death Metal in general. Celebrating such an album is surely a good idea and if owners of the original ‘Clayman’-album find enough new stuff on this anniversary edition is an individual decision.
Tracklist:
- Bullet Ride
- Pinball Map
- Only For The Weak
- As The Future Repeats Today
- Square Nothing
- Clayman
- Satellites and Astronauts
- Brush The Dust Away
- Swim
- Suburban Me
- Another Day In Quicksand
- Themes and Variations in D Minor
- Only For The Weak (re-recorded)
- Bullet Ride (re-recorded)
- Pinball Map (re-recorded)
- Clayman (re-recorded)
Label: Nuclear Blast
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Release Date EU: August 28th, 2020
Markus' Heavy Music Blog 