Review by Tobias on November 26, 2001.

This was the album that introduced me to In Flames. When I first had the album in my hands, I thought, “Hell, the band should be named Whoracle!” I was pretty impressed with the concept and found myself even further intrigued with the melodic yet brutal music.

The vision on this disc is one that is crushingly masculine, but it is also young and unpolished. But well-honed or not, you are bearing witness to a vicious growth spurt for what will probably soon be a legend in metal.

The not-so-gentle gents in this band smack you around with one aural gauntlet after another, with arrangements that many bands aren’t even sure how to dream of. The boys, particularly the guitarists, are starting to show the cohesiveness of veterans; the riffing is diverse enough to keep your attention even if you were brought up on a steady diet of Fruit Loops and pixie-stix, yet not unwieldy between the two six-stringers. The drums are coming to light, but are still a little rough.

All in all, the songwriting is intense stuff, landing some serious waste in the paths of tracks like Jotun or Morphing Into Primal. That isn’t to say there aren’t problems though; in cases like The Hive or parts of Food for the Gods, the songs seem to lose a little direction and come out sounding a bit rough.

Bottom Line: At the end of the day, these new masters will turn you into a raging war machine with enough adrenaline ripping through your system to kick-start 10 OD’d heroin junkies.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Originality: 7
Production: 8
Overall: 9

Rating: 7.8 of 10