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By
Vinnie Apicella
Power from the North migrates eastward for an evening and captured live,
"The Tokyo Showdown," In Flames' first live album and fifteen tracks
of some of the best Metal in any of the four divisions of the globe.
The crowd, evidently shocked into silence by the live surges emanating
around them. and yes, this is in fact an overdue occurrence for a band
having now logged seven albums and a decade's worth of existence. In
Flames' impact on the Death Metal scene was immediate, with such early
slabs of melody-induced mayhem, "The Jester Race," "Whoracle," and later
"Colony" to name but a few, a model of pummeling consistency, justifiably
recognized as one of the premier Melodic/Death acts amongst an overcrowded
down directed elevator of also-rans and ship jumpers. Technical precision
comfortably resides amongst wrought iron and refined groove to touch
off a fire quickly burning out of control-"Bullet Ride," for openers,
"Embody The Invisible," from their unsurpassed "Colony" release of a
couple years back, "Jotun," and "Food For the Gods," compelling back
to back set from their wicked "Whoracle" 1997 release, an album that
dominates the early going of the set before "Episode 666" closes things
out-choose it first or last, couldn't pick a better one for effect.
The sound is first class, not to go out on a limb there in saying that-we
all know about the miracle of modern mixing, yet its very up close and
on you in a hurry with little lost in the mud and now that's saying
something for a style such as theirs, not so much the band itself. One
of the better moments from their last "Clayman" studio release, that
being the title track, lets loose the reigns after the plodding "Moonshield"
and while I wasn't overly impressed with "Clayman" as an album, this
was one of their more inspired moments-the production suffered more
than anything else-plus the fact that it followed "Colony," which I
believe to still be their high water mark. Right down to the magnificent
cover art which features crossed flags, Sweden and Japan, fronted by
a burning shield and off in the distance, Tokyo, either burning or aglow
from the setting sun. Masterful effort on all counts.
More Ear Busters
© 2001, BBHrdRpt
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