A Review of Reroute to Remain the 2002 Album by the Swedish Band in Flames

1. Reroute to Remain
2. System
3. Drifter
4. Trigger
5. Cloud Connected
6. Transparent
7. Dawn of a New Day
8. Egonomic
9. Minus
10. Dismiss the Cynics
11. Free Fall
12. Dark Signs
13. Metaphor
14. Black & White

Swedish melodic death metal veterans In Flames began the decade of the 2000’s on a high note with their outstanding album called Clayman. After a tour in Tokyo, they returned to the studio and recorded Reroute to Remain in 2002. This album might turn off some of the band’s longtime fans because of the style change and experimentation. It attracted many new fans and made the band more popular within the US metal scene.

The band was able to secure themselves a spot on the major music festival called Ozzfest. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records. The album did pretty well in Germany peaking at the 23^rd spot. The album was ranked at #13 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart. This was also their first album to have singles released. These were the songs Trigger and Cloud Connected.

"Trigger" represents one of the greatest songs in the band’s history not just for the melodic vocals of Anders Friden but also for the message that it tries to convey. It is about a person that is confused about what direction to go in their life. As the days pass by, they wait for a sign to tell them the reasons why they are lonely. The line “collect some stars to shine for you” is more than likely referring to the fact that we should take the time to look for the good things in our lives even if it seems there are very few of them that exist. "Transparent" starts with some muddy, distorted guitar sound and is the weakest song on the album. The song is about having the freedom to go in the direction that you want to go in your life. It takes courage to take that first step and then ten feet ahead of you is when you have to be responsible enough to find your way and stay true to yourself. Sometimes we have to try and step inside a broken person’s shoes to realize the mistakes that they made so that we don’t make those same mistakes.

Dawn of a New Day is the band’s first official ballad song. It is about letting the worries and concerns of yesterday fade away as we appreciate the start of a new day. Every new day brings opportunities for us to pursue a path to inner peace and serenity. Peace is what we need more in this world. Egonomic is a fast song about the effects of leading a life of lies and deception. Those who lie and deceive have the potential to create circumstances where other people can be ruined because of their actions. Then comes another outstanding song called Minus which is about doing what we can to free our minds of the anger, negativity, and toxicity that is in our body. We do this by expressing “the forgotten world” inside of us. Give this album a chance because the title track’s harmony vocals and Anders Friden’s vocals create a winning combination!

Free Fall is about someone who is wondering about the time and place in which they are in. They don’t seem to understand who they really are. They are trying to find a way to stay alive in a world where they feel like they are living a lie. The album makes us think about life’s bigger questions such as what steps we need to take to get in the direction that we want to go in. What are we supposed to do in a world that has much deception in it? These are important questions to ask ourselves as we go forward. Overall, Reroute to Remain is a good album and I like how the band tries to provide a contrast between the heavy and soft parts.

Even so, the album is not as good as the early In Flames releases and even Clayman. This writer gives Reroute to Remain an 85 out of 100 points now in 2018 because this album has good rough vocals, good clean vocal parts, and pretty darn good songwriting even for this band’s standards.

Does Reroute to Remain still get that same score? That’s great if you are asking this question. The title track certainly deserves praise for the melodic vocals which are a mix of growls and clean vocals. In Flames is not a band that sold out to match musical trends. They just gradually changed their style and musical approach and some of their fans won’t like it but you are missing out on a wonderful period if you ignore anything that these guys released after 2000. The song "System" turns back to the band’s older riffing style as the keyboard sound is mixed in. And of course, we cannot forget the impeccably awesome vocal melodies of the song Trigger! That’s the #1 reason to give Reroute to Remain a chance! Any not so good moments musically in this album are too few to even make this album anything less than solid.

Reroute to Remain score as of 2020: 88 points out of 100

Strongest Songs in Reroute to Remain

• Reroute to Remain

• System

• Drifter

• Trigger

• Dawn of a New Day

• Minus

• Free Fall