A Review of the Album Called "the Jester Race" by Swedish Melodic Death Metal Band in Flames

Date of release: February 20, 1996

Label that it was signed to: Nuclear Blast

Band lineup for the album "The Jester Race"

Anders Friden: all vocals

Jesper Stromblad: rhythm, acoustic, lead guitars and keyboards

Glenn Ljungstrom: guitars

Johan Larsson: bass guitars

Bjorn Gelotte: drums

1. Moonshield
2. The Jester’s Dance
3. Artifacts of the Black Rain
4. Graveland
5. Lord Hypnos
6. Dead Eternity
7. The Jester Race
8. December Flower
9. Wayfaerer
10. Dead God in Me

Swedish melodic death metal band In Flames has had a career spanning over 30 years and they have excelled at the style of melodic death metal. Their 1996 album The Jester Race is an example of a very fine album. This is the first album to feature Anders Friden as the vocalist. This is also the first album to have Bjorn Gelotte playing the drums. This album is memorable for me because this is the first In Flames album that I ever heard. He (Bjorn) would switch to guitar at the end of the decade. The Jester Race is also considered to be a classic album of the Gothenburg style of metal. The album’s lyrical concepts tend to deal with warfare, death, and questions about why we exist as a human race. The Jester Race certainly deserves consideration for being one of the elite metal albums. Anders Friden’s rough vocal growls, the lead guitar sections, and acoustic sections all fit together beautifully to create an outstanding album. "The Jester’s Dance" is the album’s first instrumental song and it starts out with the acoustic guitar I mentioned. But "Moonshield" is one of the best opening songs of any album. It starts with beautifully written acoustic guitar. Then Anders Friden’s voice kicks in providing a wonderful contrast. Then the song switches to a beautiful acoustic part for a while again.

"Graveland" is a song about what the horrors of war can do to the human race. Peace, love, and kindness is what we need in this world. The song Dead Eternity has an excellent guitar playing section in the middle of the song that is catchy, groovy, and very well written. This song was also on the album called Subterranean. The song called "The Jester Race" again features the beautiful use of acoustic guitars by In Flames. "Wayfaerer" is the second instrumental song of the album and it is excellent! Overall, The Jester Race has all the elements needed to create a solid album. If you are wondering which songs in the album are the strongest, well that’s pretty much all of them!

The Jester Race gets a 99 points out of 100 by this writer and it is one of the band’s finest works ever! I highly recommend this album for all fans of the melodic death metal genre.