Two years before starting off their masterpiece The Jester Race on the moon with "Moonshield", a very different In Flames was exploring and excavating their way across the stars with Lunar Strain.
If you're into death metal at all, you've likely heard of In Flames. They're known pretty well (along with Wintersun and Dark Tranquillity) as the pinnacles of classic melodic death - a subgenre of death metal that hinges around a focus on multi-guitar melody and power-metal-esque passion poured into the scene. There's an epicness to the sound that makes everything sound massive, incredibly melancholic and powerful at the same time. (The melodeath genre is also called the "Gothenburg" scene, as In Flames and other influential bands hailed from Gothenburg, Sweden.)
In Flames are also well known for being the poster child of a band that's fallen off, their material for the past 10 years or so being widely considered to be horrific nu metal that's baffling to consider as made by the same folks that created their early catalog.
Because their early catalog is quite notable. Lunar Strain is their first album and it sounds like a polished and impressive death metal record, full stop. There's little here that stinks of amateur technique or a need for more practice. The group obviously refined their techniques and their sound as they went further in their career, but in my opinion the raw production and sound of their early work helps their stuff feel very much like death metal without going as deep into the noodly production and overbloated tracks that began to plague them post Whoracle.
Enough of the background. Let's get into the album.
The first thing you might notice playing this album is that things sound really raw and sharp. Half of the harsh songs sound like they could be coming from a Darkthrone demo. The second thing you'll hear is probably the crazy vocals. Mikael Stanne from aforementioned Dark Tranquillity fame was still handling vocals here, and later In Flames frontman Anders Fridén was actually the vocalist for Dark Tranquillity at the time. That's right, they literally switched bands, how cool is that? Fridén's strong yet melodic growls are pretty much the sound that one associates with In Flames, but Stanne's harshness works magic here making songs sound sharper and more raw than pretty much any other point in the IF discography. Beyond the Subterranean EP, this is pretty much the only time you can hear the band sound like this.
(Attached above: "Crimson Winds" from Dark Tranquillity's debut album "Skydancer", featuring Friden on vocals. One can hear his voice is less sharp but more frantic, more like a yell than a growl, less immediately recognizable compared to Stanne's.)
(Attached above: "Crimson Winds" from Dark Tranquillity's debut album "Skydancer", featuring Friden on vocals. One can hear his voice is less sharp but more frantic, more like a yell than a growl, less immediately recognizable compared to Stanne's.)
Which, IMO, is a good thing for the songs featured here on the album. "Beyond Space" and "Clad in Shadows" are In Flames staples for good reason, as they're written tightly with fascinating, imaginative lyrics along with blistering and memorable riffs. I'm of the opinion that these songs are best in these old versions, as Stanne's distinct rasp and the raw sound of Lunar Strain works best with songs this aggressive and simple. (Simple compared to some of IF's later material, at least.)
It's really kind of enchanting how well IF sells their whole package here, from the title(s) to the lyrics to the sound and even to the cover art. You really feel like you're hearing the harshly beautiful screams of some corner of the cosmos when listening to some of these songs, and there's none of the forced or predictable air that comes with listening to a typical concept album.
"For there is a purpose and reason / Beyond all human apprehension / The shrieking silence in the blackness of space..."I want to talk about the lyrics, actually, because they're some of my favorite parts of the album and IMO this is one of IF's strongest written albums (right alongside The Jester Race, there's that name again..). The first song on this album starts off with a roaring "Call me by my astral name!" - the next song includes the speculative excerpt quoted right above - and the one after that (which I linked above) starts with "Whipped in the eyes by sand!!". Like, holy shit. I'm not used to being able to decipher lyrics in metal, let alone am I usually stunned and actually thinking about what I hear. And even less often does all of this work perfectly with the raw sound and aesthetics of the band! Truly masterful work!
I think as much at least for the heavier songs and moments of the album, which work generally well as somewhat technical and melodic death metal. I've linked "Beyond Space" and "Starforsaken" so far which are some of my favorites on the album, but solid tracks like "In Flames" and "Upon an Oaken Throne" are also present here that I really enjoy. There are a lot of great riffs and melodic moments, but I do wish some of them (and the songs in general) lasted longer so that they could feel heavier and more memorable.
I'm not so crazy about the acoustic and folk-influenced portions, of which there are many (including the intro to Starforsaken, which would otherwise be a perfect song without it...). I get why so many metal bands have these sort of interludes and lighter, slower sections, and to be fair they do help with the pacing and keep this album from being a nonstop thrash fest, but I can never actually sit somewhere and listen to these kinds of songs. Like I've been listening to this album for years and I don't think I've ever made it through "Everlost Part II" or "Hargalaten". If you're into that, then you'll be for sure delighted by those sections, though...
The inclusion of parts or styles that aren't as polished as others is what I'd say this album's biggest flaws are. A lot like Opeth's early material, what works really works but what doesn't can be tedious and less than stellar to listen to.
After this album, In Flames would go on to release their classic The Jester Race and the rest became history. I won't be writing on that one until I have some more experience - it's one of my absolute favorite albums of all time, and I want to be sure I give its writeup some justice. Until then, as if you were a Swedish metalhead in 1994, enjoy the old In Flames, before they found their wings!
I'm not so crazy about the acoustic and folk-influenced portions, of which there are many (including the intro to Starforsaken, which would otherwise be a perfect song without it...). I get why so many metal bands have these sort of interludes and lighter, slower sections, and to be fair they do help with the pacing and keep this album from being a nonstop thrash fest, but I can never actually sit somewhere and listen to these kinds of songs. Like I've been listening to this album for years and I don't think I've ever made it through "Everlost Part II" or "Hargalaten". If you're into that, then you'll be for sure delighted by those sections, though...
The inclusion of parts or styles that aren't as polished as others is what I'd say this album's biggest flaws are. A lot like Opeth's early material, what works really works but what doesn't can be tedious and less than stellar to listen to.
After this album, In Flames would go on to release their classic The Jester Race and the rest became history. I won't be writing on that one until I have some more experience - it's one of my absolute favorite albums of all time, and I want to be sure I give its writeup some justice. Until then, as if you were a Swedish metalhead in 1994, enjoy the old In Flames, before they found their wings!
DREAM...
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