well the new In Flames album "A Sense of Purpose" has officially leaked onto the Internet, and while my initial reactions were disappointment, the album has come to grow on me, if only marginally. The album has a very distinctive sound its best described as a mix of old and new school sounds, which at times can be frustrating, like on the track Sleepless Again, which starts with a Whoracle-esqe acoustic riff, which got me thinking initially " OMG THIS IS IT, IN FLAMES MIGHT HAVE RETURNED" but then abruptly goes into Come Clarity ****thrashing and rasping, which is probably the best way to describe Anders voice on this album, raspy. The drums are for the most part great, and the album has solos which was great and remind one of the colony days, that is before it abruptly ends and goes into new-school territory. With that said, i do like new in flames, just not as much as there older material. New in flames relys on greats choruses, personal lyrics, and and a great sense of struggle. THe only probelm is only two fo those three elements are in play here, teh choruses and lyrics. What made Come Clairty and Soundtrack so special was sense of struggle in them, this album just feels bland and uninspired. That is probably my biggest problem with the album, it feels as if they didnt even put any effort into it. All in all, I originally disliked this album, but after multiple listenings I accepted that this wasn't Whoracle 2, and grew to appreciate it for what it is......but after that section I went through I went straight back to dissapointment. While there are a few killer tracks that really remind me why i love In Flames so much in the first place (March to the Shore, Delights and Angers, and Sleepless Again) too much of the album feels lazy, uninspired and just bland
I grudgingly give this album a...6/10
Sad Days indeed

Well looks like PETA have reached a whole new level of stupid, they have released an anti-KFC game...which i is provided with this link....

http://www.peta2.com/superchicksisters/index.asp?c=p22504

if you where smart enough to not click that, you would see that this is a game where you play to chickens who have to save pamela anderson from the evil grips of colonel sanders.....all as a super mario bros parody.......I wish I wasn't making this up....

I dunno, i thought I saw it all til this....like what are they trying to prove, this just makes them seem like there cause is just a joke...

When i saw this I wasn't sure whether i should laugh....or puke...

5. Fiction by Dark Tranquillity



Swedish gothenburg metal practitionar's, Dark Tranquillity have slowly crafted masterpiece after masterpiece and have secured themselves as legends of metal, mainly melo-death, being second-to-best to the legendary In Flames, but with there latest relase Fiction, they have release a masterpiece of the genre to compete with In Flames' Masterpieces like Colony and Whoracle. Fiction is an absoultuly brilliant album, which contains ever element of a good melo-death song, excepted notched past the max, while In Flames made there masterpieces through the most amazing, melodic, atmospheric, "ear-gasmic" guitar, Dark Tranquillity do the same with the keyboard. The keyboard, while hated by many a metal-head it's proven how essential it's become to the genre. If any one track would be a stand out, it would have to be the absolutley breath-taking "The Mundane and The Magic", which contains a mix of clean, harsh and female vocals mixed with some of the most amazing instrumental they have ever composed.

4. The Ghost Opera by Kamelot



Florida's Kamelot may be the greatest thing to ever come out of the United States. Being the leading band in Symphonic Metal, there music can basically be summed up in one word, stunning. They are able to give off so many seperate emotions and feeling with there sounds because of there excellent craftmenship of melodisim, darkness, heavy-ness and just a general feeling of epic. Vocalist Roy Khan is one of the most talented of the genre who is easily comparable to that of opera or C|assical music. The Ghost Opera is an apporopriate name for the album since the best way to describe it is a dark rock opera and it is deffenantly a must-have for any fan of music.



3. Hope by Swallow the Sun



Hope is a word that is not usually applied to Doom Metal, but if any Hope fits this album well, because it gives me hope that more artists like this will emerge and treat the medium like what it should be, art. That is the best way to describe Swallow the Sun, high art. This is not a happy album fully of poppy choruses adn disopsable lyrics, its a solumn, dark and enthralling emotional rollercoaster that shows what kind of power music can have when properly made. The whole album is something to be experienced and should be listened to start to end (like most good albums), but some deffenantly stand out tracks would have to be title track, Hope, the dark and brooding Don't Fall Asleep (Horror.pt 2) and the astounding duet with Katatonia vocalist Jonas Renske on "The Justice of Suffering". It's albums like Hope that make me remember why I love music as much as I do, it can offer an amazing atmospheric experience that no other medium can attain.

2. Silent Waters by Amorphis



It may have took Amorphis many line-up changes, and over a decade, but they haev finally recorded a masterpiece. Silent Waters is an epic, sweeping monstrosity of an album which tells one of the tales of the Kalevala. The music on this album, is unlike anything you will ever hear. It had moments of relaxation, and moments of intensity, with inspirations coming from everywhere from Folk Music to Death Metal. What really makes Amorphis shine, is there fairly new Vocalist, Tomi Joutsen, and while his performance on Eclipse was very impressive, he takes it to a whole new level on Silent Waters. HIs vocals can be calm and soothing, soaring and epic, or brutal and violent. But vocals would be nothing if there wasnt amazing instrumentation to go along with it, and Silent Waters has that. Silent Waters is an absolute ****c of an album, and a completely amazing listening experience, if you enjoy music, you owe it to yourself to go out and buy Silent Waters.

1. In Reqiuem by Paradise Lost



I will be the first to admit it, I was never that fluent with goth music, or more importantly the legendary Paradise Lost until recently, I can whole-heartdly say that there latest release is one of there greatest and one of the greatest in the genre as a whole. What make In Reqiuem such an amaing album is hard to put your finger on, possibly its the amazing since of darkness that is displayed on such songs as "Reqiuem" and "Prelude to Descent". Possible it's vocalist Nick Holmes amaing range and authuntocity as a vocalist as displayed on tracks such as "Behind Black Skies" or the absouletly breathtaking track, "Ash & Debris", or maybe its the mastery of Melodiscism like on tracks such as "Praise Lamented Shade" and "Unreachable". It could also possibly be the pure energy they put into songs such as "Never For the Damned" and there single, "The Enemy". Whatever of the many reasons it is, In Reqiuem is an astounding album and is a masterpiece in every since of the word.