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There have been a lot of mixed reactions to In Flames’ latest album, A Sense of Purpose. People either love it or hate it. The vocals have dramatically changed. It’s no longer growls and grunts, but singing. I find that the band has taken a turn for worse as it no longer holds the brutality and energy of the old classic In Flames records.

Although still melodic, the new guitar works and riffs don’t stand out as much and when heard, are easily forgotten. I find the experimental changes that the band has gone through have made their disk really progressive and metalcore-ish. Take a listen to The Chosen Pessimist. It’s so whiny and emo… I guess for a band formed in 1990, it’s just what some people call “natural progression”.

If this was a new band, I would have liked this CD much more. But for a band that was part of the Gothenburg metal scene and was a pioneer for the melodic death metal genre, I think there’s really no need for them to make such a change.

The Chosen Pessimist

Eraser

Abnegation

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Anyways, here are the setlists for Gigantour 2008:

Megadeth:
01. Sleepwalker
02. Wake Up Dead
03. Take No Prisoners
04. Skin O’ My Teeth
05. Washington Is Next
06. Gears Of War
07. Kick The Chair
08. In My Darkest Hour
09. Hangar 18
10. Ashes In Your Mouth
11. Burnt Ice
12. Trust
13. Tornado Of Souls
14. Symphony Of Destruction
15. Peace Sells
16. Holy Wars

Children of Bodom:
01. Six Pounder
02. Living Dead Beat
03. In Your Face
04. Hate Me!
05. Hellhounds On My Trail
06. Angels Don’t Kill
07. Blooddrunk
08. Downfall
Sorry to disappoint, CoB fans…

In Flames:
01. Quiet Place
02. The Mirror’s Truth
03. Scorn
04. Take This Life
05. Bullet Ride
06. Graveland
07. Move Through Me
08. Cloud Connected
09. Leeches
10. Come Clarity
11. Sober And Irrelevant
12. My Sweet Shadow

Job For A Cowboy:
01. Coalescing
02. Embedded
03. Entities
04. Reduced
05. Entomb
06. Altered
07. Knee Deep

High On Fire:
01. Rumors of War
02. Turk
03. Death Is This Communion
04. Waste of Tiamat
05. Devolution

This was the setlist for the Denver show but I doubt it will change. I believe High On Fire will be opening.

I first heard of this band while searching for information on the Gigantour 2008. These guys are playing at the North American Gigantour along with Megadeth, In Flames, Children of Bodom, and Job For A Cowboy. Tickets for this tour came on sale last Friday.

High on Fire is from Oakland, California. Their music is classified as stoner metal or doom metal. I’m not too sure what kind of music stoner metal is. Personally, I can’t enjoy metal, with the exception of Tool, while I’m high. And these guys sound nothing like Tool.

These guys released their latest album, Death Is This Communion, in September of 2007. They got pretty good reviews on Metacritic. Revolver named the album the 3rd best of the year, after Ire Works by The Dillinger Escape Plan. It had also came in at 4th on Total Guitar’s “50 best guitar albums of the year” and 9th on Metal Hammer’s best of 2007 list.

The sound that these guys produce is fast, throaty, and raw. Their vocals are brutal war cries and their riffs are powerful and thundering. Some of the songs I liked from the album are Turk and DII. Khanrad’s Wall was entirely instrumental and had an Eastern sound to it. Cyclopian Scape sounded a bit Opeth-ish in terms of how the song starts and the way the heavier riffs and the vocals gradually creeps in. There are also really good riffs in the beginning of Ethereal.

Overall, this is a solid album and I give it a 4 out of 5. It is something I would buy if I have some extra money lying around.

Turk

DII

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