Jester Race - revisited

[JayKeeley]

I stopped listening to melo-death for a long while, and quit In Flames altogether for goat knows how long. And then last night, I threw on Jester Race....man, the break did it some justice. No longer drowning in a sea of 3rd rate promos.

Some bullet points:

- the production is just lush. I love it. You can hear every instrument.
- songwriting is supreme, in particular the melodies which happen to fall in place perfectly as and when needed
- lyrics are good. "December Flower" is a good example:

"Green is the colour of my death
As in winter-guise I swoop towards the ground
Green is the landscape of my sorrowfilled passing"

So inevitably this thread will end up in a In Flames bashing, but whatever, I'll just go on record and say that in hindsight, this is my favoUrite IF record. It always was I think, but now the deal is sealed.

Oh yeah, before the oompas suggest "Lunar Strain" as the best IF release, I'll say that Jester Race has better production and in this case, production goes a long way.

 

[Erik]

i could care less about lunar strain's production but the main thing thats noticable is that it has pretty sloppy playing a lot of the time

(which is cool too)

jester race is cool, i like it

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

yeah, i had a In Flames revist last month and it ruled. and, just to be gay... I prefer whoracle?

 

[Trylakos]

I think TJR and LS are about equal, but are both awesome. I liked Colony a lot and Clayman was good too, but I didn't really like Whoracle for some reason.

 

[Erik]

I didn't really like Whoracle for some reason.

maybe because it sucks

 

[MFJ]

Probably my favorite album ever, matched with "Odemarkens Son". Just, as Jay said, lush and beautiful. It's a fucking emotional trip to me, this album is SUPREME 10/10 material- in the true sense.

 

[Captain Beard]

Only you think so. Jester Script Transfigured wins.

Edit: @ Erik.

 

[JayKeeley]

Jester Race will be remembered as one of the top albums to come out of the 90's, if anything because it landed them on the map I presume.

 

[Erik]

Only you think so. Jester Script Transfigured wins.

actually it's pretty much the common consensus, i know on this forum several people would agree that whoracle is the worst album by in flames (pre-gayification) and also look at this shit man

Lunar Strain Full-length, 1994 [edit] [7 reviews, average 87%]
Subterranean EP, 1994 [edit] [4 reviews, average 94%]
The Jester Race Full-length, 1995 [edit] [6 reviews, average 83%]
Whoracle Full-length, 1997 [edit] [11 reviews, average 69%]
Colony Full-length, 1999 [edit] [8 reviews, average 84%]

see? see?

the good songs on whoracle are basically food for the gods and jotun and gyroscope

 

[NAD]

Best part about this album is the guitar tone. Just lush and full and great.

 

[J.]

I like it, but I honestly prefer Subterranean, LS and even Colony above TJR. Everything came together with Colony.

Whoracle has Jester Script Transfigured, and that's about it. Clayman is meh except for like two songs.

 

[Erik]

Best part about this album is the guitar tone. Just lush and full and great.

i would agree that the lead tone totally rules but the rhythm guitar tone is nothin special imo!

 

[NAD]

i would agree that the lead tone totally rules but the rhythm guitar tone is nothin special imo!

haha, I was referring to the rhythm tone mostly. I dunno, it's just really full to me, but not in an overproduced type of way. Like one big Wave of Riff or something.

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

yeah, i agree with erik in a sense about whoracle, sadly those are some of my favourite songs by Old In Flames :/.

Some of their best, some of their worst (reroute and on don't count)

 

[JayKeeley]

Yeah, well Jester Race is 90% about the lead guitar melodies innit. Well, you can apply that to the Black Ash Inheritance EP too just because "Gyroscope" never sounded so f'ing good. It's so melodically perfect, you can play the main riff on an acoustic guitar and the whole thing just sings at you.

 

[Erik]

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar

(COMETH FROM AFAR)


HYPNAGONIA'S LUCID HORIZONS
I PLAY WITH THE YEARNING I'VE QUELLED
AS I STRIKE TOWARDS THE PANTHEON
AND WHAT THEREIN IS HELD

 

[Thanatopsis123]

I don't think I've listened to this in a long while. I really should go give it a spin. It was always my favorite of theirs.

 

[Doom]

I've been listening to In Flames A LOT over the last few weeks as I saw them live recently. Some points:

- I agree with J in that I prefer Colony to TJR. Colony rules.

- Yeah, Whoracle is pretty weak apart from a few songs.

- Lunar Strain and Subterranean are as awesome as they always have been, but I tend not to bother comparing them to any later albums because of the differences.

- Clayman is a lot better than I remembered! I don't see why anyone who is into heavy metal wouldn't like it, nor why people give it a hard time. There's a few weaker tracks, but like 5 or 6 AWESOME songs (especially the title track).

- They were a thoroughly enjoyable band to see live, even if the set-list obviously had mostly recent stuff. They played Behind Space (LS version), and Moonshield though, so it was good to get some old songs.

- Soundtrack... is really, really bad. And I even quite like both RtR and Come Clarity.

 

[Erik]

- Clayman is a lot better than I remembered! I don't see why anyone who is into heavy metal wouldn't like it, nor why people give it a hard time. There's a few weaker tracks, but like 5 or 6 AWESOME songs

i think it's terrible, honestly. the pre-chorus of bullet ride rules, that's pretty much it
i guess the title track is ok

(especially the title track).

lol have you ever listened to the beginning of "scorn" and the beginning of "clay man" back to back
i did the other day

- I agree with J in that I prefer Colony to TJR. Colony rules.

me too, colony does fucking kick ass a LOT
they should have just fucking stopped there

 

[Doom]

I suppose I can see why people don't like Clayman, in that yeah, it's not nearly as good as Colony and must have been a dissapointment. But cut out a few of those songs, and I just see it as a fun listen that gets me headbanging.