Artwork used with permission from Neverland Music Inc.
In Flames
"Used and Abused... In Live We Trust"
Rating:
Reviewed by:
Beppo Blitzkrieg
Okey dokey, motherfuckers.
In Flames, live at Sticky Fingers and the Hammersmith Apollo. Gothenburg and London.
This is kinda interesting. See, yours truly ass clown has been a frequent attendee at both these joints represented on this live disc from In Flames. I have been all over this crazy fucking world, my line of work requires me to travel like some motherfucking gypsy at times, and I have been thrown out of most metal clubs known to man, sometimes even when I was the guy on stage. During my metal years in London I lived on Fulham Palace Road in Hammersmith, smack next door to the Apollo (not the “Odeon” anymore you backward fucks), and pretty much fucking camped out in that joint. As for Sticky Fingers… I have been known to lick the paint off their fire exit more than once. It used to be this lame ass dive bar in Gothenburg until Manko (of Swedish Erotica “fame”) bought the place and fixed it up. Quit his day job selling guitars and everything. It was a success and became kinda like a waterhole for metal retards and other fuckheads in the barren music climate of Sweden. No, I guess the climate was all right. More metal in the palm of Gothenburg than in all of motherfucking US it seems at times, even though we had to put up with duds like Hammerfall and the gay ass Hardcore Superstar as well (Silver – don’t you still owe me a fucking Gibson or something? – Motherfucker). The stories I could tell you, kids. So many fucked up memories and so many great fucking bands that never did shit for themselves. Enough to drive a poor clown to drink (like I needed an excuse).
“The Gothenburg Sound”. Halle-fucking-lujah. You know what that is? Wasn’t actually so much Gothenburg in the beginning, but it was at least pioneered a little later by bands from that city. In Flames were like the flag bearers, waving that motherfucker like the goddamn Titans of Truth or some shit. They released one great album after another, peaking with the masterpieces “Whoracle” and “Colony”, before they started looking a little too much at what shit sold in the US and released their own Black Album in the shape of “Clayman”. Great CD, but a bit off track. After that it was down the fucking hill. “Soundtrack to your escape” and “Reroute to remain” set them apart from… absofuckinglutely no one. All of a sudden the motherfucking champions of a new sound had succumbed to the same fucking shit everybody else was already spewing all over MTV. At least they could afford to eat something else than fucking Ramen Noodles now. Sell-out motherfuckers. From In Flames to In Fame.
Anyway…
Live DVDs always suck. So why the fuck should I even pretend to review this one? If you’re anything like me, you will watch a DVD once and then file it away with the other fucking DVDs you own to keep the fucking dust bunnies company until Armageddon rolls around. We’re guys (even you chicks who listen to In Flames are like guys – you’re not exactly Traci Lords MILF material are you?), and as guys we can’t do two fucking things at once. That includes watching DVDs and banging our heads at the same time. Fortunately, the geniuses of In Flames have anticipated our gender bound handicap, and therefore in this DVD package they also give you two CDs with the same shows on, to put in the car, in the walkman, or just put in the stereo to play like music was meant to be played – loud enough to wake the motherfucking dead! It just doesn’t seem right to headbang to the tinny sound of a crappy 25” Samsung with a cracked mono speaker. Plus, you can’t see shit while doing your best to cultivate that whiplash injury anyway. Fucking DVD piece of shit.
So instead of giving the new In Flames DVD a “1/5” by default of being just that, a motherfucking DVD, I can now actually listen to the thing and review it like the piece of metal it supposedly is.
The Hammersmith show mainly consists of songs from “Reroute to Remain” and “Soundtrack to your Escape”. Sounds exciting to you? You liked those albums? Good for you, you dumb fuck, ‘cause that’s all you get here, with “Behind Space” from “Lunar Strain” thrown in for good measure, so they at least can pretend to fucking cloudly connect to their past. On the DVD you get some more songs from Hammersmith, including a cover of Pantera’s “Fucking Hostile”. Who gives a shit about Pantera anyway? Another band gone to waste. Sound is excellent and fat, but still messy enough to get the meat heads to go nuts in the mosh pit.
The Sticky Fingers show has more of a mix-and-match kinda set list, throwing in more old stuff with the new crap, ‘cause the Swedish fans would stone them right there on stage if they tried to get away with only playing the MTV shit. We fucking know you. We were there from the beginning, remember? Don’t come out here, waving your trendy braids in my face, you sellout goatee motherfucker. What are you, the Predator? Just shut the fuck up and play the classic shit we came here to hear, and keep the rest for Ozzfest. (I feel sorry for people listening to new In Flames and judging them from that bland experience. That would be like judging Metallica’s career from “Re-Load” and “St. Anger”. Another fucking waste of a band.)
Anyway, In Flames are always a great live band, and hearing them perform their classic material brings motherfucking tears to my eyes. The DVD has 22 tracks from Gothenburg, but only 13 fit on the CD. You still get some good shit with “Moonshield”, “Colony”, “Jotun”, “Food for the Gods”, “Only for the weak”, Artifacts of the Black Rain” etc etc… The sound is great, and even though you could only shoe horn 250 people into Sticky Fingers if you starved them for a month and then threw food in the corners, the CD mix makes them sound like a packed festival of roaring drunk South Americans. Good job on the motherfucking sound, kids.
Sure, I miss some songs, like “Episode 666” and “Gyroscope”, but then again, if I wanted ot hear the good old stuff I could just as well have played their old 2001 live CD “Showdown in Tokyo” and… Wait a fucking minute! Why don’t I just file this fucking CD with the fucking dust bunnies and do just that; play my “Showdown in Tokyo” instead, and pretend In Flames still is a band that matters.
Good grade for the fat sound and the flawless performance of the songs, but the overall grade still gets lowered by the shitty set list and for the unwelcome reminder of what a crappy band they have become. Call me a motherfucking purist, but I prefer my In Flames old school, without the gay braids and the nu-metal staccato riff shit. Fucking sue me.
Memories…
The motherfucking memories…
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