''Clayman'' is the fifth studio album by Swedish heavy metal band

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990 out of the Swedish death metal, Swedish death metal scene. Their lineup has changed several times, with vocalist Anders Frid ...

, released via

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

on 3 July 2000. It has a dark theme, with most of the lyrics dealing with depression and internal struggles. ''Clayman'' is the final

album to feature their original melodic death metal sound. The band would later start to experiment with other styles on their next release, ''

Reroute to Remain ''Reroute to Remain'' (subtitled: ''Fourteen Songs of Conscious Insanity'', and on reissue: ''Fourteen Songs of Conscious Madness'') is the sixth studio album by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, released in September 2002. The album saw a m ...

'', gradually progressing these more experimental elements across their future releases later into the 2000s. Like on some songs on the previous album ''

Colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

'' the band tuned their guitars to drop A# on the songs ''Pinball Map'' and ''...As the Future Repeats Today''. The album's cover art is based on

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

's '' Vitruvian Man'' drawing. The Jester Head appears in the background, both on the cover, and in the album booklet itself. Music videos were produced for the songs "Pinball Map" (directed by Tamara Jordan) and "Only for the Weak".

Reception

In 2005, ''Clayman'' was ranked No. 448 in '' Rock Hard'' magazine's book "The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time". In 2020, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 2000 by '' Metal Hammer'' magazine. In 2020, "Bullet Ride", "Pinball Map", "Only for the Weak", and the title track were re-recorded for a 20th-anniversary edition of the album. Fan responses to the re-recordings have been mixed.

Track listing

Apart from remastered versions of the original songs, the 20th Anniversary Edition features the following tracks:

Personnel

In Flames

* Anders Fridén – vocals * Björn Gelotte – guitar * Jesper Strömblad – guitar * Peter Iwers – bass * Daniel Svensson – drums

Additional personnel

*Charlie Storm – programming,

synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

esizer * Christopher Amott (

Arch Enemy Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a Supergroup (music), supergroup from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass (band), Carcass, Armageddon (Swedish band), Armageddon, Carnage (band), Carna ...

) –

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

on "Suburban Me" * Fredrik Nordström – additional programming, synthesizer, recording, production *In Flames – recording, production *Axel Hermann – artwork, layout *Tobias Lundgren – photography

Charts

References

External links

Details about In Flames albums
{{Authority control In Flames albums 2000 albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Fredrik Nordström