''Colony'' is the fourth studio album by Swedish heavy metal band

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990. Alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered the genres known as Swedish death metal and melodic death metal. During t ...

, released on 21 May 1999 via

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. It is the first ''In Flames'' album to feature the band's classic line-up;

Björn Gelotte Björn Gelotte (born 27 August 1975) is a Swedish musician and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist for heavy metal band In Flames. He originally joined the band as the drummer in 1995, and continued in this position during ''The Jeste ...

switched to lead guitar to replace

Glenn Ljungström Glenn Ljungström (born 7 September 1974) is a Swedish co-guitarist from Nödinge-Nol, for a band called The Resistance, since 2011. He was also an ex-guitarist and composer in a few other Swedish bands. He was most notably in heavy metal band ...

and

Daniel Svensson Daniel Svensson (born 20 November 1977) is a Swedish drummer. He is currently a member of the Swedish supergroup The Halo Effect (2021–) and formerly a drummer of the metal bands In Flames, Sacrilege GBG (also the vocalist) and Diabolique. ...

filled the drummer position left vacant by Gelotte.

Peter Iwers Peter Iwers (born on 15 May 1975) is a Swedish musician and the current bass player of The Halo Effect. He was a member of Swedish heavy metal band In Flames from their 1999 album ''Colony'', up until their 2016 album ''Battles'', originally ...

became the new bass player, replacing

Johan Larsson Johan Larsson may refer to: * Johan Larsson (musician) (born 1974), Swedish bassist * Johan Larsson (ice hockey, born 1986), Swedish ice hockey player * Johan Larsson (ice hockey, born 1992), Swedish ice hockey player, drafted by the Minnesota Wil ...

. With

Anders Fridén Pär Anders Fridén (born 25 March 1973) is a Swedish vocalist, best known as the lead singer of Heavy metal music, heavy metal band In Flames. He was also the vocalist of Dark Tranquillity and Passenger (Swedish band), Passenger, a side project ...

and

Jesper Strömblad Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad (born 28 November 1972) is a Swedish musician who is the guitarist of the bands The Halo Effect, Dimension Zero and Cyhra, and formerly of In Flames and The Resistance. He is best known as the founder and former ...

remaining on vocals and rhythm guitar respectively, this lineup remained unchanged until 2010. In 2021, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 1999 by ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

'' magazine.

Music

Lyrics and musical style

The album deals with various aspects of

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

, society, and

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

, from the somewhat positive light of ''Embody the Invisible'' and ''The New Word'', to the more negative ''Zombie Inc.'' and ''Scorn''. Colony features a faster, tighter, and more energetic approach to the music than displayed on the previous album, ''

Whoracle ''Whoracle'' is the third studio album by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, released on 18 November 1997. The title of the album is a portmanteau of the English words "whore" and " oracle". Apart from "Everything Counts", which is a cover o ...

'', though the song-writing approach is similar.

Songs

The title of the song ''The New Word'' is subject to debate. According to the track list on the back cover of the original 1999 release, th
official In Flames web site
and the lyrics printed in the original 1999 CD booklet, the correct title is ''The New Word''; however, according to the heading of the lyrics printed for the song in the original booklet, the track list on the 2004 re-release, and th

the song is called ''The New World''. The 2009 re-release ''Colony: Reloaded'' did nothing to clear up this issue, with the insert and the booklet containing the same inconsistency as the original 1999 release. The song's lyrics themselves, meanwhile, suggest that ''The New Word'' is indeed the correct title. "Pallar Anders Visa" is Swedish and means "Will Anders Visa (credit card) hold up". It is also an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

, just like the bonus track, "Man Made God". The song ''Embody the Invisible'' appears in the soundtrack for the video game ''

Tony Hawk's Underground ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series after ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in 2003 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, ...

''. The tracks ''Behind Space '99'' and ''Clad in Shadows '99'' (which are only available on different issues of this album) are both remakes of the tracks first heard on ''

Lunar Strain ''Lunar Strain'' is the debut studio album by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, released in April 1994. The album is known for its " folky elements", with the inclusion of violins and acoustic guitars. It is the only In Flames album to not ...

'', although ''Behind Space '99'' excludes the acoustic guitar outro present on the original version. This would be the first time the band would down tune their guitars from C standard on previous album with ''Ordinary Story'' and ''Colony'' being tuned to drop A#, something they would continue on future albums.

Track listing

Deluxe edition (2004)

Contains the following, in addition to the above tracks: * Photo gallery * ''Ordinary Story'' music video (directed by Tamara Jordan) *

Computer wallpaper A wallpaper or background (also known as a desktop background, desktop picture or desktop image on computers) is a digital image (photo, drawing etc.) used as a decorative background of a graphical user interface on the screen of a computer, smart ...

s * A

screensaver A screensaver (or screen saver) is a computer program that blanks the display screen or fills it with moving images or patterns when the computer has been idle for a designated time. The original purpose of screensavers was to prevent phosphor ...

Winamp Winamp is a media player for Microsoft Windows originally developed by Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev by their company Nullsoft, which they later sold to AOL in 1999 for $80 million. It was then acquired by Radionomy in 2014. Sinc ...

skins * Song lyrics (contains numerous spelling errors)

''Colony: Reloaded'' (2009)

The enhanced re-release contains the same bonus content as the 2004 deluxe edition. The original 1999 cover is brought back, and the back insert is custom-shaped to fit into the "Super Jewel Box" case that is used.

Credits

In Flames

– vocals *

– lead guitar *

– rhythm guitar,

hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

– bass *

– drums

Additional personnel

*In Flames -

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, mixing **Jesper Strömblad – all music **Björn Gelotte – co-composition (1–8, 10, 11, 13) **Anders Fridén – lyrics (1–5, 7, 8, 10, 11) *Prophecies Publishing – publishing *

Niklas Sundin Niklas Sundin (born 13 August 1974 in Gothenburg, Sweden) is a musician of the band Mitochondrial Sun, but was best known as the founding lead guitarist of band Dark Tranquillity (1989–2020). He was also one of the guitarists in the band Laethora ...

– translation *

Fredrik Nordström Björn Tom Fredrik Nordström (born 5 January 1967) is a Swedish musician and record producer, best known as the guitarist of heavy metal band Dream Evil. Nordström is one of the leading melodic death metal and power metal producers in Sweden ...

– hammond organ,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

, engineering and mixing *

Mikael Stanne Bengt Mikael Stanne (born 20 May 1974) is a Swedish musician, best known as the vocalist and one of the lyricists (as well as a former rhythm guitarist) for the Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity. Since the departure of origina ...

- lyrics ("Behind Space '99" & "Clad In Shadows '99") *

– co-composition ("Behind Space '99" & "Clad In Shadows '99") *

Kee Marcello Kee Marcello (born Kjell Hilding Lövbom, 20 February 1960 in Ludvika, Sweden) is a Swedish guitarist/vocalist, best known as the former guitarist in the hard rock bands Europe and Easy Action. He is currently pursuing his solo career. Career ...

– second

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular m ...

("Coerced Coexistence") *

Peter Wildoer Karl Peter Wildoer is a Swedish musician who is the drummer for Darkane, Electrocution 250 and Grimmark. He has also drummed for the bands Armageddon, Majestic, Pestilence, Silver Seraph, Arch Enemy, Time Requiem, Soilwork, Gardens of Obscuri ...

– drum technician *Charlie Storm – programming *Göran Finnberg – mastering *Andreas Marschall – front cover illustration *Flea Back – art direction

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colony (In Flames Album) In Flames albums 1999 albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Fredrik Nordström