''The Jester Race'' is the second studio album by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, released in February 1996. It is the first album to feature

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

as the band's vocalist,

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 ...

as the drummer, and Jester Head as the band's mascot. The album was the band's second full-length album released following the more mainstream success of their 1995 EP, '' Subterranean''. ''The Jester Race'' was recorded at Studio Fredman by Fredrik Nordström, who also contributed keyboards for the album. The song "Dead Eternity" was originally on the Subterranean (EP) and the song "Dead God in Me" was originally on the Subterranean (EP) but with a different title, "The Inborn Lifeless". Although, the version on The Jester Race has different lyrics, a different ending, and a slightly different solo. ''The Jester Race'' ranked No. 79 on

Metal Rules ''Metal Rules'', also known as Metal-Rules, is a heavy metal webzine created by EvilG established in 1995. Based in the province of Newfoundland, Canada, the site was founded with the goal to promote "Real Metal". It is one of the world's larg ...

' list of the Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums. It is considered a classic album of the

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavine ...

genre, along with

At the Gates At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Gat ...

' '' Slaughter of the Soul'' and Dark Tranquillity's '' The Gallery'', exhibiting the dual guitar leads, growled vocals and acoustic sections typical of the genre. A remixed version of the song "Moonshield" was released on the EP '' Trigger''. A video for the song "Artifacts of the Black Rain" was also released.

Trivium The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but t ...

frontman Matthew K. Heafy revealed in an interview with ''Wall of Sound'' that ''The Jester Race'' is "the one metal album you should have heard by now."

Track listing

Personnel

In Flames

− lead vocals *

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 ...

− rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards * Glenn Ljungström − lead guitar * Johan Larsson − bass, backing vocals *

− drums, additional guitars

Guest appearances

* Fredrik Nordström − keyboards *

Oscar Dronjak Oscar Fredrick Dronjak (born 20 January 1972) is a Swedish guitarist and founder of the heavy metal band HammerFall. Prior to the success of HammerFall, he also played and released albums with the death metal acts Ceremonial Oath and Crystal A ...

− vocal appearance on "Dead Eternity" *Fredrik Johansson − lead guitar on "December Flower" *Kaspar Dahlqvist − keyboards on "Wayfaerer"

Production and composition

*Produced by Fredrik Nordström and In Flames *Lyrical concept and song titles collaborated by

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 Laethor ...

and

*Lyrics on "Dead Eternity" by Jocke Göthberg *Engineered by Fredrik Nordström and Patrik Hellgren *Mastered by Staffan Olofsson *Logo by Glenn Ljungström *Artwork by Andreas Marschall *Photos by Kenneth Johansson *Layout by M&A Music art

References

External links

''The Jester Race'' album details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jester Race, The In Flames albums 1996 albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Fredrik Nordström