''Clayman'' is the fifth 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 the ...

, released via

Nuclear Blast 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 move ...

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 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 ...

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 In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

'' 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 14522 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 on ...

's ''

Vitruvian Man The ''Vitruvian Man'' ( it, L'uomo vitruviano; ) is a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to . Inspired by the writings by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, the drawing depicts a nude man in two s ...

'' 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 "Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdrawn. ...

'' 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 ''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. 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 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 ...

– vocals *

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 ...

– lead guitar *

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 *

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 ...

– bass * Daniel Svensson – drums

Additional personnel

*Charlie Storm – programming,

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

esizer *

Christopher Amott Christopher Amott (born 23 November 1977) is a Swedish guitarist, younger brother of Michael Amott and founding member of the metal bands Arch Enemy and Armageddon. He is currently the guitarist for Dark Tranquillity. Biography Amott was bor ...

(formerly of

Arch Enemy Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, The Agonist, Nevermore, and Eucharis ...

) –

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 ...

on "Suburban Me" *

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 Swede ...

– 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