"Come Clarity" opens with "Take This Life", a tune that not only makes you sit up and pay attention, it demands it! Leaving the listener in little doubt that "Come Clarity" should have been the rightful follow-up record to "Reroute". Erasing the memory of the very underwhelming "Soundtrack To Your Escape"; where creative experimentation lead the album down a dead ally and questions were asked if this was the end of a potent In Flames? Any such doubts are quickly dismissed however, as "Come Clarity" bludgeons the ear drums like a punch drunk monkey; and by the time "Scream", an album highlight with more than one or two hallmarks of "Lunar Strain", rolls around all apprehensions are laid to rest.

Gelotte and Strombold's guitar layers are impeccable, and even more astonishing when you consider the mix between sheer speed and ferocity to the acoustic textures offer up on the title track. In Flames have been around long enough for us to know what to expect vocally from Anders Friden. Unlike previous offerings however "Come Clarity" provides Friden the platform to demonstrate his ability to seamlessly blend the more subtle vocal moments with the more banshee wails and shrieks we have become more accustomed too from an In Flames offering. Such is the confidence in the blend of vocal styles, we treated to the nearest thing to a duet we are likely to find on an In Flames record on "Dead End", with Swedish Grammy winner Lisa Miskovsky.

The digipack version of "Come Clarity" comes complete with the bonus DVD, featuring a full length rehearsal room performance of "Come Clarity" in it's entirety. Having witnessed the aforementioned DVD first hand I would recommend parting with a few extra pennies to obtain the double disk edition as this is a welcome accompaniment to the already engrossing album. With "Soundtrack" firmly out of the Friden and Co's system, In Flames are back in the groove and firmly reaffirming they will soon, if not already, become a corner stone in everyone's metal collection.