Finally, the long awaited new album of “Götenborg-sound” pioneers In Flames is out. Counting 14 songs, this is their longest album up till now. In spite of its subtitle “Fourteen Songs Of Conscious Madness”, this album contains less madness than its predecessors.

Even though they’re inventors of melodic death metal, also known as the “Götenborg-sound”, the death metal part has become substantially less important on these 14 new tracks. There is less room for the melodic guitar solos which were typical for the music of In Flames, making the low rhythm guitars more predominant in each song.

Reroute To Remain sounds a lot like the later albums of “Hypocrisy” and at some points, where Anders Friden has clean vocals, it even sounds like “Paradise Lost” during the One Second album.

However, don’t expect a difference of night and day between this album and for instance Clayman; it still sounds very much like In Flames. Call it growth in music, which in this case isn’t a bad sign, for it is still a killer album.

On the other hand, 14 songs might be a bit too much for most people. The tracks “Dawn Of A New Day” and “Metaphor” are both (semi)acoustic ballads that are something completely different and might be a challenge for the die hard death metal fans. The latter track even has a hint of country & western in it because of the use of violins. Be this as it may, fans can easily buy this album and will find it to be a welcome addition to the In Flames arsenal. Maybe not their best album (which is arguably Whoracle), but this record deserves a high grade.