Species come and go, but In Flames stand forever fast.
Parafrasando il testo di una delle loro canzoni più note si potrebbe riassumere così la carriera del quintetto di Gothenburg, che ha saputo rinnovarsi disco dopo disco aggiornando i dettami di un genere (il melodic death metal) che loro stessi hanno contributo a rendere popolare in tutto il mondo.
La prima svolta stilistica arriva proprio nel 1999 con questo "Colony" in cui i nostri, reduci dal successo di "The Jester Race" e "Whoracle", si presentano con una line up rinnovata (Peter Iwers prende il posto di Johan Larsson al basso mentre Bjorn Gelotte si dedica esclusivamente alla sei cordo cedendo il posto dietro al drumnkit al nuovo arrivato Daniel Svensson) e con un nuovo sound, in cui le atmosfere folk degli esordi sono stati sostituiti da tastiere e synth: il risultato di questa mutazione, che sarà poi portata avanti con successo nei lavori seguenti, è un disco potentissimo e all'avanguardia, vero e proprio precursore dell'ondata metalcore degli anni seguenti.
Per capire che ci si trova di fronte al'ennesimo capolavoro è sufficente ascoltare il trittico di apertura: Embody the Invisible è semplicemente una delle migliori canzoni partorite dalla penna di Jesper Stromblad (un capolavoro di potenza e melodia che proietta nel terzo millennio il Maiden-sound degli anni '80), mentre con Ordinary Story vengono utilizzate per la prima volta le cleaning vocals, per un mid-tempo di rara bellezza ancora oggi considerato tra i classici della band; a chiudere in bellezza il tris ci pensa Scorn, altra mazzata in pieno swedish death style che non lascia prigionieri.
Si torna su atmosfere più cadenzate con la title-track Colony, altro mid-tempo dalle atmosfere post-futuriste, cui fa seguito la veloce Zombie Inc, da annoverare anch'essa tra gli highlights dell'album (ottimo il break centrale con un notevole lavoro in fase solista): dopo cinque canzoni dal piglio decisamente moderno con la sesta traccia interamente acustica Pallars Anders Visa la band sembra voler tornare sui suoi passi, ma è solo un interludio prima della ripresa affidata a Coerced Coexistence, altro up-tempo trascinante da cantare a squarciagola in sede live.
In chiusura troviamo un altro lotto di brani veloci (Resin, Insipid 2000, The New World) che ben figurano all'interno della track-list, tra i quali spicca la rilettura del classico Behind Space, originariamente apparsa su "Lunar Strain" e riarrangiata per l'occasione.
A completare il tutto troviamo l'ottima produzione ad opera dei soliti Fredman Studios ed una copertina indimenticabile del celebre Anders Marshall, degno coronamento di un lavoro che proietta sempre pià il nome degli In Flames (insieme a quello dei "cugini" Dark Tranquillity) nell'olimpo del metal del terzo millennio.
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Ordinary Story (04:16)
egoism dictates human relations
a world where fashion outshines morality
here success is written in blood-red colours
designed by the thirst for power
gather the faithful and propose a toast
to the epoch of indifference
an all to ordinary story
with aftertaste so bitter
forced to be someone I don't want to be
I'm losing myself. sinking deeper down
I'm caught in the world wound web
a time represented by the void
an excuse without content
stuck in the abyss of existence
with a content void of excuse
an all to ordinary story
this is my story
with an aftertaste so bitter
sinking deeper down
I'm caught - I'm cage
I'm gone
03 Scorn (03:37)
I perish and nobody will know
as my mouth remains still
my heart awaits me. filled with gravel
as the pain grows with each touch
since I marked her out from my tower
reality focused through forbidden lenses
she owns enough of preciousness
a penalty given by the source
but I still have no choice through
the hinderens freighten
a labyrinth closing at the edge of space
but they never allow
she's shut... for all beings but one
I give, I scorn, I threat
04 Colony (04:39)
In your world, the day is no threat
in my world, there is an absence of light
"genetic superiour cell" controled
by fathomless and undearable
A radical new form of plastic and rage
biologically optomized
but with a strangling pulse
In your world, you find me worthy
in my world, I "parashoot" my life
a virtual drogstore populated
by the fathomless and unbearable
Machine, meat and blood
in an intimate relationship
the new - superior -
more effective than all the preceeding
Where we can no longer
cry and reality is torn
then it's easy to forget
that the responsibillity lies on us all
In your world, the night is no threat
in my world, the darkness
transforms to a vision of hell
populated by fathomless and unbearable
05 Zombie Inc. (05:05)
thruth serves them embrace
and defend her case
part flattery, part threats
"for those who cling to this
dominion will partake in it's fall"
with his silence, he passes the
judgement over them
"with your feverish signs of force
you'll make them and yourself to
believe that he still retains his full power"
as a platform for divine fondations,
you want to make them suck
shallowness and beauty
was all that concerned her body
but the soul, her divine guest
were thrust to the bottom
surrendered to the sect
that has risen from it's womb
"for those who cling to this
dominion will partake in it's fall"
08 Resin (03:21)
A sad song it was,
through renewal it brought
and a month seems sometimes shorter
than a half nights longing
hidden and hard are the reasons for war
polar twist, invert and flea
I can't dissolve this feeling of mine
but patience will unlock the door
and the maps of reasons re-written for me
when the wait is over and the punishment is due
each day I crawl to the hall of the giants
and I beg for mercy -
and I beg for mercy in vein
one night is a mare - two is worse
How can I manage three?
10 Insipid 2000 (03:45)
Should I defend you for who you are?
the laws are changed and useless!
on their way to a deserted town
where empty windows wave goodbye
a helpless excuse, a falling reality
I'm changed by the shock
and the weight of the punch
a helpless excuse, a falling reality
ragments of a futile being
a puzzle to the noble ones
ignorant and pitiless they stride
the world around me -
spartanic, minimalistic
a helpless excuse, a falling reality
the large scale plan that once where
you've now drained from life
a helpless excuse, a falling reality
wo knows the proper reasons
why it all begins and ends?
ignorant and pitiless they stride
"you are but a form",
the clean, harsh silence passes
"genuine" visions by the noble
ones for the noble ones
11 The New Word (03:20)
the great word of blessendness
and a feeling of ease
a cup of the well of freedom
and a life we joyfully drink
inside, all was new, but outwards
nothing had changed
an escapade,
then to the altar to
evaluate all parts
of the great mystery
but all remains
on the same spot,
no signs of a new season
in my hand is a new word,
but the word is still
without body
a hidden life-stream that
swells in the deep
will soon give the word
a second face
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