A Sense Of Purpose is the follow up to 2006's highly successful (yet dissapointing to this writer's ears) Come Clarity. At the first couple of listens, the album seemed a bit underwhelming and more of the same. But after repeated listens it revealed itself as much more focused and not as forced as Come Clarity did. The production and sound is much better than the last few albums. The guitar melodies and solos are also much better, similar to 2000's Clayman. Vocalist Anders Frieden has improved a lot as well. He's developed a sort of half scream, half sing style, so there is rarely any of the 'whiney' type vocals that fans like to complain about.
The album kicks off with the first single 'The Mirror's Truth'. With a big, catchy chorus and a great guitar solo, it gives you a pretty good indication on what's to come on the album.
One thing that myself and I'm sure many other fans have missed from In Flames are their acoustic guitar work that they're so good at. Well there's a few songs on here with nice acoustic guitar melodies. The third track 'Sleepless Again' starts out with a pretty acoustic melody, then quickly becomes a great song that blends In Flames' old and new style quite well. Another highlight is the fourth track, 'Alias' which is probably the catchiest song the band has done since the song 'Only For The Weak' from Clayman. It has a great chorus that I'm sure will get crowds singing along in concert, and in the middle of the song it features another amazing acoustic guitar melody that sounds like it could have come from 1994's Lunar Strain! Amazing tune.
The band is actually experimenting a little as well. 'The Chosen Pessimist' is an 8 minute song which is already very unusual for In Flames. It sounds like something you might hear from Post Rockers Mogwai or Cult Of Luna. The song starts off slow with just a simple guitar line, then builds up with drums, keyboards, violins and samples to a heavy climax. This is the only slower song on the album.
On the downside, it seems like the band really is struggling to please both their old and new fans at once. There are many songs on the album (I'm The Highway, Drenched In Fear) that start off awesome with good riffage and great guitar leads, but then gets to the big, sing-along chorus and loses the intensity it's built up.
There are 3 other songs they wrote for this album, that didn't make the cut, and appear on the CD single of 'The Mirror's Truth'. I can't figure out why the songs Eraser and Tilt from the single were not put on the album. They are better than any other song on the album, which leads me to belive that they really are trying to make the albums full of 'hits'.
All in all, this is a solid In Flames effort that blends the old with the new quite well. This seems to be the album that they wanted Come Clarity to be, and it sounds like it could have been the album to come after Reroute To Remain. It's got the style of Come Clarity, mixed with the samples and keyboard stuff from Soundtrack To Your Escape, mixed with the guitar melodies of Clayman. Fans who have enjoyed the last 3 In Flames albums will be happy, as well as people who miss the guitar solos and harmonies that the band was known for in their old days.
8/10.
Standout Songs: Sleepless Again, Alias, Delight And Angers
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