«The Jester Race» is the second album by the Swedes In Flames and was released on 20 February 1996 via Nuclear Blast. It was recorded in November 1995 at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, with Fredrik Nordström and the band producing. The line-up features Anders Fridén on vocals, Jesper Strömblad and Glenn Ljungström on guitars, Johan Larsson on bass and Björn Gelotte on drums.
“`Country: Sweden
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
For fans of: At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, Carcass
It is the first album with Anders Fridén on vocals, with Björn Gelotte on drums and with the Jester Head mascot, which became the band’s emblem.
The Gothenburg sound is here in its purest form: twin melodic guitars, growls and acoustic passages over fast death metal riffs. Fredrik Nordström also played the keyboards, while the logo was designed by Glenn Ljungström and the artwork by Andreas Marschall.
Standouts include the opening «Moonshield», «Artifacts of the Black Rain», for which a video was made, and the title track «The Jester Race». «The Jester’s Dance» and «Wayfaerer» are instrumentals.
Two tracks, «Dead Eternity» and «Dead God in Me», had first appeared on the 1995 EP «Subterranean», with different lyrics and a different ending. The album runs 40 minutes.
The record is considered one of the classics of melodic death metal, alongside At the Gates’ «Slaughter of the Soul» and Dark Tranquillity’s «The Gallery», and reached No. 79 on Metal Rules’ list of the 100 greatest heavy metal albums. It came out at a time when Gothenburg’s melodic death metal was becoming known around the world. Matt Heafy of Trivium has called it «the metal album you had to have heard».
See also
See also: In Flames – Clayman and Dark Tranquillity – The Gallery.
