u/JCP977

Last week I listened to Lunar Strain for the very first time and I got mixed signals from it. Today, while trying to find something to listen to, I remembered In Flames and decided to listen to their 1995 EP Subterranean. It still feels inconsistent to me, but it's way better than their debut.

**TL;DR:** The EP still sounds messy and inconsistent to me, but it's a huge improvement on Lunar Strain. I liked the acoustic sessions and the melodic riffs. While Stand Ablaze is the best song, the others mix good parts with some bad ones that make them not sound as good as the first song for me. Lastly, In Flames feels more power metal*ish* than At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, which makes me prefer the last two bands, but that doesn't mean I dislike the band.

Given that Subterranean was released in the same year as The Gallery and Slaughter of the Soul, it's hard not to make comparisons, and they naturally go against Subterranean. The EP, while still messy and inconsistent like Lunar Strain, feels like a huge improvement in terms of composition and coherence, but some parts still need work. It's the In Flames equivalent to Skydancer, in some ways, which gives me hope that The Jester Race will be their great addition to the unholy trinity of mid 90s Swedish melodic death metal.

The piano at the start of Stand Ablaze creates a really nice and mysterious mood, which is followed by a power metal*ish* riff that, at first, sounded weird to me. As the song progressed, though, I came to appreciate this approach to the melodic parts. Henke Forss' vocals, for the most part, are good, but don't compare to Stanne's or Lindberg's.

The rest of the EP doesn't sound that good to me. Ever Dying's first riff doesn't match the drums, creating a weird sound, and the first riff for Subterranean is just bad, though the rest of the song is good. Biosphere was the song I liked the least on the EP, because it felt like different ideas glued together (my same criticism of Lunar Strain). The EP has some acoustic parts, and they all sound great. I hope In Flames has some interludes like Timeless on their next albums, because I loved it.

In general, it sounds like a huge improvement on Lunar Strain, which is a good thing. Of the three Gothenburg melodeath bands, In Flames seems to be the one that leans more into a power metal territory, which isn't a bad thing, since I like albums like Arch Enemy's Will to Power. However, I already know that, if they continue this trend after Subterranean, In Flames will not be able to compete with At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity to me, which is fine, honestly. As long as the sound is good, I'm happy, so I expect to be happy with the next 90s In Flames albums.