Black-Ash Inheritance

AMG Review of Black-Ash Inheritance

Eduardo Rivadavia
All Music Guide

This timely EP served as a taster for In Flames' third, and arguably best album, 1997's Whoracle, which struck a seamless balance between the band's melodic hard rock tendencies and their death metal aggression. Whereas previous effort The Jester Race had often lost itself in excessive acoustic guitar strumming, "Gyroscope" (the key track here and also very representative of the imminent Whoracle) is focused, powerful, crunchy -- delicious! Seriously, it's one of those tracks which has come to epitomize the Gothenburg heavy metal style, and alongside further outstanding material like "Goliaths Disarm their Davids" and a live version of first album thrasher "Behind Space", it provides a satisfying link for this important band's evolutionary chain.