(Rated this album with 10 out of 10) Reviewed by
A music fan
from corpus christi, tx United States
I still find it amazing how this release is able to contain such a strong combination of balance in quality and musical peaks. In Flames has always been good at releasing solid albums, but their isn't a weak point to be found on this release. The albums starts with one of it's greatest highlights(though not exactly fit for an opener), and continues with it's best songs in the beginning. Though the rest album is more than decent, it strongly picks up with the title track Jester Race. If you listen carefully, you can hear the continued riffs straight from Moonshield. Some of In Flames best instrumentals such as The Jesters Dance and Wayfaerer should not be neglected. The two flaws of the album are quite minor, but still can't be overlooked. The songs don't have enough distinction. They all blend together which is good if you are referring to the atmosphere of the album, but this shouldn't happen with anything else, especially actual pieces of music. The second problem is that the long line of melodies and harmonies can be a little too overwhelming, which prevents a lot of the album's material from sticking or being memorable, but fortunately this flaw disappears with a few listens. Black Ash Inheritance is good, but it's not much more than a live song, two original songs, and a song written for the next album, which is gyroscope(which in my opinion is the best In Flames song ever written). Do yourself a favor and don't pass up Jester Race/B.A.I. No current Mainstream band could ever release an album this good.
