The Jester Race

The Jester Race
Studio album by In Flames
Released	20 February 1996[1]
Recorded	November 1995 (Studio Fredman)
Genre	Melodic death metal
Length	40:12, 54:45 (2002 and 2008 reissue)
Label	Nuclear Blast
Producer	Fredrik Nordström In Flames
In Flames chronology
Subterranean (1994) The Jester Race (1996) Black-Ash Inheritance (1997)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Chronicles of Chaos	link

The Jester Race is the second album by melodic death metal band In Flames. It is the first album to feature Anders Fridén as the band's vocalist and Björn Gelotte as the drummer. A video for the song "Artifacts of the Black Rain" was also released. It was also the first album to feature the Jesterhead, the band's mascot.

After releasing The Jester Race, the band then toured with Samael, Grip Inc. and Kreator.^[2] The album was the band's second full-length album released following the more mainstream success of the 1994 EP, Subterranean. The Jester Race was recorded at Studio Fredman by Fredrik Nordström, who also contributed keyboards for the album.

The Jester Race is considered one of the greatest metal albums of all time. It ranked #79 on the website Metal Rules' list of 100 Greatest Metal Albums.^[3] It is also considered a classic album of the Gothenburg style of metal,^[4] along with At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul and Dark Tranquillity's The Gallery,^[5] exhibiting the dual guitar leads, growled vocals and acoustic sections typical of the genre.

The song "Dead Eternity" is a re-recorded version of the song from Subterranean. "Dead God in Me" is also a re-recorded version of a song from Subterranean, although the song is named "The Inborn Lifeless" on the EP, only runs to 3:23 minutes and has different lyrics to "Dead God in Me".

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Moonshield"	5:02
2.	"The Jester's Dance" (Instrumental)	2:09
3.	"Artifacts of the Black Rain"	3:15
4.	"Graveland"	2:47
5.	"Lord Hypnos"	4:01
6.	"Dead Eternity"	5:02
7.	"The Jester Race"	4:51
8.	"December Flower"	4:11
9.	"Wayfaerer" (Instrumental)	4:41
10.	"Dead God in Me"	4:16

Bonus tracks

2002 and 2008 re-releases
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Goliaths Disarm Their Davids"	4:55
12.	"Gyroscope"	3:23
13.	"Acoustic Medley"	2:32
14.	"Behind Space" (live)	3:36

These tracks are from the Black-Ash Inheritance MCD.

Japanese Edition
No.	Title	Length
12.	"Dead Eternity" (demo)	5:02
13.	"The Inborn Lifeless" (demo)	3:22

These tracks are from the 2007 re-release of the Subterranean EP.

Personnel

In Flames^[6]

• Anders Fridén − vocals
• Jesper Strömblad − lead guitars, acoustic guitars & keyboards
• Glenn Ljungström − lead guitars
• Johan Larsson − bass & backing vocals
• Björn Gelotte − drums & lead guitars

Guest appearances

• Fredrik Nordström − keyboards
• Oscar Dronjak − vocal appearance on Dead Eternity
• Fredrik Johansson − lead guitar on December Flower
• Kasper Dahlqvist − keyboards on Wayfaerer

Production and composition

• Produced by Fredrik Nordström and In Flames.
• Lyrical concept and song titles collaborated by Niklas Sundin and Anders Fridén.
• Lyrics on Dead Eternity by Jocke Göthberg.
• Engineered by Fredrik Nordström and Patrik Hellgren.
• Mastered by Staffan Olofsson.
• Logo by Glenn Ljungström.
• Artwork by Andreas Marschall.
• Photos by Kenneth Johansson.
• Layout by M&A Music art.

References

1. ^ http://metal-archives.com/release.php?id=187
2. ^ http://www.inflames.com/biography/default.asp
3. ^ Metal-Rules.Com - Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums
4. ^ The BNR Metal Pages, Version 2
5. ^ http://heavymetal.about.com/od/heavymetal101/p/melodicdeathmetalprofile.htm
6. ^ http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o194/ryetallica/Jester%20Race%20Thumbnails/The%20Jester%20Race/TJR-11b.jpg

External links

• The Jester Race album details
• The Jester Race information