''Colony'' is the fourth studio album by Swedish heavy metal band

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990 out of the Swedish death metal, Swedish death metal scene. Their lineup has changed several times, with vocalist Anders Frid ...

, released on 21 May 1999 via

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

. It is the first ''In Flames'' album to feature the band's classic line-up; Björn Gelotte switched to lead guitar, to replace Glenn Ljungström, and

Daniel Svensson Daniel Svensson (born 20 November 1977) is a Swedish drummer. He is currently a member of the Swedish supergroup The Halo Effect (2021–) and formerly a drummer of the metal bands In Flames, Sacrilege GBG (also the vocalist) and Diabolique. ...

filled the drummer position left vacant by Gelotte.

Peter Iwers Peter Iwers (born on 15 May 1975) is a Swedish musician and the current bass player of the melodic death metal band The Halo Effect. He was a member of the melodic death metal band In Flames from their 1999 album ''Colony'' up until their 201 ...

became the new bass player, replacing Johan Larsson. With

Anders Fridén Pär Anders Fridén (born 25 March 1973) is a Swedish vocalist, best known as the lead singer of the melodic death metal band In Flames. He was also the vocalist of Dark Tranquillity and side project Passenger. Career Early career Fridén was ...

and Jesper Strömblad remaining on vocals and rhythm guitar respectively, this lineup remained unchanged until 2010. In 2021, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 1999 by ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

'' magazine.

Music

Lyrics and musical style

The album deals with various aspects of religion, society, and

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

, from the somewhat positive light of "Embody the Invisible" and "The New Word", to the more negative "Zombie Inc." and "Scorn". Colony features a faster, tighter, and more energetic approach to the music than displayed on the previous album, '' Whoracle'', though the songwriting approach is similar.

Songs

The title of the song "The New Word" is subject to debate. According to the track list on the back cover of the original 1999 release, th
official In Flames web site
and the lyrics printed in the original 1999 CD booklet, the correct title is "The New Word"; however, according to the heading of the lyrics printed for the song in the original booklet, the track list on the 2004 re-release, and the official Nuclear Blast Records website, the song is called "The New World". The 2009 re-release ''Colony: Reloaded'' did nothing to clear up this issue, with the insert and the booklet containing the same inconsistency as the original 1999 release. The song's lyrics themselves, meanwhile, suggest that "The New Word" is indeed the correct title. "Pallar Anders Visa" is a cover of the Swedish folk son
"Pallars-Anders visa"
which can be roughly translated as "song of Anders the thief". It is an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

, just like the bonus track "Man Made God". Guitarist Björn Gelotte talked about it in an interview:

It's an old Swedish traditional song. Really old. "Pallar Anders" is a name, but it means "Anders, the guy who steals apples" and it's his song. I don't know how to translate it.

The song "Embody the Invisible" appears in the soundtrack for the 2003 video game ''

Tony Hawk's Underground ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a 2003 skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series, following ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 ...

''. The tracks "Behind Space '99" and "Clad in Shadows '99" are both remakes of the tracks first heard on '' Lunar Strain'', although "Behind Space '99" excludes the acoustic guitar outro present on the original version. This would be the first time the band would down tune their guitars from C standard on previous album with "Ordinary Story" and "Colony" being tuned to drop A#, something they would continue on future albums.

Track listing

Deluxe edition (2004)

Contains the following, in addition to the standard track listing along with the instrumental "Man Made God": * Photo gallery * ''Ordinary Story'' music video (directed by Tamara Jordan) *

Computer wallpaper A wallpaper or background (also known as a desktop background, desktop picture or desktop image on computers) is a digital image (photo, drawing etc.) used as a decorative background of a graphical user interface on the screen of a computer, smartp ...

s * A

screensaver A screensaver (or screen saver) is a computer program that blanks the display screen or fills it with moving images or patterns when the computer has been idle for a designated time. The original purpose of screensavers was to prevent phosphor s ...

Winamp Winamp is a media player (software), media player for Microsoft Windows originally developed by Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev by their company Nullsoft, which they later sold to AOL in 1999 for $80 million. It was then acquired by Rad ...

skins * Song lyrics (contains numerous spelling errors)

''Colony: Reloaded'' (2009)

The enhanced re-release contains the same bonus content as the 2004 deluxe edition. The original 1999 cover is brought back, and the back insert is custom-shaped to fit into the "Super Jewel Box" case that is used.

Credits

In Flames

– vocals * Björn Gelotte – guitar * Jesper Strömblad – guitar,

hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

– bass *

– drums

Additional personnel

*In Flames –

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing Composition (music), composition. Differences from the original composition may include Harmony (music), reharmonization, Musical phrasing, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or M ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing **Jesper Strömblad – all music **Björn Gelotte – co-composition (1–8, 10, 11, 13) **Anders Fridén – lyrics (1–5, 7, 8, 10, 11) *Prophecies Publishing – publishing *

Niklas Sundin Niklas Sundin (born 13 August 1974) is a Swedish musician, best known as a founding member and former lead guitarist of the melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity from 1989–2020. In 2019, he founded his own band called Mitochondrial Sun, w ...

– translation *

Fredrik Nordström Björn Tom Fredrik Nordström (born 5 January 1967) is a Swedish record producer and musician, and the guitarist of the heavy metal band Dream Evil. He is one of the leading melodic death metal and power metal producers in Sweden and has worke ...

– hammond organ,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

, engineering and mixing *

Mikael Stanne Bengt Mikael Stanne (born 20 May 1974) is a Swedish musician, best known as the vocalist, primary lyricist and a former guitarist for the melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity. Since the departure of original drummer Anders Jivarp in 2021, ...

– lyrics ("Behind Space '99" & "Clad in Shadows '99") * Glenn Ljungström – co-composition ("Behind Space '99" & "Clad in Shadows '99") * Kee Marcello – second

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

("Coerced Coexistence") *

Peter Wildoer Karl Peter Wildoer is a Swedish musician who is the drummer for Darkane, Electrocution 250 and Grimmark. He has also drummed for the bands Armageddon, Majestic, Pestilence, Silver Seraph, Arch Enemy, Time Requiem, Soilwork, Gardens of Obscuri ...

– drum technician *Charlie Storm – programming *Göran Finnberg – mastering *Andreas Marschall – front cover illustration *Flea Back – art direction

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colony (In Flames Album) In Flames albums 1999 albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Fredrik Nordström