Super Melodic Death Album.
Certainly, best ýn flames album since 1997. All songs are smelling melody and quality. I am listening always to this album and just I don't bore.

If you like IF, Never regret, buy it.

Could be Better
The first 7 songs or so on the CD are pretty awesome, but everything after those ones aren't quite as good in my opinion (too much guitar and drums, and not enough keyboard or the music is too slow... to me, that's boring).

Personally, I like all the CD's from Clayman to Sense of Purpose, but I don't like the ones before Clayman... so hopefully that'll give everyone a baseline as to how this CD compares to all their music.

Overall, it's still a great CD, but you'll likely more often find yourself putting in one of their earlier CD's instead of this one after you "get it out of your system".

Too far away from roots
I won't go so far as to accuse In Flames of selling out. Bands sometimes change their sounds. There are a variety of reasons for doing so: Change of personnel, change of overall genre, progressing time, personal lives and experience for the band members, and yes, sometimes to become more mainstream. Sounds change; nobody (to my knowledge) accused Metallica of selling out because of the huge difference in sound between Ride the Lightning and the Black Album. Why is it that In Flames is held to a different standard? Besides, melodic death metal is a hard genre to actually define. One person will insist that a song is pure MDM while another will lividly counter that no, it's blackened death metal, or symphonic death metal, while another will tell them that they are both wrong and it is progressive power metal, or (gasp!) nu-metal. So that's not my beef with this album.

In Flames' lyrics, once poetic, cryptic, and thought provoking have given way to the ever-overused inner angst, relationship problems, and dealing with self-identity that is found across the board in nu-metal, progressive metal, and others. It gets old. The second is the greater emphasis on vocals than instrumentals. The riffs are just not powerful enough anymore, and the music is more repetitive than anything. Anders, as another reviewer said, cannot sing and never has been able to. He makes it all the more difficult for himself by using this newer, higher pitched vocal style that he's used since Reroute, making his voice crack when he goes clean. My suggestion to them would be to bring in a clean vocalist.

All in all, A Sense of Purpose is a disappointment. It's not a horrible CD, but it's probably In Flames' weakest so far. Do I wish they would revert to their original sound? Yes, but I don't expect them to. I would, however, like to see them head in a very different direction than they are going now. Jester Race to Clayman was too brilliant of an era to make them lose me as a fan, but I will not give a thumbs up to their latest effort.

2.5 Stars From an old In Flames Fan
Old Fans seem to not be very fond of the newer In Flames albums after Colony or even Clayman. This is not so with me. I, for the most part, really liked Reroute (despite the toning down of the guitar melodies), Soundtrack (despite being too "chunky" and no solos), and even Come Clarity, except for the crap song that comes before Vanishing Light and Scream.

Now, on to A Sense of Purpose. As we know, ANDERS CANNOT SING. His clean vocals sound absolutely TERRIBLE in a live performance. In this album, there is only so much Pro Tools can do. I hate how his voice is so edited. It makes his voice in Come Clarity sound really good.

Also, as a drummer, I am very disappointed in Daniel Svensons drumming. Boring, for the most part. Also the production for the drums is horrible. The drums do not sound powerful enough.

The albums first song, The Mirrors Truth, starts out with an incredibly LAME intro riff. Is this the way to properly start out an In Flames album? I would think not. The Chorus in this song is meh.
2/5

The next song, Disconnected, starts out in a very similar way to the first song, just a little but better. I actually find this song sort of catchy. Catchy chorus, dumb lyrics, good acoustic guitar parts. One of the more decent songs here. 3/5

Sleepless Again is another song that I *kind of* like. Decent guitar work, decent chorus, decent guitar solo, decent keyboards. Decent song.
3/5

Alias is a song that most Old IF fans positively hate. I on the other hand, for some reason, really like this song. The main melody and the chorus are extremely catchy. This song is constantly stuck in my head, even though it may be poppy for most. (and I HATE pop emocore, metalcore etc.)
4/5

Next, I am the Highway. This song could have been quite good. It could have been the only pseudo-standout on the album. Instead, it has the worst chorus I have ever heard by In Flames. Terrible. Not only that, but that drum beat that Svensson chose to use during said chorus does NOT work for that portion. It makes it sound even more silly. Vocal overdubs are also stupid on this song as well. On a plus note, the solo section is pretty good, but it doesnt save the song from being bad.
1/5

Delight and Angers starts off with some nice riffing that reminds me of Episode 666. Kudos for that. The chorus...hmm...more terrible vocal overdubs. But it isnt as bad as the above song, so its ok. It has a solo, and some decent dual melodies, so points for that too.
3/5

Move through Me begins with some riffing that I dont really like. On a plus note, I kind of like the keyboard synths during the overdub laced chorus. Its not a bad chorus, like I am the Highway, but when he says "this is a call to arms..." ...oh boy, prepare to vomit. Another plus, the solo part is pretty good here.

2.5/5

The Chosen Pessimist...I dont like it. It is experimental yes, but this is a definite skip track for me. Reminds me of something maybe Deftones would do, just not as long. ANDERS IS A HORRIBLE CLEAN SINGER.
1/5

Sober and Irrelevant comes on strong, but ultimately ends up sounding a bit repetitive, like most songs here. It sounds like I have heard this before..... However, its not that bad. There are some good dual melodies during the 2nd part of the chorus and some decent solo efforts.
2/5

Condemned starts our pretty good with good riffs. But by this point, all of these songs sound so repetitive to me. Not good.....Good melody during the pre chorus....and BAM!!! Another bad chorus, but not AS BAD as the worst one on the album. Decently solo section so points for that. This song isnt one of the worst, so it gets a
2.5 from me.

Drenched in Fear: Hmmmm....HAVENT I HEARD THAT OPENING RIFF?!?! Well it reminds me alot of a dumbed down version of Crawl Through Knives (Which I really like). I didnt really like the pre chorus on this song, but the chorus is not as bad. The vocal overdubs hurt it though. The solo sounds decent again, like most songs on here. This song evoked a MEH from me.
2/5

March to the Shore starts out thrashy, which is always good. However , when the singing begins, more of the same boringness. However,the chorus on the song is actually not too bad. Although it has massive overdubs, its one of the catchier choruses. Also, the solo is pretty good. It comes out of no where with a nice time change.
3/5

Ultimately, this album is pretty boring, if catchy at some parts. I am pretty disappointed. Even Soundtrack To Your Escape was better than this, IMO.

I really want to give it more than 3 stars...
...but I simply cannot. I've been with In Flames, DT, Arch Enemy, Soilwork, Opeth, COB, etc etc etc since they all started and, sadly, the only one of those bands who just can't seem to keep true to any piece of their original style is this band.

Don't get me wrong, I completelly understand that band's don't create new albums to churn out the same tired slab recrod after record, no matter how outstanding it may be, but any one of those other bands I mentioned is still recognizable in their current manifestation.

Opeth and DT are perhaps the best examples because they harnessed only the best parts of their youth and provided us with lesson's on how to best expand upon them creativelly. Soilwork, COB, and Arch Enemy, eh...not so much BUT their roots are mostly still intact(Only Soilwork has DRASTICLY changed). In Flames has let me down a lot since Colony, so much so that I now worship Clayman, an album I once thought total crap, just because it so far blows away their later catalogue.

This album really isn't bad, but it really isn't good either. Its the same minor step in the right direction that Come Clarity was, a step away from the previous two efforts and more towards a happier time. But as one of the last few reviewers stated, they stoppped playing that style years ago, so don't hope for anything more. There are a lot more melodies than the last 3 album's, and yet I find I liked Come Clarity better. Come Clarity was more of a leap in the right direction, this is like a small nudge on that same path. I personally believe it has more to do with Bjorn taking the guitar role from good'ol Glenn(of Dimension Zero fame) and Svennson taking the drums. Honestly people, if you look at In Flames the band, as musicians, they're extremelly mediocre, but they could write very sweet tunes in their hayday. Dream Theater they are not in that regard...

...For me, this album just makes that point all the more resounding for me and distasteful.