To clarify, I have been an In Flames fan since 2021, and I have listened to Whoracle innumerable times over by this point, but I have never analyzed the tracks. Upon listening to the first track on the Whoracle album,“Jotun,” I can say firmly that it appeals to a rather groovy sensibility, with the intro being pure groove concentrate, which merges into the faster repetitive melody, then the lyrics, sort of a sinister spoken-word of distorted vocals, like Anders Friden is straining his voice to achieve this effect, saying I often dream of huge numb buildings.. jet-black sinister architecture… being installed when nobody sees… Their appearance so sudden… that few would take notice.”, foreshadowing the later events of “Episode 666”, then the song brings you back to true melodic death metal with the sudden guttural shrieks of “And when I wake up… I imagine being crushed by one… imagining its weight its silence… and the absence of excuses for a havoced life… and the privilege of a 22-kilometre tombstone” but of course, this is just supposed to acclimate the audience to the apocalyptic themes, as Whoracle is a concept album about the future destruction of society due to decadence, and so this is where the melody really strikes, creating an atmosphere which initiates the despair, but “Jotun” is just the prelude, with “There would be colonies… mushroom-scattered forever out of context… rising spores from a dying world… to pollute to chase away what's left” indicating that society and humanity have no collapsed yet, though the song’s narrator is speaking of the dream from the initial spoken word, and the repetition of “Jotun” connects the Swedish mythology of the Jotun, a race of giants, to society, which has become too large, or otherwise too decadent. We then revert back to this strained spoken-word with “Sun-white pulverised desert stone… and serpentine lizard mouths… Pales away the pyramids… rewriting 4500 years of history”, and what seems to be a trend among these spoken-word tracks is their melancholic nature, often reflecting upon destruction, or the prospects thereof, meanwhile the harsh vocal sections are more descriptive and violent, such as the succeeding verse, “raping the statue of liberty… outplays the acropolis… inverting the fjords… invades the NY skyline to… dream its own existence in one single final word”, which is confirmed by the previous harsh stanza, which is “And when I wake up… I imagine being crushed by one”, with the harsh sections being more violent, which does reflect the vocal quality, seeing as the band, In Flames, was a melodic death metal band at the time (I won’t divulge into the controversies of this yet), and I think that this is all so beautiful in expounding upon the horrific nature of the coming apocalypse in “Episode 666”. I particularly like the ending verse, as it is shrieked over this brooding melody, harmonized distorted guitars equally assaulting any sense of hope, as Anders growls out “Can we identify them…vas the flint buried in our reptile skulls… or the time-bomb coded in our dna”, reflecting, in my interpretation, the human proclivity to violence, or otherwise a psychological deficiency which facilitates inevitable collapse, as well as literally foreshadowing the track “Morphing Into Primal” with the lyric “vas the flint buried in our reptile skulls”, which very much exemplifies Whoracle as a rather intelligently designed album. In “Food for the Gods”, the second track on Whoracle, I feel there is a great sole survivor narrative, as the song is very introspective, possibly occurring in a dream sequence which is set after “Episode 666”, or a non-chronological narrative set after the events “Episode 666” and “Morphing into Primal”, with the affirmation of this point being Shame marries the guilt… introduces itself to the… concept of total loneliness… Sensations repressed… make friends with… Suicidia, and… and here the leeches begin to… suck away the lust for life”, and in a way, this is similar to “Jotun” particularly in the melodic continuity and lyrical themes, though “Jotun” was more fixated on the coming apocalypse, while, as mentioned prior, “Food for the Gods” is introspective and ground-level. The narrator is also seemingly referring to himself, or humanity, as the “food for the gods” with the line “A dead man's banquet… food for the gods”, then immediately afterwards recounts a more utopic vision with “Escape takes lead… into a world unknown uncontrolled by all… where borders are erased and potential infinite”, which is sung in this strained muttering of sorts, which is possibly due to the pained shrieks of the other lyrics being more symptomatic of dwelling in this post-apocalypse, while the utopic vision is less painful. I really enjoyed “Food for the Gods”, being my favorite track on the entire album, with the only other notable favorite being “Episode 666”. There were far more punchy drums on “Food for the Gods”, and I love the catchiness of the first line, “Shame marries the guilt”, though I shan’t pretend this is for any reason beyond mere enjoyment of the sound. Of course the next track, “Gyroscope” pertains little to the story of Whoracle beyond a moral message of human depravity. “Gyroscope” itself is not even a Whroacle native, but was first featured on The Jester Race in 1996, with “Gyroscope” being a metaphor about human depravity, evident in the lyric “Neo-wolf, but older again… than the Lupus itself… linked its fur to the gyroscope of time… a collection of failures”, with the neo-wolf being humanity. Although the song is not an original to Whoracle, I think I must affirm the grace and melody of the acoustic intro, which reminds me of “Moonshield” on The Jester Race, which featured an acoustic intro as well. I do think, however, that “Gyroscope” does hold a theme of time as well, which is tangentially important to Whoracle, though “Gyroscope” is more loosely applicable. The reference to “linked its fur to the gyroscope of time” is generally about humanity being very resilient to some extent, or at least latching onto time due to the nature of human feats such as plastiglomerates, which leave a permanent blemish upon the earth which no animal had prior done. I like “Gyroscope”, and I really enjoy the more faithful vocals, as Anders, throughout Whoracle, had deviated from the shriek-heavy In Flames formula to utilize more growling, though “Gyroscope” is generally unchanged from The Jester Race version. Beyond this, we just have the beautiful interlude track in “Dialogue with the Stars”, which is a highly melodic death metal ballad, featuring the classic Gothenburg sound, though without any lyrics to comment on. Though I do like the melody, which is the almost fluctuating bounce, especially in the intro, which somewhat reminds me of “Clad in Shadows ‘99”, the end track. After “Dialogue with the Stars”, we have a great track in “The Hive”, which opens with an immediate guitar riff, without any prior buildup, hitting the ears, which is very nice in delivering the subsequent message of the song, which remains just as provocative, for lack of a better term. I think “The Hive” is about the coming collapse of society in “Episode 666”, with the description of a hornet in the verse “Hornet Hive-dark… Severed wings in vainless beating… buzz out from an inferno of fangs… to disarm the stars within us”, which I believe is describing the environmental degradation of the decadent human civilization on Earth, which I believe is the intended storyline, as the ending verse is “We should have been… so much more by now… Too dead inside… to even know the guilt”, which I think harkens back to the utopic vision of “Food for the Gods”, with “Escape takes lead… into a world unknown uncontrolled by all… where borders are erased and potential infinite”, and then essentially saying that humanity had not been able to attain the utopic states, and so has depleted the environment to the point that not even insects survive, and men continue to exploit the environment without realizing any fault to it, as evident in “Too dead inside… to even know the guilt”. The song itself is generally composed of a more repetitive melody, but the interlude at the end which leads into the next track was very good in my opinion, as I very much enjoyed the distortion of it, combined with the melody and the tapping solo by Jesper. Is there anything special I can say about “The Hive”? Not particularly, but the melodies are distinct enough to make a good track. Next is the slow, melodic, partly-acoustic “Jester Script Transfigured”, which opens with a series of robotic sounds, prior to the acoustic intro. One line in particular which I believe to be indicative of either human decay or posthuman development is the line “noble cyborg savage” in the first verse, which was preceded by “devoid of the echoes of man”, and so I believe this is possibly occurring shortly after “Episode 666”, though beyond this, the song is rather uneventful, mostly substantiating my point about a possible form of posthuman, particularly in the third verse, with “In cold ceremonial perfection… more radiant than the sun of suns… with each and every attribute… of animal, machine and man”. Overall, I did like “Jester Script Transfigured, though I particularly enjoyed the pace and the chorus. “Morphing into Primal” begins with these heavy drums, which are incredibly appealing to those who may enjoy strong openings. I personally enjoy a slower pace, though certainly not as slow as sludge metal or doom metal. Though the faster pace on “Morphing into Primal” made me think of a resemblance to Blue Oyster Cult’s Fire of Unknown Origin, particularly “Joan Crawford”, though far heavier, obviously. Tying back into my point about some kind of posthumanity, I think the prelude is “Detonation… fireworks and alchemy… Genes spliced and triggered… into the future… and her organic save… Seismorgasmic omnipotence… scenes of magma in my eyes… Eruption stones my system” which could be tangentially connected to my point in “Jester Script Transfigured”, though is probably a greater description of the events soon to come in “Episode 666”, with “I owe this to the animal inside… and the stiffness that blocks out the daylight… Morphing into primal” likely referring to some kind of animalism in politics, the desire to exploit, which is perceived as baser, or otherwise rudimentary, and so humanity is metaphorically “morphing into primal”, if I were to reference the title. In the 7th verse, I thought the lyrics “Dissolve my brain… Block my lungs… I´ll die from fever tomorrow… when locked in such a perfected "now"” was rather esoteric in the sense I don’t really understand this, though I believe this could possibly be an allusion to the earlier lyric from the first verse, “scenes of magma in my eyes… Eruption stones my system”. Which only tie into the events of the album, the concept of the apocalypse, et cetera. Overall, I hadn’t really cared for this track, and I felt it was one of the weakest on the track, second only to the title track, “Whoracle”. And now the calm before the storm, “Worlds Within the Margin”, which begins with a wonderful drop-tuned melody reflective of the classic Gothenburg sound, and a strained clean intro of “Raindrop hits the leaf, changing its position slightly on the street… next to polls of monotonous water He walks, Slipping feet from steps at random He falls”. I did enjoy the lyrics on this one, as the apocalypticism is increased greatly, with “In the space between his body and the ground comets cast of their names, stellar neurons misfire”, as the song appears to be recounting what would be seen in “Episode 666”, or at least detailing the beginning of that would become “Episode 666” with the fifth verse “Between the two of my eyes… feverish fractals soar… dance… like were they on drugs… peyote labyrinths re-mapped exits… A hasty blink… and a million life-to-comes… will never be the same… as they never were”, with the lyric “like were they on drugs” probably describing the shock and theater of the beginning of “Episode 666”, as well as describing a sort of bliss in this apocalypse as humanity and society are destroyed, as evident in the lyrics “In the margin of butterfly wings… entire cycles of evolution… outplayed and faded… sparked and leaned back into vacuum-filled nirvana”. I really enjoyed this track, especially the harsh parts which begin with “Buds abloom in all directions”, and is sung in this sort of hoarse growl, which I thought was very pleasing to those senses which are inclined to enjoy the growling vocals of the Gothenburg scene over the shrieks. And now for the great show: “Episode 666”. Right off the bat, we begin with a harsh melody, a dark melody, which merges perfectly into the harsh growling vocals, featuring greater harsh vocals than what were featured on the previous album, though that was likely the intent. We then begin with the first verse, “Welcome here, the squirrel-wheel begins… fasten the left hand belts… Remember not to think too much… and your trip will be numbingly pleasant”, and already the song congratulates the listeners for making it to “Episode 666” after a long album of moral themes. Here, the song is rather descriptive, merely commenting on the state of the world since as it was left after “Worlds Within the Margin”, though in a more satirical sense, I want to say, as apparent in the opening lines of “the squirrel-wheel begins… fasten the left hand belts… Remember not to think too much”, essentially cautioning the audience to prepare for the absurdity of the track. The next verse begins with “Non-caring is the easiest way… but to secure a passage to the 2nd plane… you have to complete level one”, which really evokes the dread of the unnamed apocalyptic event, with “secure a passage to the 2nd plane” possibly referring to death, in which people have relinquished any optimism once harbored, which becomes apparent in the subsequent line, after it is revealed “you have to complete level one”, thus fully confirming the death of society. “Their dead-smile lips turn on their TV… while urban gravestones scrape the skies… Rising over marionette cities and marionette skies”, with the coming apocalypse being quite literally televised, which is a commentary on the perverted media industry sensationalizing everything, including the death of humanity, which ties back to what I had said about the possibly satirical nature of the song. As for the “Rising over marionette cities and marionette skies”, I have interpreted this to mean that humanity had destroyed the world so much that the strings of the environment have broken from the marionettes of society, the skies and cities, and mankind is becoming alienated and losing control over the world, which leads me to believe that “Episode 666” is sort of The Road-esque scenario in which Earth merely begins rejecting humanity. Admittedly, the chorus is nothing special, just “This is episode 666… destination chaos… Each and all an actor blind”, and is repeated throughout the track without any deviation from these lyrics. Though I do love the sound of “Episode 666”, as there are no cleans, no soft vocals, only harsh, true melodic death metal vocals and guitars. Though if I were to criticize further, I believe there is a bit of bass lacking, but it is compensated by the relentless percussives. Overall, I really enjoyed “Episode 666”, and so I will continue to regularly listen to this track. Now the third to last song, “Everything Counts”, which is a Depeche Mode cover. I liked this track, though it is just a melodic death metal cover of Depeche Mode, so it is not very special or memorable except for that chorus “It's a competitive world… Everything counts in large amounts”, which sounds almost synthesized or mixed, but is certainly memorable. Overall, I thought this track was okay, though it does tie in as a moral message about excess, which does relate to the main ideas of Whoracle as an album. The second to last song, “Whoracle” is actually one of my least favorite Whoracle tracks, as it is an instrumental except for some female backing vocals, which I did not find particularly appealing, with the vocals getting a bit annoying after a while. The backing vocalist, Ulrika Netterdahl, does not have the right voice for this, and I could not find any reviews of anyone else complaining about this. I mean I think female backing vocals are okay sometimes, like with Eva-Marie Larsson on Dark Tranquility’s The Gallery. Larsson was great on “... Of Melancholy Burning” and “Lethe”, though her parts were constituent of the more atmospheric segments of these tracks, not the more chaotic and fast-paced parts. While admittedly “Whoracle” is more atmospheric, I maintain that Netterdahl does not have the right vocals, as she does not go deep enough. Other than that, I really have nothing to complain about in “Whoracle” beyond any perceived mediocrity in the vocals. The last track was a bonus track, “Clad in Shadows 99”, and largely has nothing to do with the semi-concept album of Whoracle, as the whole song is entirely introspective, unlike the descriptive tracks like “Morphing into Primal” or “Episode 666”. Overall, I liked it, especially the introduction, which was this epic ballad of rolling drums, which led into harsh vocals. Some weird aspects of this album were that the entire album was written in Swedish, and according to Jesper from a loudersound.com interview “Niklas helped us out with the lyrics on The Jester Race,” recalls the guitarist. “It was just that Anders wasn’t at all confident about his English, and the rest of us didn’t feel able to help him, either. So Anders chose to work with Niklas, who was a good friend. I wouldn’t say he wrote the songs as such. What he did was interpret Anders’ ideas and put them into English. You could say that he was a translator. But because he understood what we were trying to say, he was able to capture the atmosphere and make it work lyrically.”, which is weird to me, as The Jester Race was written in English, though perhaps The Jester Race was far more vague in message, perhaps even esoteric, especially with tracks like “Goliaths Disarm their Davids”, “Lord Hypnos” and “Moonshield ‘96”, which makes lyrics easier to write. Also, their studio’s owner, Fredrik Nordstrom, was apparently a reason why some songs seemed to lack effort in their delivery, such as on “Everything Counts” and “Jester Script Transfigured”, according to Jesper Stromblad, “I would have to say that Fredrik was an asshole towards me in the studio. Really, he was. He didn’t just push me to get the best I could do, but he would insult my work.”, which likely influenced the sound of the album coming out. Jesper would later feel contrite, and say “Well, perhaps I’m being too harsh in calling him an ‘asshole’. I guess what I meant was that he drove me a little too hard, but it’s OK because what ended up on the records, including Whoracle, does sound good.”, though I still think that Fredrik was the reason why certain songs sound a bit janky on occasion, especially “Everything Counts”. Whoracle was also recorded on poor funds, though was produced with more money than works such as Demo ‘93 and Lunar Strain. And apparently the Depeche Mode cover was Anders Friden’s idea, “It was Anders! We’d wanted to do a cover for a while, but really didn’t feel like going down the route of doing something obvious like Iron Maiden…”, which is interesting, as it somewhat hints at the later state of In Flames as a sellout project, the architects primarily being Anders and Bjorn. There had also been a really big missed opportunity in the exclusion of other The Jester Race tracks from Whoracle, and while we got “Gyroscope”, we could have also gotten “Goliaths Disarm their Davids”, per Jesper’s comments, “Well, we did this song called Goliaths Disarm Their Davids, which we decided wasn’t right for the album.”, which is very unfortunate, as I really enjoyed The Jester Race, and I would have liked to hear more covers on Whoracle. Though in conclusion: Whoracle is a great album for anyone interested in melodic death metal, featuring all of the heavy aspects while keeping things melodic for beginners, which aids in the appeal to new fans of MDM. This album is a richly detailed apocalyptic narrative as well, which is good on face value as a science fiction, though I wouldn’t derive terribly much substantive commentary from this, as much of it is something of a strawman with a late-90s popular perception of culture. Album score: 87.6