The artist: In Flames are one of the key melodic death metal bands (or rather used to be) who have received mainstream success over the last decade. Whether it turned for the better or worse is up to you. Personally they were better when they were playing melodic death metal and not going mainstream and that's something many metal fans will agree with whether they like them or not. The first few albums can at least be seen as decent releases, although your mileage may vary for the debut album Lunar Strain. Infact, that term applies to In Flames as a whole since some of the later works have been fairly praised.
The album: Lunar Strain is In Flames' debut album. This was a time in In Flames before Anders Fridén was even in the band and now he's the longest running member in the band. Lunar Strain was very underdeveloped for In Flames but the album opener Behind Space has become a popular song for them. This album had folk music elements to it which can easily be seen with the instrumental Hårgalåten and the second part of Everlost. The folk elements were hit and miss for In Flames but they got better with it on the following album The Jester Race. The only other major flaw with this album is how short Starforsaken feels. After the solo ends, it feels there was meant to be more for the song than we've heard. Even with these flaws, it's still an album to pick up if you really enjoy the older In Flames or even appreciate their music both old and new.
The song: Dreamscape is one of the two instrumental tracks on Lunar Strain. The instrumental remains consistent with its melodic riffs that make it sound like In Flames' counterpart to Iron Maiden's Transylvania. The sound production is nicely mixed for this track since the bass is easy to hear and for their debut album that had some rough edges, it's a godsend the production value is in good shape. With a short length of 3:45, Dreamscape has the right length of time and gives those beautiful riffs enough time to get stuck in your head.
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