Clayman

This article is about the In Flames album. For the surname, see Clayman (surname)

Clayman is the fifth studio album by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, released via Nuclear Blast on 3 July 2000. It has a dark theme, with most of the lyrics dealing with depression and internal struggles. Clayman is the final In Flames album to feature their original melodic death metal sound. The band would later start to experiment with other styles on their next release, Reroute to Remain, gradually progressing these more experimental elements across their future releases later into the 2000s. Like on some songs on the previous album Colony the band tuned their guitars to drop A# on the songs Pinball Map and ...As the Future Repeats Today.

Clayman
Studio album by In Flames
Released	3 July 2000 (2000-07-03)[1]
Recorded	31 January–? 2000[2]
Studio	Studio Fredman, Gothenburg
Genre	Melodic death metal[3]
Length	43:44
Label	Nuclear Blast
Producer	Fredrik Nordström In Flames Howard Benson (20th Anniversary Edition)
In Flames chronology
Colony (1999) Clayman (2000) Reroute to Remain (2002)

The album's cover art is based on Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man drawing. The Jester Head appears in the background, both on the cover, and in the album booklet itself. Music videos were produced for the songs "Pinball Map" (directed by Tamara Jordan) and "Only for the Weak".

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Rock Hard	9.5/10[5]

In 2005, Clayman was ranked No. 448 in Rock Hard magazine's book "The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time".^[6] In 2020, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 2000 by Metal Hammer magazine.^[7]

In 2020, "Bullet Ride", "Pinball Map", "Only for the Weak", and the title track were re-recorded for a 20th-anniversary edition of the album. Fan responses to the re-recordings have been mixed.^[8]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Anders Fridén; all music is composed by Jesper Strömblad and Björn Gelotte.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Bullet Ride"	4:42
2.	"Pinball Map"	4:08
3.	"Only for the Weak"	4:55
4.	"...As the Future Repeats Today"	3:27
5.	"Square Nothing"	3:57
6.	"Clayman"	3:28
7.	"Satellites and Astronauts"	5:00
8.	"Brush the Dust Away"	3:17
9.	"Swim"	3:14
10.	"Suburban Me" (featuring Christopher Amott)	3:35
11.	"Another Day in Quicksand"	3:56
Total length:		43:44

2005 Deluxe edition and 2008 Reloaded edition

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Strong and Smart" (No Fun at All cover, also in 2000 Japanese edition)	2:22
13.	"World of Promises" (Treat cover)	3:49
Total length:		49:55

2010 re-release

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Only for the Weak" (Live version)	4:51
13.	"Pinball Map" (Live version)	4:30
14.	"Strong and Smart" (No Fun at All cover)	2:22
Total length:		55:27

Apart from remastered versions of the original songs, the 20th Anniversary Edition features the following tracks:

2020 20th Anniversary Edition

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Themes and Variations in D-Minor" (instrumental)
13.	"Only for the Weak" (Re-recorded)
14.	"Bullet Ride" (Re-recorded)
15.	"Pinball Map" (Re-recorded)
16.	"Clayman" (Re-recorded)

Personnel

In Flames

• Anders Fridén – vocals
• Björn Gelotte – guitar
• Jesper Strömblad – guitar
• Peter Iwers – bass
• Daniel Svensson – drums

Additional personnel

• Charlie Storm – programming, synthesizer
• Christopher Amott (Arch Enemy) – guitar solo on "Suburban Me"
• Fredrik Nordström – additional programming, synthesizer, recording, production
• In Flames – recording, production
• Axel Hermann – artwork, layout
• Tobias Lundgren – photography

Charts

Chart performance for Clayman

Chart (2020)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[9]	48
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[10]	16
Scottish Albums (OCC)[11]	69
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[12]	26