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InMe

Caught: White Butterfly

Written by: PP on 22/08/2006 17:27:35

Usually I would immediately condemn any band releasing a live album as their third record as sellouts but InMe's cleverly titled "Caught: White Butterfly" is exemplary of how a live record should sound like. The atmosphere captured in their December 17th (2005) show at London Astoria is electrifying to say the least, and the production hasn't smoothed away the inevitable rough acoustics resulting from live concerts and closed environments. The result is a disc sounding like it has never seen a sound engineering desk before release, and the outcome captures InMe's vivid, honest hard rock show perfectly.

The 17-song long setlist is perfectly balanced and combines their chart hits with their more unknown material, though the crowd unanimously knew all songs equally well, given the limited amount of material the band has released before the show. The songs are delivered with passion unlike none other I've witnessed live with heart and soul clearly identifiable in Dave's heartfelt scratched clean vocals and when he extends his voice into soaring screams. The honesty in his rare crowd addresses is almost touchable, and the comments are kept to a minimum staying true to their hard rock/nu-metal roots. And although almost every song is finished with "SCREAM LONDON!", "PUT YOUR HANDS UP LONDON", or similar soaring screams, they never cross the annoyance boundary and stay well within the 'fuck we are having a great show' boundary.

My only criticism to the record is also what makes it so satisfying: the (lack of) production. With a little bit of fine tuning it would've been possible to at least hear the crowd singing along to hits like "Crushed Like Fruit" or "So You Know" instead of just hearing them cheer in between the songs and singing along on the two post-encore acoustic pieces "White Butterfly" and "Parting Gift" while the instruments and vocals dominate Astoria's acoustics, but I'm glad they didn't risk losing the much needed un-commercial image face-lift they needed with this album.

Even for someone who has never heard an InMe song before, the album is surprisingly satisfying and gives an excellent glimpse at what the band is capable of doing on record, and at many parts you're left wondering if it is at all possible to make these songs sound as good on a studio record? And that's how you recognize a DAMN good show.

Download: Crushed Like Fruit (live), Chamber (live), Faster The Chase (live)
For the fans of: Creed, Seether
Listen: Myspace

Release date 14.08.2006
Secret Records
Provided by Target ApS