Album 5 of 12

This is kind of a continuation of the previous post in this series.

Album that changed my life:
"The Jester Race" by In Flames

I've already established the background for this purchase in my post on Blackwater Park so I won't repeat it here. This was the second album I played that day, and perhaps because of the overwhelming impact of my introduction to Opeth, this one didn't grab me quite as quickly. I played it straight through and by somewhere around the fourth track I was getting into it, but it took a little while for me to really love this whole album. Over the course of the next month or so, though, it grew on me and rapidly became one of my very favorite albums. It has enjoyed that status ever since. The primary effects this album had on my music listening were threefold. Firstly, it convinced me that I needed to collect the rest of the older In Flames albums, making them the first band whose back-catalog I fully explored. Secondly, it focused me in specifically on the the Gothenburg scene, which led to melodic death metal in general becoming my sub-genre of choice and the sonic base of operations for my further musical exploration. Thirdly, it prompted me to go looking for an In Flames show. I discovered that In Flames was on the Sounds of the Underground tour coming through Las Vegas later that summer (the complete bill in order of appearance was: The Black Dahlia Murder, Terror, Cannibal Corpse, GWAR, Trivium, In Flames, As I Lay Dying) which I ran out and bought tickets for. That was my first metal show and it had a big impact on me, but that's a story for another time. The point is that I can thank The Jester Race for the hundreds of dollars I've spent on tickets to live shows since then.