In Flames - Siren Charms (2014)

It's never easy when listening to an aberration like Siren Charms to admit to oneself: 'This band meant something to me once'. But I'd be lying to say they didn't, because for at least the first half of their career they were churning out a very strong case for the melodic death metal archetype as a whole, and in particular The Jester Race remains for me an obvious go-to album whenever I'm craving some guitar-driven, melodic, inspirational bliss. And, to some degree, they have morphed into one of those bands I have so much history with that I probably will never 'ignore' one of their new records outright, clinging to the faint hope that they might one day rekindle the strength and momentum of the songwriting that used to define them. Once in awhile, they will still surprise me, as they did on A Sense of Purpose in 2008, the one album they've released past the turn of the century which I have actually enjoyed. Modern and 'emo', with a little groove, sure...but packed with great In Flames riffs and a few tunes (like "Alias") that I daresay were unique enough that you're likely never going to hear them anywhere else.

But since that point...six years of steady declination, first with Sounds of a Playground Fading, a watered down and 'safer' alternative to A Sense of Purpose (which was already plenty accessible and kid friendly with the Korn-like artwork), and now with Siren Charms, as structured a squamous midlife crisis turd as they've ever escorted out the studio doors, and I'd be hard pressed to think of a past album I enjoyed less...maybe Soundtrack to Your Escape, or Come Clarity, but I'd have to go back and re-listen to them, and after forcing myself through THIS a requisite third time (with alcohol stirred into my coffee), the mood does not strike me to do so. Siren Charms is a record that not only gives credibility to the voices that have been shouting down this band for whatever reason (changes in sound, general visibility and appeal), but compounds their complaints by channeling some of the most shallow, redundant grooves and banal plastic pop-rock oriented songwriting you've ever heard outside fucking Abba (who are exponentially better than this on a bad day). Disclaimer: I have no problem with a band evolving or devolving its sound in whatever direction. If In Flames put out a record that sounded like Seven and the Ragged Tiger, or Thriller, and it was GOOD, then I would be the first on board and let the naysayers choke on my exhaust.

This is not good.

UN-good. You keep waiting for the money shot and it stays softcore, with your eyes affixed on its shaved bottom as it thrusts halfheartedly for the camera crew. Let me slightly abridge that...there are two, possibly three minor 'positives' to the experience. The electronics used throughout the disc, like in the intro to opener "In Plain View", gave me the false impression that the album might explore the sort of retro future synth stuff that I've been heavily into lately, which I admit might be a pretty cool blend with some solid melodeath riffing (bands have done synth stuff in this niche before, but not quite in the way I'm picturing). Where these lines appear, they're sort of cool, but there just aren't enough of them to feel like it's a fully realized idea, they are simply intros or distractions. Secondly, as much as I'm not interested in hearing Anders' whining, cleaner vocals, he has actually succeeded here in smoothing over his pitch and delivery so they don't feel quite so ragged and screamy as they have since Reroute to Remain where he started leaning in this direction. I'm just saying, if N'Flames was truly to become N'Sync, now he just needs the dance moves, because he could get by on his voice with the support of another four boys. Finally, there are a handful (less than a handful) of riff passages on the disc that don't deserve my complete loathing, because they approach A Sense of Purpose levels of memorability at the very least, with that same style of processed nu-thrash.

Otherwise, the album is one for the dogs. The band spends so much time trying to build a strong chorus that they can barely stick one...even on a tune like "Through Oblivion" where it does carry some emotional poignancy but it always feels half-formed, like they were going to induce another melody or twist in there and it just doesn't happen. There is far, far too much fucking restraint on this album, to the extent that I almost found myself pleading for Anders to RETURN to that dirty and whiny voice, only because it felt more passionate. This just feels heavily overdubbed, punched in laconically in-studio and generally scrapped together, whether it's the vocal placement or the riffs, a few of which have nice, gently layered harmonies in a cubicle, corporate pop metal sens. There are some tracks like "With Eyes Wide Open" which are downright embarrassing, like they were trying to write material for a long lost Boston album for the ladies and the lighters. And without exception the groove/nu metal riffing substrate is lamentably bad, without even an inkling of a stylish idea or a pattern of chords that at least makes you want to genuinely shake your ass.

Some will take exception as always to the tidy, mechanized production values, but that is the least of the issues with this disc. The cover artwork: bland. The female guest vocals on "When the World Explodes": ridiculous, making it sound like a throwaway Epica/Nightwish/Within Temptation crossover. Who-cares bass-lines and paint-by-numbers metalcore chug-downs. The lyrics are generally very ambiguous accessible emotional crap like 'In the darkest of nights/you are my endless fire inside' or 'Where I have nothing/there's no hate/room to breathe/no envy and nothing to lose'...a bunch of nonsense that the guy will claim is very 'personal' and 'self-affirmation' oriented but was probably written lazily on a napkin at some restaurant on tour. Song titles are almost unanimously cliches that have been done so many times before (with the exception of "Siren Charms" itself), and at its very best, they've only got tunes on this that are 1/4th of what a good modern In Flames track should incorporate. Even if we ignore the band they used to be, when they were constantly on the upswing career-wise, and pretend they formed up in 2001, there are infinitely better songs on Reroute to Remain or A Sense of Purpose. Even the last full-length was an order of magnitude superior and I struggled to remember many of the specifics 15 minutes of hearing them...

I understand Fridén is probably venting his anger that he's not in Killswitch Engage or Ariana Grande's dance partner or something, but I just can't understand how members like Gelotte and Iwers let themselves be continuously booked a berth on this sinking ship. Are the paychecks really all that fat? Perhaps at the next 'minutes in the meeting of the hiveminds of In Flames' the two of you can just get up and each kick Anders in one of his balls, though I have my doubts they are still in place, and put out a proper fucking metal album again with blazing, inspirational harmonies, savage words and riffs that get the heads banging. This album has no heads banging, in any sense of the phrase... impotent, joyless major label tripe that deserves all the excrement foisted upon it. Despite what I said in the opening paragraph, I'm going to have a hard time justifying any curiosity for what comes next.

Verdict: Fail [2.75/10] (another feeling dies)

http://inflames.com/

In Flames - Sounds of a Playground Fading (2011)

In a maneuver that surprises no one, the first post-Strömblad album from In Flames continues to polarize the band's fan base and tread ever closer to the pop rock orientations that have been hinted at for almost a decade (beginning around Reroute to Remain). The modus operandi of the previous album returns: big hooks, emotional vocals that alternate between happiness and despair, traditional/power metal inspired solos, and plenty of modern metal grooves to sate the festival audiences whose moshing aspirations include anything with a guitar mute. If anything, it pushes well past A Sense of Purpose into the terrain of pure, mainstream heavy rock, with the faint traces of the band's 90s melodic riffing structures the one thing anchoring it to any semblance of the band's backlog.

Now, I happened to enjoy A Sense of Purpose, much to my shock. There were about 7-8 songs there that mustered memorable guitar patterns, overly whining but effective vocals, and a nice variation in grooves and tempos, and the rest of the record did not fall far behind. I'm honestly not opposed to In Flames doing whatever the hell they want with themselves, as long as the music entertains, and even if it wasn't perfect, that album seemed to strike a good balance of their modern elements and the songwriting skill of the prior decade. Sounds of a Playground Fading builds upon similar aesthetics, only heavily favoring the slower to mid-paced fare and cleaning up on the processing of the production. There's much more clarity to the rhythm guitar and a lot of positive punch to the heavier sections, yet the lion's share of the new tracks seem to lack that same level of explosive energy that had my ears buzzing with the most bliss I had for the band since Whoracle. Some even feel like neutered, cardboard cutouts of previous tunes.

For example, the 2nd riff in "Puzzle", my favorite song on this album, is strikingly similar to a number of patterns used in "Disconnected", "The Mirror's Truth", and so forth, but at least it compensates with a passionate momentum and some uplifting atmosphere. The title track has a lot of the rhythmic bounce that dominated Reroute to Remain, with pleasant but predictable fills that don't inspire much hope for the rest of the fare. There are mild electronic influences (as in the intro to "Where the Dead Ships Dwell") and acoustic intros ("All For Me", "Fear is the Weakness"), but these are all par for the course after the previous set of albums, and they aren't writing anything so sugary here that this diversification brings strength to the song structures.

Then there are a few songs that feel plain weak. "Jester's Door" is this self-referential, spoken word piece which had me gagging up my lunch. I'm not sure if it's a metaphor for Jesper's time with the band, or refers to the constant criticism leveled at the band for their ever morphing sound strategy, but its cheesy and should have been left on the cutting room floor. "A New Dawn" feels like an attempt to channel back to the times of Clayman or Whoracle, but the dual melody is simply too familiar, the grooves entirely lackluster. "The Attic" and "Liberation" see the band more directly in pop/modern rock terrain, the former a moody piece with atmospheric guitars and mostly whispered vocals, the latter radio rock with echoing guitar lines redolent of Amorphis on Tuonela...

Yeah, sure, great. So you can write mediocre rock songs that abandon the metal of your youths. Are these anything more than emo exercises for Anders? You can write them. That doesn't mean you HAVE TO, and such pieces serve only to the detriment of this record, unless In Flames are trying to land a spot on the soundtrack to the latest season of The Hills. Again, I'm not in opposition to such branching out, but the Swedes will always be the best at their heavier material, and Sounds of a Playground Fading ultimately needs a lot more of it to choke by. There are some decent cuts here ("The Puzzle" and "Ropes") that adapt and refine the tactics of the last album, but where I found myself unexpectedly in step with that effort's blaze of glory, I just kept drawing blanks this time. Sounds of a Playground Fading is hardly their worst, and I got more out of it than, say, Soundtrack to Your Escape, but its not about to win them many new friends.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.inflames.com/

In Flames - Subterranean EP (1994)

The In Flames of 1994 was a very different entity than what the band has become today, but it's interesting to listen back and realize just how much their core, melodic values have remained the same. In fact, now that Jesper Strömblad has departed, there is not a single original member left in the band from those formative days before the band took off in a skyward direction with The Jester Race, perhaps the finest melodic death metal album I've ever heard. But the seeds for success were being sown as early as the debut Lunar Strain, and certain on this 5-track EP, its follow-up.

You won't be hearing Anders Fridén's emotional snarling or any use of electronics and excess multi-tracking to modernize or debilitate the compositions here. This was strictly melodic death metal in the same vein as Dark Tranquillity, though In Flames had the early jump on that band in terms of production values. Subterranean sounded quite excellent for its day, from the bloodied vocals of Henke Forss (who generally dabbled in far more extreme bands like Dawn and Niden Div. 187). Strömblad and Glenn Ljungström were as evenly matched here as they would be on The Jester Race, and the drums are split between Daniel Erlandsson (Arch Enemy, Eucharist, and others) and Anders Jivarp (Dark Tranquillity), with Johan Larsson on bass, who would go on to Hammerfall for a short time.

"Stand Ablaze" is an excellent pick to open the EP, for the searing dual melodies are nearly the equal of anything on the following album, and there are plenty of them...as the band cycles from the melancholic intro of pianos and sampled conversational voices to a smorgasboard of showy riffing that pretty much sets the standard for the entire genre, surpassing the band's previous effort Lunar Strain. It's carnal, emotional and showing all the love for traditional metal guitars, like an Iron Maiden jacked up in proficiency. "Ever Dying" continues right where the first track leaves off, with a more downtrodden, somber aggression cast through a mid-paced storm of charging, rampant guitars, and a nice, shifting melodic thrash breakdown after 2:00 which is the apex of the entire song. "Subterranean" is absolutely glorious, in particular where the guitars erupt after 1:30 into a wall of stark, festive majesty. "Timeless" is a catchy acoustic instrumental which nearly rivals "The Jester's Dance" from the following album, and "Biosphere" closes the effort with a folksy surge and some precision riffing that borders on frenzied, technical thrash.

If you have somehow never versed yourself in this band's charms, or perhaps you're just hated the band due to some of their more modern efforts (Come Clarity, Reroute to Remain, etc), you should first direct yourself towards The Jester Race. But Subterranean would come directly after that, for it has much the same impact, with the one exception being the vocals. Some would argue that Forss was a better fit than Fridén, and I can't debunk the theory entirely, though I really enjoyed the latter's work on a few of the band's albums before the turn of the century. Crucial material here for any fan of 90s melodic death metal, and as it is generally sold in a package with Lunar Strain, you get more bang for less lightening of the wallet.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (remembering how it used to be)

http://www.inflames.com/

In Flames - A Sense of Purpose (2008)

I'll admit I had very little expectations towards this new album, and even less after seeing the Korn-like cover art. It didn't help that pretty much everyone I know hated it from the start.

But here's the thing...I like it. I really, really like it. It started with me liking only the first 5-6 tracks, but now I like pretty much the whole damn ordeal. Here I go again, losing all credibility, right? Wrong. It's the best In Flames album of the 21st century and my favorite since at least Clayman. The reason is because they've taken a lot of these tangents they've been on for the past half a decade: the vocal experimentation, electronic elements, and groovier guitar riffing (dare I say nu-metal?); and they've welded them successfully into their earlier, inspirational melodic death hooks to produce a powerful expression. Anders vocals have TRULY come together on this one, I have to admit.

In Flames is the soundtrack of futility and frustration but achieved through uplifting, energetic melodic riffing, slamming grooves and impassioned cries. They have found their Sense of Purpose, and delivered, and it's about damn time. "The Mirror's Truth" presents a salvo of super emotional melodies and layered chorus parts with great guitar work, but not afraid to break it down with some insanely awesome melodeath grooving. "Disconnected" weaves its course around one of the best thrash metal riffs I've heard this year. "Sleepless Again" features the return of the great acoustic guitars we haven't really heard since their early work, even if only for a small part of the song. Ditto with "Alias", except the acoustics are a mid section surrounded by an excellent, mid-paced melodic, passionate track with an unforgettable chorus smothered in some great, anthemic riffs. "I'm the Highway" is pure fucking In Flames, melodic death metal at its finest, with adorable little guitar lines. "Delight and Angers" begins with an excellent pit groove, yet entirely thrash. This isn't even half the fucking album yet, but you get the point!

It may be nearly impossible to convince the multitude who have had a hate on for In Flames for well near a decade that anything they do is worthwhile, but if that doesn't include you, for the love of the firmanent check this album out, get lost in its squalor, its frustration, and its beauty, because it is an excellent record and....FINALLY! If it took a few years of mediocre efforts like Come Clarity and Soundtrack to Your Escape to arrive here, then I welcome it. And I will welcome more, as long as it's this good.

One of my favorite metal albums this year to listen to while I'm driving.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (I become the distance)

http://www.inflames.com/