In Flames - Sounds of a Playground Fading
My idiocy regarding In Flames has been well documented. I gave up on the band in 2000 when Clayman came out. I thought they’d completely wussed out. Come to find out, I didn’t know it all at age 21. Fast forward a decade later and my favorite song by them is the near-Country ditty from Reroute to Remain (“Metaphor”). What I’m trying to say is that I was wrong and I have no problem admitting it. I love newer In Flames. They have a unique, memorable, instantly identifiable sound and pull it off live to boot. Now that I think about it, I probably haven’t listened to the Mikael Stanne-fronted material since the age of 21. So with my confessional out of the way, let’s get to what is both wrong and right about this poorly titled new release, which is also the first without original founding guitarist Jesper Stromblad. The good: big choruses. It’s their strength. Even the second-tier tracks are sure to have massive choruses that are catchier than hepatitis. The cream of the crop being “Where the Dead Ships Dwell,” which is by far the album’s best song and best lyrics. The production is also stellar as usual. The bad: a bit more filler than expected from them. Tracks like “The Attic” and “Jester’s Door” are pointless and lull the album’s energetic vibe to sleep. Anders Friden is also getting somewhat more adventurous with his vocals from time to time. Those of you familiar with the album’s first single, “Deliver Us,” know exactly what I mean. Certain spots here and there on many other tracks also reveal Friden trying to channel his inner Barry Manilow, and it just doesn’t work. So a slightly flawed album, but still a good one. It just happens to be a moderately weaker link in a chain of super high quality albums that date back… to the beginning really. But the next one may tell the real tale of just how much Stromblad will be missed.
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