IN FLAMES' ANDERS FRIDÉN Doesn't Want To Follow Any 'Rules' When It Comes To Songwriting

In a new interview with Jai That Aussie Metal Guy, IN FLAMES singer Anders Fridén spoke about the evolution of the band's sound. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I am aware that not all people follow us from album to album, even though there's a majority that do. And some people don't understand why we're trying this or that. But it's just like… For me as a songwriter or being part of the band, I need to evolve, I need to do something else. I can't just stay in the same place all the time. And that's what I love about music. And that's why I joined a metal band or wanted to be part of a metal band in the beginning because I thought everything was free — you can do whatever the fuck you wanted. It was just later in life I realized, 'Oh, there's all these rules.' I didn't sign up for these rules. Even though I appreciate the people care that much, but I don't wanna be part of those rules. I'm fine with people having rules — 'I'm into this' and 'I only listen to this' — and that's fucking cool. Do whatever you want. But I didn't sign up on those rules. So I wanna do and I wanna take IN FLAMES to a lot of different sonic territories, even though I don't wanna ever lose the sense of melody in writing and so on."

He continued: "I think through all our albums, there's this underlying theme of melody and aggression, even though it appears on every album in slightly different ways. But I really feel we have a sound that you can recognize, which, to me, it's the most important thing. You hear it, 'Oh, that's IN FLAMES.' People don't say, 'Oh, well, that sounds like AC/DC, but it's IN FLAMES.' It is IN FLAMES — no matter what it is, good or bad, whatever, it is IN FLAMES. So, yeah, at the end of the day, it's not going to be an album, a song. It's gonna be, like, we made something out these different chords and it sounds like IN FLAMES and we created a sound that traveled the world, which, to me, it's rewarding to know that."

Last year, IN FLAMES parted ways with bassist Bryce Paul and replaced him with Liam Wilson (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN).

Wilson made his live debut with IN FLAMES on June 7, 2023 at the Release Athens festival in Athens, Greece.

IN FLAMES' latest album, "Foregone", was released in February 2023 via Nuclear Blast. According to a press release, the LP "combines the greatest aggressive, metallic, and melodic strengths of their landmark records with the seasoned songwriting of their postmodern era."

"Foregone" was the second IN FLAMES album with Paul and drummer Tanner Wayne, the first with ex-MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick, and the third with Grammy-winning producer Howard Benson (MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, THREE DAYS GRACE). Mike Plotnikoff (ALL THAT REMAINS, WARBRINGER) engineered at Benson's West Valley Recording Studios. Joe Rickard (10 YEARS, STARSET, DIAMANTE),who played drums for IN FLAMES from 2016 through 2019, handled mixing duties.