IN FLAMES Frontman Says Wait to Land New U.S. Deal Was 'Frustrating'

IN FLAMES frontman Anders Fridén recently spoke to MTV.com about being without a label deal in the U.S. for much of this year despite having completed their latest effort, "Come Clarity", in early 2005.

"It's been frustrating waiting this long to get an album out," he said. "It was finished in April [of 2005]. We wrote it at the end of 2004. And now it's going to be released on February 7. The songs still feel fresh to us and to our fans — no matter when it was recorded, it's a new album to them. I think it still represents IN FLAMES and where we are. But it was hard."

Regarding their participation in this past summer's Ozzfest, Fridén said, "We saw it as a big promotional machine, and we got a chance to play in front of a huge crowd that doesn't normally listen to IN FLAMES. But we won't know for sure until the album is out. I mean, looking back, I'd rather have been on the second stage."

Fridén considers "Come Clarity" "a bit more aggressive, and a bit more uptempo," but said it still possesses all the "elements of IN FLAMES. It's always been about this balance between aggression and melody. It's just another step in our evolution. I don't know where we're going exactly. But I know where we've come from. We just try to top ourselves each time and be happy with the result. That's all we can do. Now it's up to the public to judge us."

As if IN FLAMES isn't keeping him busy enough, Fridén's also working on the second album from his side project Passenger.

"It's in the works, but I don't have time," he said. "I would like to release [a Passenger LP] sometime [in 2006], because we've recorded 10 of the album's 12 songs already. It's been a very slow process." Fridén once again worked with guitarist Niklas Engelin, bassist Hakan Skoger, drummer Patrik Sten and keyboardist Pierre Sten on the outing, which has no definitive release date yet.