IN FLAMES

It's nearly impossible to discuss IN FLAMES without inciting nearly riotous emotions from the legions of fans who adamantly (and sometimes vehemently) aver that the band lost all worth after "Clayman". I suppose that argument is valid to an extent, as many fans undoubtedly felt abandoned by the stylistic leap taken by the Swedes at the turn of the century, but it is what it is and, from an artistic standpoint, the change has allowed IN FLAMES to experiment with and tweak their sound with each new release. No matter how you feel about the band now, it's hard to argue that they've at least excelled at that. And to their credit, everything the band has released, no matter the era, has at the very least respectable, if not pretty damn good. This time out, IN FLAMES are faithfully continuing their tradition of doing whatever the hell they want and this time they manage to do a little bit of it all.

The band hasn't re-invented itself on "Sounds Of A Playground Fading", but they do offer a pretty diverse platter or solid and enjoyable (for the most part) tunes here. The twin guitars of Björn Gelotte and the returning Niclas Engelin deliver a solid mix of up-tempo thrash, '80s-styled riffing, hook-laden melodies and harmonies throughout the album's entirety. While "The Puzzle", the muscular groove of "Enter Tragedy" and "Fear Is The Weakness" offer enough metallic moments to fill an arena, it's on "Darker Times" and "A New Dawn" that IN FLAMES really shines. The former may be a bit more formulaic, but both are very balanced tunes that give the listener plenty to go back for. The dueling violin and guitar on "A New Dawn" offers one of the disc's coolest moments. "Ropes" and "Liberation" fall a little short of being true standouts, but are still interesting nonetheless, while "Where Dead Ships Dwell" would sound more at home on "Soundtrack To Your Escape". The record's most unique (when set amongst the rest of the collection) is "The Attic". Vocalist Anders Fridén revels in that haunting, semi-spoken word voice he's been known to play with here and there while the guitars lay back in a mellow, bluesy pocket. The vocalist gives a similar, yet more subway-poet vibed, performance with moody electronica replacing the guitars on "Jester's Door". The results are not nearly as effective.

All in all, "Sounds Of A Playground Fading" is a fairly solid effort. No matter what era of IN FLAMES you prefer, I doubt this will top your list, but it should be a part of your collection. If anything, it seems we have yet another chapter in the multi-faceted book that IN FLAMES has spent years writing. This one looks to capture a bit of the aggression of the past, while maintaining the typical forward progress. It'll be interesting to see where they go from here.