Comments on: In Flames – Sounds of a Playground Fading

By: Cynicgods

Cynicgods — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:55:40 +0000

I don’t think Anders’ clean vocals are that bad. They work in the context of his band. What I dislike is the constant need for In Flames to commercialize their sound even further. $$$$ makes the world go round…

Shall give this one a fair trial after work. We’ll see how it fares.

By: mccumberv

mccumberv — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:20:17 +0000

Anders is the problem with In Flames, like Junk said, the dude just cannot sing and refuses to growl, his vocal delivery now is just as bad as it gets. I used to be the biggest In Flames fan back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, have hung out with them numerous times, they are great down to earth dudes, but I think they have just played themselves out of what made them great to begin with, they heard Natural Born Chaos from Soilwork and decided they want to do that and they do it badly….Anyways, they will still sell alot of records and be just fine, I guess someone out there likes this stuff.

By: gabaghoul

gabaghoul — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:24:25 +0000

also, Fred you say that In Flames has now adopted “a more melodic and accessible style” but if that were the case I’d still be on board.

I have no problem with pop music, I love melody and hooks and catchy tracks. If In Flames had written an album full of bright, bouncy and mainstream-baiting hooks and choruses, I’d defend it. But this isn’t that.

By: gabaghoul

gabaghoul — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:20:25 +0000

I like “Deliver Me,” “Where Dead Ships Dwell” and a couple of other songs, but when I say liked, I mean that they were passable, certainly not up to the level of material from Whoracle, Colony or even the best tracks on Come Clarity.

the rest I found to be just miserable. the aggressive stuff wasn’t melodic enough to be In Flames (The Puzzle, what a horrible track) and the rest was just forgettable.

Both Reroute and Come Clarity, while also very unbalanced albums, have much better material than this.

By: KickMyJunk

KickMyJunk — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:19:32 +0000

I’ve listened to this and I have two problems with it. 1. It’s almost completely unrecognizable as In Flames. I thought that perhaps “A Sense of Purpose” was this band’s nadir, but it appears I was dreadfully mistaken. I’m not opposed even to the commercial bent they’ve taken, I just personally feel they’ve failed to pull it off, and a big part of that is reason number 2. Anders absolutely cannot sing. His attempts at clean vocals are mediocre at their very best but more often than not are painful to listen to. He tries, I’ll give him that, but unlike say, Speed Strid, who is able to for the most part pull it off, Anders can’t and never will. Give it up, man.

By: Clauricaune

Clauricaune — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:39:53 +0000

I thought it was an OK album. It does have a couple seriously awful moments, but overall it stays decent and enjoyable. Don’t think I’ll be coming back to this, though.

By: Biff_Tannen

Biff_Tannen — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:43:25 +0000

Dear Laawwd , what a terrible album title!

By: Nick Taxidermy

Nick Taxidermy — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:16:48 +0000

this band is over. this sounds awful.