Patric Ullaeus/revolver.se
Sweden’s In Flames exorcize their demons
Gothenburg Sweden’s In Flames is one of the best-known Scandinavian metal bands in the world. The atom smashing outfit has come a long way since they got their start on Nuclear Blast records back in 1993 heating up icy pubs with their charred chords and opening for old-school darlings like Kreator. Able to run the gambit from scathing black metal fury to soaring melodic overtures the group has sold over two million albums to a swelling fan base that enjoys the merits of a good sonic pummelling.
“It’s been amazing you know being a band for that long and doing what we’ve done” says vocalist Anders Fridén. “We’ve released our 10th album and I am as proud and excited today as I was when we released the first. We sold gold in Sweden way faster than on previous albums and we had some of our biggest and best shows in our home country. It’s been really really good. And just being able to continue and feel creative and passionate about what we do after such a long time I think we’ve renewed ourselves and our whole attitude towards what we’ve been doing and we can really appreciate that we’re here and the response we’re getting from our fans. It’s awesome.”
And it isn’t for nothing that Fridén is feeling a sense of relief and rejuvenation. The entire band including guitarist (and former drummer) Björn Gelotte bassist Peter Iwers drummer Daniel Svensson and on-again off-again guitarist Niclas Engelin have had reason to reflect on their raison d’être following the departure of founding guitarist-keyboardist Jesper Strömblad.
“Bjorn’s been writing the music and creating the lyrics melodies and arrangements and such” Fridén says. “Me Jesper and Bjorn were the three writing on pretty much all the other albums and so it’s not so much different to be honest except it’s just now we are two people instead of three.
“The dynamic within the band has changed a little bit since now we have Niclas. He’s been in and out of the band as well. We’ve known him from the underground scene for over 20 years. So it’s good to have a friend along…. It’s good. It’s not really a start but a continuation.”
Compelled to put a relevant spin on their work without paving over their dark roots In Flames released Sounds of a Playground Fading in June 2011. A masterful demonstration of the group’s talent for manipulating the diametric forces of power and restraint Playground Fading has all the trappings of a tightly wrapped prog album but painted at a frenetic pace and with sheer amplitude few rock bands can or would dare to match. That is something Fridén attributes to the super-magnetic arc of the band’s technical progress and personal growth over the past 22 years.
“I kind of approached Playground Fading from a different angle. It’s not about me as a person but an outlook on the view that we have” Fridén says. “I started to think about what would happen if the world as we knew it ended in two years five years whatever and how that would change us as human beings. How would we attack such a life-changing thing? Will we change the way we speak? How will it change relations between people? Between nations? I mean what will that do to man really? I used that for inspiration and drew the lyrics from that within the 13 songs that are obviously small stories but that’s the overall theme. It’s not a concept album but I used that as a platform.
“Writing music creating from nothing and doing it is an adventure altogether to go through that process” he continues. “Sometimes I surprise myself in the spur of the moment — it’s almost like I’m doing it out of my own body. And later you listen back to it and it’s like ‘Holy shit! Cool!’”
