IN FLAMES New album review "Siren Charms"

Let's be fair towards IN FLAMES for once. As far back as 1999 and 'Ordinary Story' the shadows of the sound that they would eventually develop had already appeared. What followed was a decade and a half long escape from the band's melodic death metal roots. Like most of the fans of their older releases, I have come to terms a long time ago with the fact that pleasing my taste isn't any kind of priority for IN FLAMES any more. They have even flat out stated it in interviews.

Now, with 'Siren Charms' the band strips away the last remains of its former self and throws them on the ground. Instead of the never ending train of guitar harmonies that marked even their later offerings, IN FLAMES now offer only melancholic, and often keyboard-driven mid tempo songs. Björn Gelotte's once furious riffs erupt out of that base from time to time – but in a restrained manner that makes them almost unrecognisable.

However, it is not necessarily a bad thing that IN FLAMES are trying to reinvent their sound as a post-metal reflection of their former selves. Restraint actually helps them on the new ground they are breaking. And 'Siren Charms' at least offers some catchier and more memorable songs than its predecessor, 'Sounds of a Playground Fading' (2011).

Tracks like the title one, 'With Eyes Wide Open' and 'Rusted Nail' finally crown the band's alternative and almost pop-sounding experiments with the choruses and melodies that they need to stick in your head. The emotional gradation towards the solo in 'Dead Eyes' is dramatic enough to grab your attention, while the addition of female vocals in 'When the World Explodes' really does make the song stand out. (Compared to those, the aggressive riffs in album's most metal moment – 'Everything's Gone' – sound out of context.)

This whole concept for a more polished and accessible sound doesn't really work, though. IN FLAMES sound like they want to grow up and evolve musically, but can't. A big reason for that are Anders Fridén's vocal moans that anchor the band's sound in a fog of semi-melancholy, semi-anger that isn't quite both. IN FLAMES seem unable to get out of it, no matter what kind of songs they write. With a better singer this album could have been something big. Now it is just one big nothing.