'Nother Chapter, 'Nother Update, an 'Nother Album Review: In Flames "Siren Charms"

Hello, everyone. Christian here.

So, I probably should have gotten around to posting this days ago, but we've got another chapter coming up that we're going to release within the week, either tomorrow or some time this weekend depending on what the site traffic looks like.

The new chapter is going to be called 'Everypony Wants to be part of a Heist.' Originally, it and chapter nine where going to be the same entry, but after we were approaching four months without a new update and said chapter had starting getting ridiculously long, again, we split it in two... again. The first half became 'The Joker and The Thief,' and 'Hiest' carried over to the second half. I also figured it be less taxing to read two separate chapters than a 40,000+ word great wall of words that would be harder to digest than the brick of starch made of stuffing and mashed potatoes that'll be sitting in your tumid stomach come tomorrow.

Moving onto personal news, and I really should have posted this weeks ago when it happened, but I finally got back in contact with Joseph again, and reconnected just over the course of the phone call. His interests are taking him in different directions, but he still seems at least open to the idea of working together on future pony projects, maybe even writing for DECEPTION again. Before leaving, he actually came up with some pretty good ideas for the eleventh chapter, so hopefully we'll get to collaborate on those concepts as they're brought to fruition.

Now onto something that I've been meaning to tackle for a while now...

Anyone who knows my tastes in music knows that in the late 2000's, I developed a particular proclivity for In Flames: a metal band hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden. Their style in the recent decade has been more metalcore and eventually alternative influenced, but in the nineties, they along with At The Gates and Dark Tranquility where the pioneers of one of the greatest genres ever conceived: melodic death metal.

My first album of thier's was Soundtrack To Your Escape, which I picked up in 2008. I took a little time to acclimate towards, but once their sound clicked with me, I fell in fucking love with them. I now keep my six-string tuned to drop A#, because that's what In Flames plays in, and I've learned to play at least a dozen of their songs. Material from and pertaining to In Flames was featured prominently in our two-part review/critical assassination of 'The Crystal Empire.' I've spent nearly $200 on their records, both on copies for myself and copies for Joseph, who also got hooked on their material. In Flames was the first band I traveled out of state to see, which was also Joseph's first concert, which was also my early Christmas present for him that year, because I'm cool like that.

However, In Flames is a band that can't be mentioned in metalheaded circles without the fierce division between fans cropping up. Thanks to 2002's Reroute to Remain, which saw a departure from the melodeath genre to a more metalcore sound, there has been contention between those who support the change, and those who scourge In Flames with the brand of 'sell-outs.'

Me, personally, I just supported In Flames. Having listened to all their material, even though I still prefer their melodic death metal material more, I still appreciated most everything that they released while still acknowledging the metamorphosis into a softer and softer group. I even enjoyed 2011's Sounds of a Playground Fading for the most part, even while understanding why so many fans would be left disappointed by the release. And this last September, they released their newest feature, Siren Charms. And having listened to it thoroughly, I can definitively say...

Now they have sold out.

Perhaps I should have made this a video review, so you can properly gauge the disappointment in my words.

So what's the problem here? Well, an awful lot, really. Many of them revolve around vocalist Anders Fridén's contributions, which consist of more clean vocals than he's ever brought to the table. Unfortunately, performing as a metal frontman for twenty-five years haven't been kind to his vocal chords, so he doesn't do clean very well. And when he does bring the screams, it sounds more strained and screechy than anything. Doesn't help that a lot of it sounds off key, either, or that the lyrics feature far less compelling approaches to fading relevance that Anders has been singing about for years. (Oh, the bitter irony...)

Once famous for having dynamic dual guitar leads, most of the string work has been reduced to standard riffs, all in Bb minor. And don't get me wrong, I love that scale (and I love it because of the things they've done with it), but they've approached it from a narrowing angle so often that it's becoming stagnant. Doesn't help that said guitars often diminish or even disappear for the verses, and some of the licks are the even exact same ones they've used before in earlier, far more lively songs. In Flames has never been a beat-oriented band, but the drums consist mostly of the kind of uninspired beats that a beginner would practice, and the only thing to be said about the bass is that at least I can hear it... sometimes.

I heard once that Siren Charms is a true siren song that lures with nothing to offer but despair if heeded, and truer words could hardly be spoken, because I actually felt like a sailor of ancient Greece as I traversed the bewitching tunes of those she-beasts.

If you judge In Flames by the standards of Sounds of a Playground Fading, it actually starts off decently with 'In Plain View' and 'Everything's Gone.' Even though they has a few of the things I was just complaining about and Anders sounds like he's trying to impersonate Modest Mouse's Issac Brock on the latter track, there's still that atmospheric presence that Sounds was great with, and the shortcomings thus more forgivable. But then comes 'Paralyzed,' and the real problems begin. What's wrong with it? Simply put, it's anemic, dull, and seriously is less heavy than the average Breaking Benjamin song... and I like Breaking Benjamin.

So if the waves showed their treachery with 'Paralyzed,' 'Through Oblivion' is what capsized the boat. It's boring, bromidic, and even somehow manages to be worse than Sounds' closing track, 'Liberation,' which I used to say was the worst song they'd ever made. Ding-ding, we have a new champion.

So now that I was helpless to resist the fickle whims of the wicked waters, 'With Eyes Wide Open' is what drove me below the waves, where I spent the next seven minutes fighting against it and the equally trite title track for air. Only six songs in, and the good songs where already outnumbered two to one. Things weren't looking good.

Then 'When The World Explodes' began, and I thought "Oh, thank God, a break! Sure, Anders is screeching like a dying seagull and the guitars are just brainlessly chugging out breakdowns like amateurs, but at least it's got some damn energy behind it! I just might be able to ride this one out!" But then the ocean thought, "lol, nope," and sent me back under the waves with the spontaneous, jarring interjection of symphonic-style synthesizers and guest vocalist Emilia Feldt. I'd say it's reminiscent of Come Clarity's 'Dead End' featuring Lisa Miskovsky, but on that track, Anders and Lisa played off each other excellently, instead of creating a dissonance that could only be replicated by letting Scuttle handle backing vocals in 'Kiss The Girl.' Now I'll admit, Emilia is talented vocalist, but the way she sings like she's lulling a baby to sleep and how the entire composition of the song shifts gears to accommodate is as jarring as if In Flames had spliced in some of that gentle J-pop crap that Square Enix has been arbitrarily stuffing into their Final Fantasy titles.

(Final Fantasy... a series known for defining a genre, only for the pursuit of unnecessary, questionable renovations whittled them down the paths of mediocrity and eventual atrocity, becoming a monstrosity unrecognizable as its former self... oh, the bitter irony...)

Eight songs in, and finally the lead single 'Rusted Nail' bursts out the gate with its great use of building momentum and arena-appealing hooks. I managed to break the surface, gasp for air, and sing along with the chorus for long enough before 'Dead Eyes' sent me back underwater again, and 'Monsters in the Ballroom' exhausted what little air I had left.

Finally, the closing track 'Filtered Truth' began, and the grim realization that this was to be my watery grave sunk in like the vile cold of the savage seas. But then, miraculously, the song summoned enough energy for me to break the surface, swim back to the shore from which I departed with stars and promise in my eyes, where I wept bitterly for the cruel turn of fate.

If that sounds a little over-dramatic, it's because you haven't listened to this album. Okay, in all seriousness, it's often been said that In Flames is a band that rewards persistent listening: even if it doesn't click at first, a few more listens should give it a chance to grow on you. So I actually went back and listened to the record again. Several times. And while it certainly isn't fantastic, I found I didn't have as adverse a reaction as when I first heard it... but then, out of curiosity, I went back and listened to Sounds of a Playground Fading again, and holy shit: it sounds like a fucking masterpiece compared to Siren Charms.

For as much as I've spat all over this record, it does have its moments... and that just makes it all the more sad. There are some interesting parts even on 'Through Oblivion' (that lasts for a few measly seconds...), but it's been buried so far below the generic, going-through-the-motions, empty tank syndrome that permeates the rest of the record that it's more a dismal reminder of what could have been. It's just a bland, uninteresting album, even if you're only comparing it to the record before it. It's not even good on it's own inconsistent terms... But compared to their older works, it makes records like Reroute to Remain sound as revolutionary as their genre-defining 1995 release, The Jester Race. And when you consider that four out of five of the musicians are the same guys who made albums like Colony and Clayman, it'll make you want to roll up into a ball and weep.

Now, anyone with a dissenting opinion is going to be inclined to point out that doing the same things over and over again is the fastest way to get old (look at Disturbed...), and that alterations are necessary to remain fresh, or at least interesting. And I agree, but there's building upon a foundation to refine your talents and sound with time, and then there's gradually abandoning everything that made you great until you've pigeonholed yourself into an evolutionary dead end. And even in their melodeath days, In Flames wasn't regurgitating the same materiel every few years: The Jester Race sounds different from Whoracle, and Colony has distinctiveness that sets it apart from it's predecessors.

Even then, radical change isn't mandatory to maintain credibility. Last year, KoЯn reunited with guitarist Brian 'Head' Welch, recorded a record founded in their roots and flavored with their recent releases, and that album was widely considered to be their best work in over a decade. Sevendust, who have been around nearly as long as KoЯn, have made so few modifications to their content over the years that they've changed less than some bands change in between records, and yet the stuff they also released in 2013 rocks as hard as the music they were making back in the nineties. Fuck, At The Gates: one of the original melodeath kings originally disbanded in 1997, but they reformed in recent years and just this last October released At War With Reality, and that album is fucking phenomenal. And even though it's been nineteen years since they released Slaughter Of The Soul and there is a clear difference between both records, it's often been commented that it sounds as though they never left.

I didn't want to dislike Siren Charms as intensely as I do, but it's just not a good album. My hope for the greatest thing that In Flames can take from this is a learning experience for what they can avoid in the future, and how they can actually build upon their talents and create something spectacular: whatever it takes to keep from making a record like this shamble ever again.

Do better next time, guys. Please do better.

4 out of 10.

Should you so please for some reason, you can listen to Siren Charms in its entirety here. Don't say I haven't warned you.

- Christian 'Happy Thanksgiving' Harisay

Comments

[Green--October]

Metal artists have great album art!