Another In Flames record, another chance for them to further alienate an audience unfairly expecting a sequel to ‘The Jester Race’, right? Well, while ‘Battles’ is far from a breakneck, breakeverything album in the stylings of the band’s youth, it actually has a crack at uniting the camps on either side of the post-‘Clayman’ divide.
The band appeared to have pied off their melodic death metal roots on recent records – 2014’s ‘Siren Charms’, in particular, is not well regarded among the faithful – but ‘Battles’, In Flames’ 12th LP, is stacked with twin-lead bliss.
The End, the album’s lead single, features the dual guitar melodies we associate with classic In Flames, applying them to a slicker, rock-based format akin to Deliver Us from ‘Sounds Of A Playground Fading’.
Through My Eyes, meanwhile, launches into a full-throttle assault reminiscent of some of the sharper material from ‘Come Clarity’, with Peter Iwers’ bass rumbling through the verses like a campervan full of anvils.
The Jesper Strömblad-shaped hole at the band’s heart has been adequately filled for the first time since his departure, with Björn Gelotte and Niclas Engelin riffing their way through otherwise throwaway tracks such as Like Sand and Before I Fall. Gelotte’s solo on the title track, for example, is a standout moment in an otherwise pedestrian exercise.
Aside from the radio-pandering musical backbone In Flames have strengthened since ‘Come Clarity’, many fans’ grievances focus on the bearded beast out front, Anders Fridén. Over the course of the band’s career, death growls progressed to screams, screams progressed to gruff singing, which progressed to, well, actual singing. ‘Battles’ readjusts that balance.
Right from the off on Drained, Fridén’s screams are in line with his mid-’00s work before a throaty chorus swoops in next to some synths. There are electronically triggered vocals on Save Me and Like Sand that are, to be fair, absolute dogshit, but Fridén redeems himself with Here Until Forever. Dedicated to his son, the sometimes clichéd content is forgiven due to the vocalist’s sheer conviction. “When I look at you I see me,” is the truest, most genuine line on this record. Make of that what you will.
‘Battles’ is In Flames exhuming previous work, dumping it on top of new stuff and hoping it doesn’t smell. It’s similar in that regard to ‘Come Clarity’, but with a lower hit rate. Half of the choruses on this album are huge, while the other half want to be huge but skipped leg day. But it is good for the most part. If you abandoned In Flames a few years back it might be worth giving ‘Battles’ a go. There are some wonderful singalong melodies to be had, riffs for days and, well, you might just take to the band’s latest career-spanning mish-mash a little better than the last few.
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