In Flames - Siren Charms

Published September 13 2014

*=Staff's pick	In Plain View Everything's Gone* Paralyzed* Through Oblivion With Eyes Wide Open* Siren Charms When The World Explodes* Rusted Nail Dead Eyes Monsters On The Ballroom Filtered Truth

Genre	Alt./Heavy/Mainstream Metal	Anders Fridén	Vocals
Tracks	11	Björn Gelotte	Guitar
Running time	45 Min.	Niclas Engelin	Guitar
Label	Sony Music/Epic Records	Peter Iwers	Bass
Release	05 September 2014	Daniel Svensson	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Producer	D. Bergstrand, R. Laghi, In Flames
Similar artists	---

In Flames is hereby finally proclaimed being entirely off the extreme side of metal. The band has taken yet another step away from its roots and if you take a look at how the band has progressed and at the band's development during the last decade, you wouldn't be straight to yourself if you said that this next step wasn't expected.

As you've already figured out, this new release has nothing in common with what was delivered during the earlier parts of the band's career, but you can hardly blame them for picking the wrong path if you look at how big their fanbase has become. Most people would probably choose this direction too, if they were given the opportunity to do so. Even if man generally has a stubborn way to deal with things that differ from the standards, I bet you all would prefer playing in a prominent band before large audiences than be playing in a band with a smaller number of diehard fans just for the sake of staying true to your game.

I generally like what Siren Charms has to offer, but I would lie myself blind if I told you that this course is the right one in terms of In Flames being able to engender an awesome and mind-blowing album. The band concentrates on something that has heavy sides to it, but at the end of the day it mainly is somewhat of a polished and well-thought-out product with massive focus on the choruses, to bring forth something that has a predisposed system all over it. I somehow also wonder if the band will find it quite odd to perform the older material live when they obviously prefer to write and record less brutal things nowadays.

Vocalist Anders Fridén is today more a singer than a screamer, but I frankly can't compliment him on his choice, because he neither has the capacity nor the talent to come out strong in the end. He has profound passion and empathy, but also a distinct lack of power and strength in his appearance over almost the entire record. He actually sort of tries to cover his shortages with whining and squeaking expressions. Let's face it; some things are better off without change.

So why on Earth do I hand out 7 chalices to Siren Charms? I do so, because this is in fact a rather great record, although it has nothing to do with the old In Flames. A major part of the songs are highly valid as scream-a-longs and I wouldn't be the least surprised if this album would do really well with today's aspects of record sales. Yes, they have become pretty mainstream, which we all know is an ugly word in metal, but still they are highly competent to put a good record out.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	6	6	5	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Tobbe