Review Summary: What In Flames offers in subtlety they deliver in mediocrity.
In Flames has sealed their fate.
For the last ten or so years, In Flames has been on a roller coaster ride in their careers, reaching between genuine consistency, and total mockery in their own complacency. Everyone’s a critic when it comes to their “post-
Clayman” era, always trying to find something to whine about how they seemed to have forgotten the “good-ole-days” of their melodic death metal roots. Regardless, most of what they had to offer was still enjoyable (if not listenable) at all, but more and more people are begging for In Flames to return to the band they once were twenty years ago. And for those people, the wait is most likely over. Not because
Siren Charms has In Flames returning to their roots, but because they don’t want to.
Siren Charms ultimately proves Anders Friden’s statement on how they don’t want to do another
Whorcle or
Jester Race. Seemingly enough, what this album really wants to be is everything that In Flames weren’t back in their “golden era,” and in return it becomes everything that the fans are cringing at. Nothing in
Siren Charms is either enticing nor exciting enough to attain the attention that they wanted to have for this album.
To give
Siren Charms some credit, the first two songs are actually quite decent openers for the band in general. The introduction to ‘In Plain View’ does have a rather engaging buildup and the rest of the song does in fact have In Flames going as focused as they can, delivering solid musicianship overall, and passing on similar ideas to ‘Everything’s Gone.’ Perhaps another perk to
Siren Charms is that not only does In Flames create some infectiously catchy choruses throughout (‘Through Oblivion’ and the title track are some great examples of this), but they seem to have mastered it. The overall flow of many of the fluid choruses do in fact have some great effect, perhaps even better than many of their previous albums beforehand.
Regardless, there are two major things that not only set back In Flames entirely, but practically kill most of this record, which are the complete lack of energy, and Anders vocals. Songs like ‘Rusted Nail’ and ‘When the World Explodes’ try hard to represent that In Flames still retain their passion, but ultimately enough the solos are lazy, the guitars constantly chugging and the drum beats ineffectively bland, resulting in that the music is never as heavy nor melodic as it wants to be. Anders’ off-key screaming and lackluster singing create even bigger problems for the album as they are completely devoid of energy and zeal. Attempts at making up for this (“When the World Explodes’” female vocals and ‘Rusted Nail’s choir of fans) drive this problem even further as they’re completely unnecessary and are reluctant to create any attention.
Perhaps it is possible that In Flames might not have completely destroyed their careers with
Siren Charms but what this album does prove is that In Flames’ has sealed the deal with their decision to not take a look back at, or perhaps maybe even take a crack at, their past. It’s an interesting idea to say the least, as it does open some doors as to what they plan for on their next album. Not to mention there are some decent moments to be found here. But for the most part, In Flames’ stab at radio rock seems to have made them dive down to a sea of complacency. They say that they’re comfortable with the direction that their going, hell they may even actually
be comfortable with it, but as a result of their unfortunate lack of competence,
Siren Charms is nothing more than a bland, uninteresting, and perhaps an unapologetic record to their fans, both old and new.
