Review Summary: While by no means a contender with the Jester Race, or even Clayman, Sounds of a Playground Fading is as strong as anything that In Flames has put out over the last few years.
In Flames have managed to attract much attention over the past twenty or so years of their being a band. Up until their debut, no body had successfully married the beauty and melody of band like Iron Maiden with the dark, edgier music of the death metal genre. In Flames impeccably accomplished the task with Lunar Strain, The Jester Race, and Whoracle. From that point onward, In Flames began to change, subtly at first, but after two more records, the change became drastic. Sounds of a Playground Fading is a great deviation from their original form, but it is still a solid release at its core.
This is not the same band that produced The Jester Race. As a result, it peeves me that so many reviews since Reroute to Remain have treated In Flames as if they have the intention of making more melodic death metal. It should be clear by now that they don't care for that sound anymore. Sounds of a Playground fading is a clear testament to that fact, ironically by its namesake, but also by the musicianship.
The song structures are exceptionally (read: “painfully”) simple, offering very little surprise. Perhaps the greatest perpetrator on this release is Deliver Us. This song is great fun to listen to, but the fun wears off after a while because it falls victim to the used and abused formula of “intro: verse: chorus: verse: chorus: solo: chorus: outro.” For the most part, this formula is employed liberally throughout the album. Fortunately, the monotony is broken by Darker Times and Enter Tragedy. Both songs employ solos after their first choruses, and then each have another following the second.
Even so, there is one song that proves to be a first for In Flames as far as songwriting goes, that song being The Attic. I would count Jester's Door, but that is more of an interlude than a full fledged song. The Attic is a laid-back song that is has a pseudo-progressive feel to it. Using only clean electric guitar tones and ambient electronic backing sounds, this song slows down the album to allow the listener a few moments to catch his breath. The lyrics are structured as a single passage with a couple of breaks for short, but well paced solos. While not a very strong song, it is good to see In Flames try something new that works very well in setting the mood for the album. Additionally, the lyrics for this song are the most well written on Sounds of Playground Fading. Anders paints his picture well with no filler words or phrases. I wish the same could be said for the rest of the album, but unfortunately the other lyrics fall victim to Anders' obvious struggle with English mechanics.
The albums' weak points might have been in the songwriting and the lyrics, but the true greatness of this outing manifest themselves in the instrumentation and production. True, the bass is barely audible and the drumming is slightly above average, but since this has become the norm for In Flames and the rest of the alternative metal genre, this is forgivable. This leaves the guitar work and the production. The latter is excellent. Roberto Laghi did a very good job at keeping the sound full and atmospheric, but again, the bass guitar feels set in the background. I enjoyed how the drums actually sound like drums and not wooden crates as they did on Reroute To Remain and Soundtrack To Your Escape. Needless to say, this is a guitar and vocal driven album. They are the two most prominent aspects present in the mix. Again, this is disappointing coming from a band with such phenomenal roots, but it should be expected given the genre of this release. Jesper Stromblad's departure from the band shows on this record, but Bjorn Gelotte proves to be a worthy songwriter himself. Whether for better or for worse, this record's structure does not stray too far from those of A Sense of Purpose and Come Clarity. Either way, Bjorn does a well enough job of filling in his departed bandmate's shoes. Another aspect of this album that I feel needs to be mentioned here is the backing sound. It ranges from ambient to legitimately adding to the melodies, particularly on the choruses of Where the Dead Ships Dwell and Darker Times. I found these song to be both solid on the band's part, but the synth on these songs made them even more enjoyable for me.
I particularly enjoyed the sort of nostalgic feeling produced by this album. The harmonized guitar riffs from the earlier years might not be at the forefront, but they still creep into the songs every now and then. All For Me opens with a clean guitar riff that instantly made me think of the opening to Square Nothing from Clayman. Fear is the Weakness also produces the same feeling with it's similar, yet shorter intro. Additionally, the main riff on the song Ropes sounds as like simplified version of that memorable riff from Swim, also on the Clayman album. I cant say if all this reference to Clayman was intentional or not, but it certainly added to the album in a positive way.
I have said that Sounds of a Playground Fading should not have come as a surprise to anyone. This is true in the regard that it is not a sequel to The Jester Race or Clayman. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the band members still work with one another. The departure of Jesper is regrettable, but Bjorn proves to be a capable songwriter for In Flames, not altering their vision, but focusing it. This album has it's downfalls, but it has enjoyable aspects ranging from throwbacks to the Clayman album to the fun sounding guitar work on a number of songs. While this is certainly not the best In Flames has to offer out of their whole catalog, it is indeed on of the most streamlined of their mainstream career.
Tasty Treats:
All For Me
Fear is the Weakness
The Attic
Where the Dead Ships Dwell
Darker Times
Ropes
