If ‘The Jester Race‘ is one of your favourite ever albums, you probably gave up on In Flames a couple albums ago. That odd alternative transition spooked the band’s stalwart fans into looking elsewhere to get their melodic death metal fix. But re-signing to the label that housed the Swedes during their finest moments, ‘Battles’ might just shoot off an old-school flare…
[tracklist]
01. Drained
02. The End
03. Like Sand
04. The Truth
05. In My Room
06. Before I Fall
07. Through My Eyes
08. Battles
09. Here Until Forever
10. Underneath My Skin
11. Wallflower
12. Save Me
[/tracklist]
[details]
[record_label]Nuclear Blast[/record_label]
[release_date]11th November 2016[/release_date]
[/details]
This particular month seems like a trend in Swedish bands releasing appeasement albums to long time fans of the band in question. Hammerfall have just done it, and with the same set of circumstances in a new label, In Flames appear to have done so too. The Gothenburg maestros gave me nothing to look forward to with the previous couple of releases, but certainly sparked interest upon re-signing to the label that helped make their distinguishable style of metal famous.
And In Flames are wasting absolutely no time to make a statement in ‘Battles‘. After a short atmospheric build up, the Swedes are unleashing their furious melodic death metal sound once again in the high tempo ‘Drained‘. The opening track really does bring around bouts of relief that the In Flames of old that we knew and love are not a thing of the past.
As the album moves to ‘The End‘, the sound of the revitalised In Flames becomes quite clear as to what they are aiming for – an appeasement across all the markets they have tapped into over the 26 years of the bands existence. Each track is melded together with crushing verse riffs, harmonised melodic bridges on guitars, and a radio friendly chorus that somehow resonates the alternative years.
Whether this was intentional or not, this actually makes ‘Battles‘ one of the easiest listening melodic death metal albums I have heard in a good while. While some would say that’s contradictory to the band’s progress in returning to their roots, tracks like ‘In My Room‘ and ‘Through My Eyes‘ strike a perfect balance of what In Flames have been trying to achieve creatively over the last decade. It’s a musical relief from the Swedes more than anything, and every track is certainly very listenable by fan standards.
The bottom line is that no, ‘Battles‘ is not ‘The Jester Race II‘, but would any true In Flames fan really want that? It’s a solid album that makes for good listening over and over again, an album you can easily play in your car on the way to work, or simply play to unwind to. In Flames haven’t struck gold with this one, but they have certainly made the right album.
[verdict]Yes[/verdict]
[why]Albeit very radio friendly, ‘Battles’ is a welcome return to the ‘Gothenburg’ style death metal that shot the band into the stratosphere. The alternative mix-ins won’t please every In Flames fan, but it’s a sigh of relief in the bigger picture.[/why]