In Flames - Siren Charms review
| Band: | In Flames |
| Album: | Siren Charms |
| Style: | Alternative metal |
| Release date: | September 2014 |
01. In Plain View
02. Everything's Gone
03. Paralyzed
04. Through Oblivion
05. With Eyes Wide Open
06. Siren Charms
07. When The World Explodes
08. Rusted Nail
09. Dead Eyes
10. Monsters In The Ballroom
11. Filtered Truth
In Flames.. In Flames.. Chew a little on that name, taste it, swirl it around. What comes to your mind? Some have their mind set back in time, where the band was one of the big bands in the melodic death metal scene with highly acclaimed albums like Whoracle, Colony and Clayman. Others have accepted (or are bitter over) the new sound the band slowly, but surely adopted. And Siren Charms is not an exception.
I have never been a huge fan of In Flames' new style, but don't misunderstand me; this album isn't BAD. It's just very, very average. Originality is absent from this album, and Anders Fridén's clean singing can be a little tiring. There's too much of the electronics flowing around in the landscape of sound they are crafting, and songs like "Through Oblivion", "With Eyes Wide Open", and "Siren Charms" makes the album hard to listen to in its entirety because of its boring character.
However, In Flames have managed to throw in some decent songs and moments in the album. The chorus on "In Plain View" is pretty catchy, and "Everything's Gone" is a decent song, but one of the biggest surprises was when I heard "When The World Explodes", as it instantly made me think of "Scream" from their 2006 release Come Clarity. It has the same drive as "Scream", and even has a female guest singer who fronts the chorus, which is actually pretty epic because it sounds like they put a big choir in the background. When the album reaches its peaks, it's actually not bad at all.
To whom can I recommend this album? As I've already mentioned, it's not a bad album by any means. Siren Charms has its moments, but unfortunately it suffers from a bunch of bland and uninspired tracks. If you're a fan of In Flames' new approach of songwriting, or the sound of modern / alternative metal in general, you should probably give it a shot. If you're one of them who despises the road In Flames have been driving down the last couple of years, you can safely perform a U-turn and drive back.
Unfortunately, In Flames didn't quite hit the "Rusted Nail" on the head this time either.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 4 |
| Originality: | 2 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Fallen Ghost | 11.02.2015
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 9
Visited by: 169 users
| Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1178 From: Poland |
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| Fallen Ghost Craft Beer Geek Posts: 709 From: Norway  |
Written by Hex_Omega on 11.02.2015 at 17:43 When I'm thinking production, I am thinking about how the sound is, and one can't say that it's a badly produced album
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| Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1178 From: Poland |
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| Fallen Ghost Craft Beer Geek Posts: 709 From: Norway |
Written by Hex_Omega on 11.02.2015 at 17:55 Oh yeah? Well I don't know, I guess I'm not very picky when it comes to the production! I don't feel something is sounding bad in it, and I don't feel it's overproduced either (Omnium Gatherum - Beyond) is overproduced by my terms
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| Darkside Momo Retired Posts: 9087 From: France  |
Nice review who got all the needed points 
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| Fallen Ghost Craft Beer Geek Posts: 709 From: Norway |
Written by Darkside Momo on 11.02.2015 at 18:36 Thank you! 
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| s_t_s Posts: 1208 From: France  |
Reading this review is like double stabbing to me () The first time I had to endure this album was enough... I'm still trying to forget about it and dream about In Flames making good music again and don't get me wrong : I love (more or less) all they have done since Clayman except for A Sense Of Shit.. Purpose
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| FelixtheMetalcat Posts: 76 From: USA  |
Well I think that the "average" score is reflective of the band at this point in time. Personally, I've always felt they were horribly overrated. Despite the 3 album trilogy noted in the review being my favs from these guys, I still have never truly felt Anders Friden was much of a vocalist in any manner, i was really there only for the music. After hearing the last couple albums I made the executive decision to stop listening & move on to other bands that are just better for my tastes. The sad thing is they're playing close to me in a few weeks & I have zero interest in attending......something i doubt i would say if it was 2003.
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| Danny Thomas Posts: 552 From: USA  |
To me, this was a bit of a step up from the previous 2 albums, which I couldn't get into that much. The music itself gave me hints of older In Flames, but it can never really grab the feel. I think part of it for me is Anders vocal style. If he used the same kind of vocals he used on clayman, It might actually have the old feel at times. I was going through a weird time and lost my dad and the grandpa who raised me both last year, and I guess lyrically this album hit home, and somehow avoided being overly cheesy and actually seemed pretty heartfelt to me. I've always been a big fan, but they lost me after soundtrack to your escape. even if they structure songs in similar fashion to their earlier works, it will never have the same feel as long as Anders uses his current vocal style. those days are gone I suppose. but as long as you don't judge it too harsh for not being old in flames, then it's actually a pretty enjoyable album in it's own right. (it seems i'm one of the few who believes that. for the record my favorite album of their's is whoracle if that counts for anything)
---- Our children are dead. Burnt in the ruins that were left by war.
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