This album may not be excellent but it does have its moments. The middle tracks especially are pretty good. The rest are just uninspiring filler. But, for the middle tracks this would have got a lower rating.

I really enjoyed the song "Ropes". But these nice moments are not enough through out the album...

This is great album!

I would't say it is a bad album but it has nothing special..if you are still expecting the older taste of IF then this one is a huge breakdown but i guess no one is expecting another whoracle or colony..so i would say like 6.5-7/10..a few nice tracks & moments..but that's all..

I like this a lot.. Just remove "The Puzzle" from the playlist (sorry we don't feel like listening to Linkin Park Anders..) and this album is amazing (given you like this genre of music).

The best Tracks are

Sounds of a play ground fading
Fear is the weakness
Where the dead ships dwell
A New Dawn

The other songs have some emotional value as well and some great instrumental work.

This album has absolutely nothing to offer.

The band is get worse every day
this album is the way to worse than the previous

I guess it's just me but as somebody who has all of In Flame's discography, I still like this release. To me it was better than ASOP, STYE and maybe even Come Clarity. I seem to be part of a huge minority though :X

It really is strange how many albums released this year which got a 9 from me were never heard by me after 2-3 listens but this album having recieved just a 7, is heard by me atleast once or twice every week since its release !! Really strange.

Different but really great with many riffs and melodies

This album was really different, but epic all the same.

As an album on its own without comparing it to the older in flames, its not bad actually

Written by *!* on 15.08.2011 at 04:27

As an album on its own without comparing it to the older in flames, its not bad actually

Exactly.

People should get over their butthurt that In Flames will not make the music from the Colony or Clayman era anymore and instead choose to keep evolving. I'm a big fan of their old stuff myself as well, but It's been over 10 years now, get over it already.

If this album didn't have the In Flames stamp on it, but would be another side project (like the awesome Passenger) people who reject it now, would probably be praising it.

I decided to give it a looksy because I was told 'A New Dawn' sounded like their old stuff......it did, but only for 1 minute into the song. So I listened to some other songs to see if there was anything good - I was very disappointed, this literally sounds like a Bring Me The Horizon album, it makes me want to kill whoever made it. Which is sad, because I love these guys, I just hate their new music....

Yeah well... i think this is their worst album ever :/

Just listen to the music itself, in stead of comparing it with their earlier work, the music is great.

Written by kaspair on 13.11.2011 at 18:06
Just listen to the music itself, in stead of comparing it with their earlier work, the music is great.

It took me a while to separate the old from the new, and while I don't think the new is anything special I do recognize it as something completely removed from that Gothenburg melodic death metal they used to play.

If this was a debut album for an entirely different band it would likely receive a lot less hate/attention, but the band chose to keep their name and release material of a completely different direction so they will be judged by fans of the old sound.

I finally found out how to rate In Flames albums - not to compare it with previous works, because this is simply impossible. We cannot expect repeating the same music and growls and whatever else like it was on Clayman and Colony (in fact maybe only two albums, which are comparable). Sounds Of A Playground Fading brings us to a different era of In Flames music. It is not even A Sense Of Purpose anymore, there is nothing reminding year 2008. Just take it as a single work with no previous ones. In Flames are unpredictable and they likely will be till the end of their music days. Hail to this one, guys!

The production's been an issue w/ the last 2 albums, making them sound like modern metal masquerading as modern rock. As long as IF stay interesting, as much as it's at times amateurish, confused and pandering, I'll stay a semi-fan. There's more cringeworthy moments on this one than ever, but they still retain a modicum of elements from their golden past, even if some of them are perverted to be more cliched and therefore accessible. If you really listen to these albums in a certain way, Reroute and since (bar most of STYE), they're not doing anything incredibly different from what they used to do. The blunting of the metal edge in the final mix of ASOP and SOAPF and the overall simplification of, give or take, 2/3rd of the riffs and song parts in all their modern albums and the addition of clean vox is the big difference (and the sometimes abysmal lyrics and whiny vocal and after-vocal when Anders catches his breath, uggh). They already had soaring choruses even before Clayman, I mean look at Ordinary Story or Episode 666. And they never really had any deviation from verse-chorus-verse-chorus-breakdown-chorus starting w/ Whoracle and on, though even recent modern songs like "Sleepless Again" and "The Puzzle" have a slightly untraditional structure. I do see the big deal overall, and I've felt the betrayal as well, trust me, and there's some serious dilution and dubious experimenting of their old formula in order to mass-appeal. But they also have a sense of their own integrity, as warped as that might be; and that keeps most of the songs, and albums, intriguing enough to stick around for at least a little while on each. Just my opinion, of course.

...and I feel Come Clarity is the best modern output, followed by Reroute to Remain, then either A Sense of Purpose or Sounds of a Playground Fading (ASOP is longer with more songs and weaker of the 2 IMO and boasts the awkward and pace-killing "The Chosen Pessimist", while SOAPF I feel is stronger of the 2 but too short w/ its 2 pointless interludes and a fail track at the end). Soundtrack to Your Escape is firmly at the bottom, variably a guilty pleasure (Touch of Red is a 'banger though!). Sorry if this was (I forget the acronym) too long of a post.

I'm almost finishing listen to it and i'm kinda surprised...it's not as bad as many guys are sayin' arround here...but that's tastes...i rate it about a 7/7.5!

Written by Therapy? on 12.09.2011 at 01:37

Written by *!* on 15.08.2011 at 04:27

As an album on its own without comparing it to the older in flames, its not bad actually

Exactly.

People should get over their butthurt that In Flames will not make the music from the Colony or Clayman era anymore and instead choose to keep evolving. I'm a big fan of their old stuff myself as well, but It's been over 10 years now, get over it already.

If this album didn't have the In Flames stamp on it, but would be another side project (like the awesome Passenger) people who reject it now, would probably be praising it.

Ihad never heard any Inflames before this, other than their previous album, which was pitiful. I agree they shouldn't tank it becuase of their good albums, but this still isn't very good.

Written by Boxcar Willy on 04.01.2012 at 16:16
I had never heard any Inflames before this, other than their previous album, which was pitiful.

You're missing out

Written by X-Ray Rod on 04.01.2012 at 16:18

Written by Boxcar Willy on 04.01.2012 at 16:16
I had never heard any Inflames before this, other than their previous album, which was pitiful.

You're missing out

I know I'm trying to into clayman, or The jester Race, but I can't find time

I suppose I could download it now.

Written by Boxcar Willy on 04.01.2012 at 16:20

Written by X-Ray Rod on 04.01.2012 at 16:18

Written by Boxcar Willy on 04.01.2012 at 16:16
I had never heard any Inflames before this, other than their previous album, which was pitiful.

You're missing out

I know I'm trying to into clayman, or The jester Race, but I can't find time

I suppose I could download it now.

Well, I personally don't like Clayman very much but albums like, Jester Race, Whoracle and Colony are fucking A.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 04.01.2012 at 16:21

Written by Boxcar Willy on 04.01.2012 at 16:20

Written by X-Ray Rod on 04.01.2012 at 16:18

Written by Boxcar Willy on 04.01.2012 at 16:16
I had never heard any Inflames before this, other than their previous album, which was pitiful.

You're missing out

I know I'm trying to into clayman, or The jester Race, but I can't find time

I suppose I could download it now.

Well, I personally don't like Clayman very much but albums like, Jester Race, Whoracle and Colony are fucking A.

this immediatly came to mind.

I didn't know In Flames before "Soundtrack to your escape" (tho later I listened to their earlier albums) but this album has been gradually growing on me, excepty for the puky final track So ok it's nothing brutal or fast like STYE but the melodies are really good ! While "A sense of purpose" had me think that In Flames was definitely lost, this album proves that you can do shit and hopefully become a good band later on. So please, no more crap, I will content with albums like this latest one and for brutal noise there are still plenty of bands out there

A welcome return to some pretty kick ass solos in this album! Very good and grew on me loads after the first listen.

Better than 'A Sense Of Purpose', especially in the lyrical direction. Far away from the legacy of their earliest albums, but it's still a playable album none the less.

Not bad at all!

Lol'ed at "The best Alternative Metal album of 2011" ... It's a very good album but it would have been better if it wasn't In Flames.