Nice review but you forgot to mention Fear Is The Weakness as a nice song, actually it is not only a nice song but amazing form the beginning to end.

I quite disagree, i think its an awesome album.i would give it much more than a 6

I agree with the review. Some songs are good, while others aren't. But as far as I'm concerned this album is an improvement.

Haha funny review.

Over all better then I expected. "A New Dawn" actually sounds a little like their older stuff. I Think some of the more "newer" sounding songs are qutie good aswell though. I mostly agree with the reviewer even though the actual review seems more positive then the score. For me this is a 7.5 or something. Good while not outstanding or refreshing.

I agree with the review. Their new modern metal finds it's place on their discography. I think that their old fans won't like it, but can be a good album for those who discovered them after Reroute..

Haters gonna hate

I still prefer the old work by far.

I don"t understand everyone"s prblem with the album title. I find that one absolutely great. It somehow reminds me of Fish era Marillion

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 13.06.2011 at 03:25

I don"t understand everyone"s problem with the album title. I find that one absolutely great. It somehow reminds me of Fish era Marillion

Marcel, I,for one, think the title is a fairly good one. However, I can understand that (some) In Flames fans don't really like it as it somehow sounds much more like a doom/gothic/prog album title, not a Nu-Gothenburg one...

As for the music -- I do not have the guts to listen to this for fear that my attitude to what once used to be a great band would drop past a point of no return...

Sucks. Ecxept "New Dawn". Not worthy of more words.

I was kinda hoping this one would be at least as good as the last one. It seems that they have gotten worse, i didnt mind ASOP but this is just lame. The band is nothing without Jesper. I am not one of those people who is like new in flames is shit, most of the new alternative sounding albums are pretty good. I still much prefer the old stuff though

Can't stand last albums' Fridén voice :S that makes songs even worst XD (aloneuuugh", "for meeeeeeegh", "shooouldggggh"... ). I think even the previous was better... even!

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 13.06.2011 at 03:25

I don"t understand everyone"s prblem with the album title. I find that one absolutely great. It somehow reminds me of Fish era Marillion

I agree. Also, titles have nothning to do with music, so why bother picking on a title anyway. "Seasons in the Abyss", "Coma of Souls", "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" are all terrible titles, yet the music is great.

Written by Daniell on 13.06.2011 at 14:15

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 13.06.2011 at 03:25

I don"t understand everyone"s prblem with the album title. I find that one absolutely great. It somehow reminds me of Fish era Marillion

I agree. Also, titles have nothning to do with music, so why bother picking on a title anyway. "Seasons in the Abyss", "Coma of Souls", "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" are all terrible titles, yet the music is great.

Those three titles are waaaaay better than this one. + "SitA" is an awesome album title. "AttWaD" is even more... err, awesomer. "Sounds of a Playground Fading" just screems generic nu metal.
Oh, and, to a serious band, album title means a lot. Besides, if it would really had nothing to do with music, albums would be just called "Album 3" or "Album IV" or "Album 2008." :

Led Zeppelin was a very serious band, one of the most important bands in the history of rock (and metal) music. Feel free to check out the titles of their first four albums While at it, check out Peter Gabriel as well.
A title is just a title..

The way you see a title is very individual. Let's see what I make out of the title in question:
Sounds of a Playground Fading - this sounds like a metaphor of a childhood that is coming to an end. Just an off-the-bat interpretation - but the title suggests some depth, and simply intrigues me.
Seasons in the Abyss - sounds pretentious and cheesy (mind you, Slayer is my absolutely favourite band), hell, it doesn't even make much sense. Also the so-titled song doesn't explain anything.
Coma of Souls - this one isn't so bad, but still, it looks childish and pretentious. Extremely stupid lyrics of the so-titled song don't help it either...
Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk - now this one sounds like it was made up by the kings of cheese, Manowar. Firstly, calling one's own songs "anthems" stinks of pomp and pretentiousness (further reinforced by Emperor stating on the cover of this album that they play "spohisticated black metal art"). Simply, LOL, or even ROFL (mind you again, I love Emperor, and the said album is one of their best). It's the audience and critics that call something art, not its creator... Then, there's "welkin", a poetic word that can be found nowhere outside poems of 19th century English poets - a literary, outdeted word. The amount of cheese in this title beats everything that Manowar did by a mile.
Let me stress again, I love Slayer, Emperor and Creator. But the titles mentioned here are plainly terrible.
But again, it's a question of taste

Written by Daniell on 13.06.2011 at 16:19

Led Zeppelin was a very serious band, one of the most important bands in the history of rock (and metal) music. Feel free to check out the titles of their first four albums While at it, check out Peter Gabriel as well.
A title is just a title..

The way you see a title is very individual. Let's see what I make out of the title in question:
Sounds of a Playground Fading - this sounds like a metaphor of a childhood that is coming to an end. Just an off-the-bat interpretation - but the title suggests some depth, and simply intrigues me.
Seasons in the Abyss - sounds pretentious and cheesy (mind you, Slayer is my absolutely favourite band), hell, it doesn't even make much sense. Also the so-titled song doesn't explain anything.
Coma of Souls - this one isn't so bad, but still, it looks childish and pretentious. Extremely stupid lyrics of the so-titled song don't help it either...
Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk - now this one sounds like it was made up by the kings of cheese, Manowar. Firstly, calling one's own songs "anthems" stinks of pomp and pretentiousness (further reinforced by Emperor stating on the cover of this album that they play "spohisticated black metal art"). Simply, LOL, or even ROFL (mind you again, I love Emperor, and the said album is one of their best). It's the audience and critics that call something art, not its creator... Then, there's "welkin", a poetic word that can be found nowhere outside poems of 19th century English poets - a literary, outdeted word. The amount of cheese in this title beats everything that Manowar did by a mile.
Let me stress again, I love Slayer, Emperor and Creator. But the titles mentioned here are plainly terrible.
But again, it's a question of taste

There's a reason why their albums have that names, AND that artwork. Zeppelin, I mean. No coincidence or randomness there, which you are probabbly suggesting. And again, to a great band, title is never just a title.
Funny how all that album names (Slayer, Creator, Emperor) just "sound" pretentious and cheese to you, without ANY deeper semantic analisys - which you provided for "Playground"! - and yet Playground is the title that is both methaporical and intriguing.
To each his own, I suppose, but lol @ the tottal lack of knowledge of poetry, poetic vocabulary and poetic use of anachronisms demonstrated in the explanation of Emperor's album ("a literary, outdated word", really? Don't go talking in literature terms and formulations if you don't have an idea what you're actually saying).

Point is - this isn't a bad album title per se, but it embodies what In Flames are now: bland, unoriginal, sligthly pretentious emo-like band with washed-up "existential" lyrics, washed-up riffs and generic screamo vocals. And that's what's bothering me.
I really enjoyed Reroute, Clarity and even ASoP (not as much as earlier albums tho, but still, nice music), but this is just... lazy.
Or they really miss Jasper, which I think is more true.

It seems you see titles as you see music - if you like the music, you like the title - nothing wrong with that of course.
I'd suggest arguing about music, not titles I listened to this album yesterday, and, while it didn't blow me out of my seat, it seemed much better than their last two shitfests called albums. I'll be able to say more after more listens.

On a side note:
Welkin, as defined by Wikipedia: Welkin is an archaic, English term; it refers to the sky, the upper air, the firmament, the heavens or the Celestial sphere. Especially the highest celestial sphere e.g. the empyrean.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welkin
Also: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/welkin
Also, as defined by World Wide Words: "We don't use this much nowadays ? dictionaries usually tag it as archaic or literary"
source: http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-wel1.htm
I'm a self-opinionated, pesky bastard, but I do tend to argue only when I know what I'm talking about

Haha, I think that more than 4 tracks are good here

For me the best tracks are:

04. The Puzzle
05. Fear is the Weakness
06. Where the Dead Ships Dwell
08. Darker Times
09. Ropes
12. A New Dawn

Really, the whole album is great. The only thing is, if you look at it and compare it with any other In Flames album, you will see something wrong with it. Personally, I don't care about the fact that it doesn't sound like Clayman or The Jester Race, I just care if it's good music or not. And, the music here IS good. Just, maybe for clinging In Flames fans waiting on the next TJR, they'll be disappointed. But, if you don't mind the fact that Anders doesn't approach vocals the same way he did back in the earlier days, and that there is a sort of softer appeal overlaying the album, the album does stand out as something neat.

I read a lot of people on Last.fm and other sites saying that if they wanted to release an album that was so drastically different from their earlier works, that they should just not use the In Flames band name. That doesn't make any sense. A band name is just a band name, it doesn't influence the music in any way, does it? Sure, I can understand that it's like marketing; you see the band name as a brand and expect something out of it. Personally, yes, I see it as In Flames and get excited when I see that In Flames is putting something new out, but, what I expect is new music from those artists that form In Flames.

That's probably why I wasn't disappointed, haha.

I have never been a fan of in flames to be honest,and the material ive heard from this new album hasn't changed my perception of them:P

I think this album is the best since clayman!

Not bad, not great. Infinitely better than a Sense Of Purpose, but that's not difficult.
I don't understand the all-of-a-sudden criticism regarding Anders Friden's voice: he's good the same voice than usual. Average, sure. But well, I'm fine with him - and also glad he left Dark Tranquillity early

Written by Darkside Momo on 13.06.2011 at 21:57

Not bad, not great. Infinitely better than a Sense Of Purpose, but that's not difficult.

I'd say that is the best concise description of this album.

Sooo much better than A Sense of Purpose!!! So happy to hear this album...it gets me up in the morning!
No one really mentions the lyrics....so motivating....and they honestly help me cope with day to day stuff!

..even better that the motivational lyrics are followed by an amazing guitar riff or melody.... eargasm
Can't wait for HEAVY MTL!!! <3 In Flames We Trust <3

I have to disagree, because I don´t think that new In Flames´s album isn´t such bad as you wrote, because if In Flames played the same music as in 90´s I wouldn´t listen to their music. But their actual albums sound modern and really different like their other albums recorded after 2000. I know some songs are not good for everybody, for example "Liberation" or "Deliver Us", yes these aren´t songs which we were hearing from In Flames, but these songs are more than just good and your ranking are too low as if this album would have... my sober ranking 8.6/10 ;-) Play it again, okay?

In The Puzzle...is he saying: (No lyrics posted yet)
"You cant tell change by their faces..there are always "?????"

Gahh I don't want to wait for the lyrics...has anyone found the whole albums lyrics online?

It's a pretty good song....

I'm thinking:
You can't tell change by their faces,
there aren't always signs
The album comes out today I believe so we should have lyrics this afternoon

Written by Daniell on 13.06.2011 at 17:11

It seems you see titles as you see music - if you like the music, you like the title - nothing wrong with that of course.
I'd suggest arguing about music, not titles I listened to this album yesterday, and, while it didn't blow me out of my seat, it seemed much better than their last two shitfests called albums. I'll be able to say more after more listens.

On a side note:
Welkin, as defined by Wikipedia: Welkin is an archaic, English term; it refers to the sky, the upper air, the firmament, the heavens or the Celestial sphere. Especially the highest celestial sphere e.g. the empyrean.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welkin
Also: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/welkin
Also, as defined by World Wide Words: "We don't use this much nowadays ? dictionaries usually tag it as archaic or literary"
source: http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-wel1.htm
I'm a self-opinionated, pesky bastard, but I do tend to argue only when I know what I'm talking about

I don't now, man, as I said, I really like previous albums - they aren't great, but they are, I dunno, listenable? - but this is really a "shitfest" to me. It just sounds like any other band out there. I'm ok with In Flames doing the modern, mainstream metal "thing", but I just can't except them to be just another clone. Even CC and ASoP have something "original" to give, this is just, I dunno, random guitar noise and emo "AT LEAST I FEEL SOMETHINGGGAAARGH" lyrics and vocals.
Oh, and dude, Wikipedia and World Wide Wsomething as a support and resource to your claims? Dude. No. Don't do that on the internets. You just sound like you have mad google-ing skillz, instead of sounding like you actually do know what you're talking about.

I'm still laughing at the fact that Anders now tries to sing like the vocalist of Linkin Park.

Better than last 2 albums for sure though.