In Flames – Battles

Caught in the Wrong Scene

In Flames sits in sort of a strange spot on the musical spectrum. Long billed as a metal band, their sound seems to have shifted more and more to radio friendly rock. It makes them sort of a conundrum in the metal scene, as metal culture tends to be very critical towards bands that exhibit this type of sound.

Their acceptance may be due largely to their history and influence within the genre. They were one of the pioneers of the Gothenburg melodic death metal sound, alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquility. The Gothenburg sound is well-respected and influential, and it seems like it gave In Flames a bit of a free pass on their alt-rock influenced music.

It’s something that isn’t mentioned a whole lot, however, and it does seem like a bit of a double standard to hold more commercial acts to such high levels of scrutiny. In Flames, while they’re on the lower end of the heavy spectrum, sound like they could be charting on KROQ. Even the harsh vocal sound of Anders Fridén seems to have softened more and more over time.

Battles is no exception to this trend. A lot of the tracks, such as “Like Sand” and “The Truth,” sound more like power-chord-laden alternative ballads than they do metal. Some tracks will throw in some more metal-esque moments, such as “The End” and “Through My Eyes,” which include some heavy driving riffs and melodic guitar harmonies that could be compared to later-era Amorphis. Still though, it’s strange that In Flames continues to tour alongside heavy acts. Judging from this latest release, it seems like they might be more at home playing alongside Coheed and Cambria.

Putting all pretentious metal prejudices aside, is the music any good? That may be something that comes down to preference. There are definitely a few heavy moments on the record, and their melodic death metal roots definitely make for wide-open, epic sounding anthems that are catchy without being cheesy or too poppy. But that can’t necessarily be said for the rest of the songs. Much of the music is more straightforward, with poppy melodies and catchy sing-along chorus lines. At a certain point it’s strange to continue calling them a metal band at all.

Of course, it’s not like music that isn’t metal enough is suddenly bad. Plenty of metal bands left their metal roots aside and gravitated outwards and there’s nothing wrong with it whatsoever. Opeth, Mastodon, Cynic, and many others have departed from their metal roots for a more rock-oriented sound. But the major difference is that these bands still kept much of their character either through progressive musical complexity or maintaining a rougher edge to their music. They continue to distinguish themselves from pop music by being unique and different. Battles makes it seem like In Flames is a radio rock band that got caught in the wrong music scene. If they hadn’t been hanging around the metal scene for so long, they might have found themselves some more lucrative success in the mainstream.

In the end, how you end up reacting to Battles will largely depend upon your taste. In Flames may never take heavy flack for their sound, considering their status and history, but it does seem surprising that they’ve lasted so long as a “metal” band.