Swedish metal veterans In Flames have released their 13th studio album “I, The Mask” which once again sees the band continue their ever expanding evolution of genre bending melodic death metal. From the opening track “Voices” which bounces smoothly in it’s groove based tempo to the unique “(This is Our) House” and more, In Flames move forward more than ever before while keeping intact a core signature of that Swedish metal sound. We caught up with vocalist Anders Friden to discuss the new songs and how important it is for the band to evolve and change.
Andrew: Thanks for your time, it’s really appreciated. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chat, probably the last time you put out an album. You have a new album I guess that is out now, today is the release day!
Anders: Yes out today, I’m happy to finally release it!
Andrew: Yes it’s a big day today then and obviously you guys have put a lot of work into it. How are you guys feeling about the whole thing now?
Anders: I’m just excited that it’s out, we want people to hear it. We’ve had it in our back pocket since May last year and it’s a little bit more fun when people can sing the words back to you instead of standing there not understanding anything else going on. So now they can put some words to it but yeah, I’m excited man!
Andrew: So let’s get into some of these songs then, obviously the process for the album from what I read is I guess somewhat a little different to how it was last time on the last album. Tell me a little about the inner workings of how some of these songs came about.
Anders: It was sort of the same process as in “Battles” even though this time around me and Bjorn [Gelotte, guitars] wanted to allow pretty much anything. In the past we usually have what we call a bag of riffs with us, somewhat prepared and with a blank paper and we just started scratching our heads and all of a sudden we had guitar riffs to voice the songs and this is a good start and I was like, ‘That’s the first song on the album, we base everything around that one and we continue forward’. And then we went out from then on and we make a few riffs where we’re like, ‘Eh whatever, throw that away’, but most of the stuff came very naturally and felt on point. In the early days it was a different camp you could say, the music was in one corner and the lyrics and the vocal recording in another corner so now it’s more open and I know exactly what’s going to happen and Bjorn knows exactly what’s going to happen and we can start from a vocal idea rather than a guitar idea. So we are more open to each other’s territory, it glues more together than what we had done in the past.
Andrew: It’s interesting you say the first track “Voices” was one that came on pretty early because after listening to the whole album, that was one that kind of jumped out at me the most. It has a really nice groove to it, it’s probably my favorite track on the album I think.
Anders: Yeah I felt it set the bar immediately and we open with that song live now as well. It feels really good as an opener in general, it has straight forward riffing and an angry feeling but with a desperate sense as well and big chorus. So it’s very much how we are as a band, the modern side of it. It’s great, if you are aware of our sound.
Andrew: Yeah it’s interesting as I’ve been a fan of the band since I guess the late 90’s when I discovered you guys and it’s amazing to see the evoution of the band’s sound. So I guess this album is another step forward in what you guys really do over the years, it’s something I guess you are conscious of with the sort of sound you have developed over the years.
Anders: Yeah I think the melodies have always been there and obviously it comes out in different ways through the years and we have never looked back, we just want to go forward all the time. We love our history, people must understand that I think “The Jester Race” and the albums from the early days like “Whoracle” and “Colony”, “Lunar Strain” all of these are perfect in their own world. They are a glimpse of who we are at that point in our lives but we would never say, ‘Oh fuck I love that thing and I need to go back to do it”, just bring the history up and continue. I don’t want to be locked in a certain time, I want to be free in my art you know what I mean? I just want to continue to create and have the freedom without having to think, ‘Oh what would the fans think, what would the record company think’. It doesn’t matter what they think, I just want to continue to do what I do.
Andrew: Yeah and that’s probably a small problem that bands after a certain amount of time like yourselves who have been around for a number of years get to a certain point where fans go, ‘Well I prefer this album, or this album’ and I guess that’s inevitable.
Anders: Yeah and that’s totally fine. I don’t expect everyone to like every thing that we do and if you have one album that you think is great or even just one song, at least you like that song. I can’t write for you to be who you want me to be, that is the wrong way to look at it. Be free, that’s what it is right? I don’t want to conform to something, I want to be genre-less, I want to be everything as long as I can change and that’s sort of it. If for some reason you don’t understand what I’m doing or don’t like what I’m doing then I can’t come home to you and explain why you should like it [laughs]. There’s no point! I think also as a listener you go through phase as well, like maybe you’re not ready to listen to something at that point in your life. Maybe it’s like you have to wait or maybe it’s too late, I don’t know.
Andrew: Speaking of that then, what is the biggest inspiration for you guys and for you personally these days? Has that inspiration changed a lot over the years?
Anders: Musically I think when you start as a band, you are more prone to other bands like I want to be that, I want to do that but as you go on and you find your own sound, I think musically it’s not easy to pinpoint what it is. I’m personally a big fan of Nine Inch Nails and I don’t think you hear that in our music as much but lyrically it’s everything that’s going on around us and have been doing that for 20-30 years, that’s where I draw inspiration from. It’s not easy to say where exactly because it could be whatever that happens around that day when we walk into the studio.
Andrew: Well lyrically it’s a bit of a social commentary on this album, the sort of state of the world and I guess a personal touch on how people connect to each other. Technology and the way we sort of interact with each other is maybe one of the ideas behind the lyrics on this album?
Anders: Yeah definitely, you could say so. Search for one self I guess and how to deal with whatever you have inside the darkness inside of you and all that stuff and then you need to address it. I think if you dwell on these things and you want to see the future, you want to see what lies ahead and when I write the lyrics it’s like a therapy session in a way, you get it out of the system and you let go of all those feelings.
Andrew: It’s true I guess, when you write lyrics it is like a therapy session. Do you ever, when you are singing some of the older songs, look at the lyrics again and realize your perception of what you wrote at that time has changed at all?
Anders: I guess I do but it would be a waste of time for me to dwell on it too much because I can’t change it [laughs], and again that’s a reflection on who I was at that time. There’s no point in changing history, not when it comes down to your own self I guess. It’s better to look ahead and make it right for you in the future.
Andrew: Yeah definitely, always move forward. So obviously you are touring on the back of this album, how has it all been going so far and what have you been planning for this tour? How many new songs are you looking to play?
Anders: Right now we are playing 3 songs from the new album I think and we will continue to add more and more new songs. But it’s not getting easier, with 13 albums out trying to decide what to put in the setlist is quite difficult. There is always someone that will be disappointed like, ‘Ah they did not play my favorite song’ and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry maybe next time’. But things are going great, we have a lot of fun. We love to be on the road, we love to play our songs and meet our fans so it’s awesome.
Andrew: Yeah and like you brought up, putting a setlist together, especially at this point in your career must be a difficult thing. How do you combat that? Do you change the setlist every night or how do you get around that problem?
Anders: I wish we could change the setlist every night at this point! That would be fun and challenging as well but there is a lot of songs and a lot of words. We obviously want to promote the newer stuff, the new album and on this tour we go back over to “Colony” and we start from that era and onwards. It’s quite challenging to get it out there and as I said, make everybody happy.
Andrew: For me personally I guess it’s been almost 10 years since I personally last saw you live and I don’t know if you have been to Australia since then but is there any plans for you guys to come down our way on this tour?
Anders: Yeah I would love to go there of course! If I could teleport myself I would be there right now, it’s raining and cold here and warm and sun there but as of now there’s little talk of it but no dates and I hope we can be there sooner than later because I love touring Australia.
Andrew: Yeah we would love to have you down here. I guess you’ve been here a couple of times, what’s your experiences been like here?
Anders: Overall people are excited and welcome us with open arms. I feel that people appreciate that you come from far away on the other side of the globe and people are very open minded and love the music so it’s always cool to be down there.
Andrew: Well we do hope you make it down here at some stage. Congratulations on the new album, it sounds fantastic and I hope it all goes well for you. Thanks for your time, really appreciated!
Anders: Thank you very much!
