IN FLAMES Needed To Shake Things Up A Little Bit On 'Battles' Album

United Rock Nations recently conducted an interview with vocalist Anders Fridén of Swedish metallers IN FLAMES. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On working with producer Howard Benson on IN FLAMES' new album, "Battles":

Anders: "I think we needed to shake it up a little bit. We worked with Roberto [Laghi] before, and he's a great guy, he's good, but we wanted to work with someone who has a long resume of working with other acts — not just a small group of people that we were in, coming from Gothenburg and so on. And also, we, Björn [Gelotte, guitar] and me, we were… We told our management, 'Can you hook us up with…?' We had a bunch of producers that we were interested in talking to and see what they do — like, favorite albums we had, where we knew we really admired their work. So we talked to seven or eight producers, and Howard was the one that… Yeah, he said the right things and made us feel scared and comfortable at the same time. 'Cause we are super protective, I would say, when it comes to our own material; we don't hardly let anyone in. Even though Roberto had been part of the music, he's more been like engineering than producing, you know what I mean? He doesn't go in and say, 'Do this and do that.' And not knowing what these other producers might do that work with all these bands, you're afraid that they're gonna go in and change who you are and start messing and poking into your material. So going to America, we were — as I said — curious but afraid. But he made us feel really comfortable.

"We worked two and a half weeks making demos before we started recording, and we showed him the material. He gave us a few pointers: 'Think about this,' 'Think about that.' He was more someone that you bounced ideas [off]. We wrote whole songs, made demos, recorded vocals, did everything, basically, and that's something we hadn't done in the past either. We usually do music first and vocals way later and then we meet in the mix. But now we had to create the whole thing, so he could get a feeling. And he wanted me to explain what I wanted to say with my words, with my lyrics, and that's something I hadn't done either; I just wrote my lyrics and sang them and, boom, there it was. But now I had to explain to someone, and explain to someone that speaks English as their native tongue, and I'm Swedish, so, for me, it's just… sometimes, maybe, I get into a Swenglish type of feel. And it was good to have that too. So he didn't change who we were, but he made us better — at least that's what we feel. What other people feel, that's a whole different story. That's how we feel."

On the more melodic musical direction of "Battles" compared to IN FLAMES' previous efforts:

Anders: "Well, first and foremost, we've always been melodic in some shape or form — it's always been there, from the early days up until today. The previous album [2014's 'Siren Charms'] was recorded in Berlin, which has a different feeling, different vibe, and that's the vibe that we wanted at that point. It's gray, it's dark, it's melancholy, grim, so, obviously, that goes into the album. But now we recorded in the sun, in 25[-to-]28-Celsius-degree [weather], and there was barbecue and good beer — a good atmosphere in general. And we were happy, so, sure, that affected the album; I think so. I mean, this one is warmer in the sound than the previous one. And I think that's pretty cool. It's still IN FLAMES, but things change here and there. I like that, and it's the way I want things to be."

"Battles" will be released on November 11 via Nuclear Blast in all territories excluding North America and Scandinavia and Eleven Seven Music Group in the U.S.

IN FLAMES drummer Daniel Svensson announced last fall that he was leaving the band to focus on his family life. He has since been replaced by Joe Rickard, who played on "Battles" as a session musician.