Giving some love to the title track of what is, imo, the best modern In Flames album - Sounds of a Playground Fading.
What I love about this song is that it acts as both an introduction and a superb opening track. The first 52 seconds are a really cool, metallica-ish start, and then the track bursts into life with those awesome riffs that embody the overall feel of SOAPF. It's hard to explain, but the riffs on this album are just very distinctive. Repetitive at times, but you know music from SOAPF when you hear it. I'm sure someone better versed in music theory could explain it better than me.
I’m only theoretically knowledgeable in music theory, so take my explanations with a grain of salt.
Before going on with In Flames guitarwork as a whole, I’ll also highlight the intro. I’d say that for the first time since Dawn of a New Day (Which was the first time since Everlost Pt.2), we’ve gotten truly bluesy music from IF— With this intro, with The Attic, with the clean guitars that play in tandem with the cellos in A New Dawn, and in Liberation, though that one’s a more upbeat type beat in a bittersweet way. It’s almost haunting, like going through a graveyard to visit departed souls, which I feel both contrasts and complements the rest of the album’s tone incredibly nicely.
What I’ve noticed with old IF guitarwork that’s been mostly but not completely lost are two bigs things. Firstly, the use of hammer-ons and pull-offs, particularly used with 5-7–5 with two sixteenth notes before an eighth note (Hence the length of the dashes) or a 5-7-5 sixteenth triplet note before a 3 (Or 9-7-9 triplet before a 10) eighth note— The numbers are just examples based off of what I’ve used before, but the principle still stands. I forget exactly what it’s called, but I know there is a term for it. I believe its use was originally in classical music, which Jesper picked up from playing violin, though it’s mainly used in rock and metal to create something more ‘active’ than just two eighth notes.
In SOSD, they’re only used in the pre-verse parts and four times in the main solo. This may not sound like a big deal, especially since those numbers might sound big, but SOSD for example has 118 bars and four or five guitar layers, with two or three of those being solo guitars depending on where you look. Three instances in each rhythm guitar track per pre-verse part, making twelve altogether there, and four in the main solo, making for sixteen instances throughout the entire song. There are eight instances of that in Satellites and Astronauts’ intro and four more right after, making for twelve
before you even get to the first verse. Even Rusted Nail has seven before you even get to the first verse, and that’s just viewing a version without any harmonies.
Meanwhile in Foregone Pt. 1 for example, guess how many times that sort of thing appears? Five times— Four in Chris’ solo,
once in Björn’s solo.
It’s a small thing when put into words, but when listening to something like Foregone (the album), not employing them makes the lead melodies in particular far more boring.
Secondly, particularly in SOAPF, Björn tends to use 0 on whichever string as a baseline for each melody— Typically I’ve just seen that on the lowest string, but he even does it for the lead parts of Deliver Us’ verses. He also tends to conclude certain parts, like fourth bar intervals of Deliver Us’s verses, pieces of WTDSD, and fourth bar intervals the title track’s verses with pieces of four rising or descending notes. It’s a bit tougher to explain in text, but Deliver Us’ verse has a part that goes 15-14-12-10, then 14-12-10-9. Björn does that in Foregone as well, but this rarely rises above the second-lowest string, relegating it to downtuned melodies— Which are also made boring by the exclusion of the 5-7-5 style note melody. Sounds of a Playground Fading, particularly with certain fourth bar intervals of 0-0-(Some three note chord here, I dunno) in Deliver Us, nearly the entirety of All For Me (Which includes a low string 5-7-5 type of note sequence in the chorus) particularly due to the 3/4 time signature, also The Puzzle, and especially the chorus of Enter Tragedy with its 0-0-(r)-0-0–(r)—0-0-(r)-0-0-(r)-0 rhythm guitar pattern. It’s something that In Flames has gotten right in Whoracle, Come Clarity, and I’d say a few songs on each album beforehand, but this is what I feel is the third album to
really get the groove feel right. It’s why I fully believe that Björn was the one who did the main writing on Pinball Map. I also feel like I’ve heard Foregone get this praise, and I just do not feel it whatsoever, save for the pre-hook(?) part of A Dialogue, where it is genuinely phenomenal. Albums like the aforementioned three, Stabbing the Drama (My favorite Soilwork album), The Panic Broadcast (Not even close to my favorite Soilwork album), Vulgar Display of Power, etc. also have a sense of melody along with their groove, which is essential for a groove metal sound to me.
The first verse reminds me of everything that got lost after SOAPF. Just listen to how much is going on in that first verse. None of the instruments are taking it easy. The drumming in particular is really eclectic, but it works. Daniel is missed.
I don’t think it’s all studio magic, like with how you mentioned it below, but I do very much believe that excellent production and instrument tones is a massive part of SOAPF’s success. Compare the 0 notes of the lowest two strings (The lowest pitch chord) on Foregone to even the 0 note on the single lowest string (The lowest pitch note) of The Puzzle (Even the palm muted 0 notes in the verse), SOAPF, Enter Tragedy, etc. Despite being “heavier” than SOAPF, I’d argue that the guitar tone on Foregone is actually not nearly as punchy as SOAPF, instead being somewhat scratchier and weaker. On albums with weaker production, Daniel’s kit has sounded significantly weaker, and drums in particular are susceptible to bad production, as not highlighting the right frequency for each drum in particular can make or break it. You can really hear Daniel use the entirety of the kit here, but on something like STYE, where not only does he less frequently use the toms, they’re somewhat less distinctive than on an album with clearer production. That’s a bit of a problem with STYE as a whole, but I don’t think it’s entirely fair to only rip Foregone apart. Besides, I’d actually argue that Tanner’s kit sounds pretty great there. Even on something like House (which I did listen to again for this message, please pray for my soul), it’s actually the snare that isn’t nearly as powerful as it should sound. Surprisingly, the toms sound fine in the song, but God, that song really should’ve been left off of ITM, what the fuck.
Anders' vocals are the same as ASOP in the sense they are that weird mix of half-yell and scream, but for whatever reason it sounds so much better on this album. On ASOP I didn't think it sounded natural, but on SOAPF the vocals just fit within the mix like a glove. I also really like the way Anders screams "Reach inside, numb the pain, come around with answers".
Then you've got the chorus, which succeeds in being authentically epic in a way very few IF songs have since then. The soaring instrumental combined with Anders acceptably (imo anyway) ProTooled singing and intelligent lyrics combines to create a memorable 20 seconds or so. Also love how Anders just randomly screams "Yeah!" after that first chorus. Just makes it sound fun and spontaneous, like he's really getting into it. It's the kind of thing badly missing from modern IF, which is manufactured to the nth
degree.
I also appreciate that each chorus in the song is slightly different. Nice detail which IF used to do on many tracks.
I’d also argue that despite Anders’ voice being in a weaker state here than what it is now, he tends to scream far better in the studio than when he’s performing live— There’s less stress, less strain from not doing back to back songs in one sitting day after day, and probably more excitement and ambition to it. I don’t think he’s going to give 100% to his 1051st performance of OFTW, but for a new studio album of original material? I’d believe it. Even if that wasn’t the case, listen to his vocals in Graspop 2006. CC Anders is arguably at his fucking peak, with TJR and Whoracle being the only albums where I’d dispute that claim, but his vocals are about as strained live as they’d been since 1999.
I will say, Rusted Nail actually has pre-chorus variations, and it’s clear that Siren Charms would have received a better level of care like that should it have gotten more time in the oven. This isn’t even a comment on the rushed recording process, I just genuinely think there should’ve been more time and care overall since it’s clear that for as bad as Siren Charms was, it was the final passion project the band (Or at least Anders) had. Seriously, they got a bunch of fans to do some choir type vocals for the first pre-chorus part, and not only does it not sound like shit, they were credited as The Head Jester Choir. Come on, that’s just fun and cool all on its own, and I wish there was more neat little things like that on the album.
Second verse is pretty short, but I do love the "Staring into bright lights" scream.
The second chorus transitions into probably my second favourite Bjorn solo, just behind Satellites and Astronauts. Two very different solos though. S&A has a beautifully melancholic vibe, whereas the SOAPF solo is just upbeat, infectious energy. It's a track that's buzzing with life and energy throughout, and the solo embodies that perfectly. Much like S&A, it fits into and is a crucial element of what makes the song so great. It's a shame we went from this to copy and pasting largely generic, lifeless solos from Siren Charms onwards.
It’s weird to try to put into words, but Sounds of a Playground Fading generally has this amusement park rollercoaster kind of tone with its guitarwork— Which is fitting both because of the Deliver Us video taking place in a ferris wheel in an amusement park and because, well, an amusement park is essentially a giant playground with actual organization and mechanizing behind it. There’s a genuinely fun kind of grandiosity to it all that transcends what can be described using music theory. I still have absolutely wonderful memories of breezing through Saints Row 4 to Deliver Us— A game I dropped midway through the intro because I wasn’t feeling it and would’ve probably never come back to had it not been for Deliver Us fitting it so perfectly and thus enhancing the experience for me. There’s nothing like skydiving with superpowers to the soaring melody of “Fly into the distance, disappear for a while”. Many fans of the game have said that this song or that song fit Saints Row 4 perfectly, but I truly believe that Deliver Us is
the song that fits the game perfectly.
Anyway, more great screams from Anders in the third and final verse "we're running out of time, can't seem to recognise". Final two choruses are even more epic than the first two, love the little amendments to the arrangement and the vocal delivery which elevate it even further. The ending riffs, honestly, aren't necessary but whatever. Minor nitpick.
Ultimately, one of my favourite IF tracks and always makes me feel good listening to it.
I think one of the things I love about SOAPF which I get from very few albums in general is that it’s an album where when I listen to one song, I want to listen to the whole thing. I’ve gotten that feeling with most other IF albums, but I’d argue I get it with Letters To Myself more than any other album out there. Listening to albums is a process that’s honestly become a bit dull to me, particularly if it’s a new album or one that isn’t one of my favorites through and through, but SOAPF has this sort of magic and almost unpredictability despite having listened to it countless times. Don’t get me wrong, I very much do still feel that with other In Flames albums, but most In Flames albums feel like another In Flames album. Hell, I generally sort them into pairs going from Lunar Strain and Subterranean, to TJR and Whoracle, to Colony and Clayman, then… Alright, RTR and STYE don’t really sound like each other too much, but I’d argue a lot of compositional similarities are there. Then there’s Come Clarity and the shitty Come Clarity, which is a horrific insult to Come Clarity, and I guess one could say SOAPF and Siren Charms, given that the sound is rather similar… Despite it just being another Come Clarity and shitty Come Clarity situation (I still like you, Siren Charms, even if you aren’t good), though I could see the case being made for it and Battles. Honestly though, I think I’d pair Battles with ITM, given the poppy, alt metal sound of both. That being said, I don’t really know, SOAPF genuinely does sound like its own thing. Siren Charms is rather different despite a similar sound, and it’s certainly a downgrade, though it doesn’t make me think of SOAPF like ASOP makes me think of Come Clarity. I realize I’m rambling, and I really don’t entirely understand my feelings about SOAPF in relation to the rest of In Flames’ discography, but I’d actually argue that that’s part of the magic of it. I know we’ll never get something like it again, but I can always dream of a world where this was the first bold step in a new sonic direction that would stick for them. It wouldn’t be the classic lineup, or even like the middle era, but it’d be a new era we could enjoy for its genuinely high quality musicianship.
Instead we have House.