Yes friends it’s true. In Flames is done. Stick a fork in them and microwave them for five minutes on high. Their latest offering is so far from what can be considered a good melodeath album that it would be a shame if anyone still thought of them as this. Granted, they have been promoting themselves as a “hard rock” band for the past few years yet it is hard to divorce their almost mythical past as one of the forerunners of the New Wave of Swedish Death Metal movement from their present nu metal incarnation. Some blame Anders Friden for taking over the band, telling Jesper to screw off and play the same mallcore riffs over and over. Others blame fame and success particularly in the finicky and hard to break into US market. Putting all of that nonsense aside, the music on this album cannot hold up.

When the track list for this album was unveiled, I got a scary feeling in that the titles were not representative of a traditional album but rather another “Ihatemyparentsandmylifeandeverythingelse” nu vomit album. Even this album title reeks of nu influence. The Soundtrack to Your Escape. As with all things nu, it’s about marketing. Adding the "your" personalizes it as if the album was made only for you. In addition, escape promises false hopes of allowing you to escape from whatever it is that is stressing or pressuring you. Soundtrack is an interesting word. Dick Clark always said that music is the soundtrack of your life. In Flames is almost implying that this album should be the be all and end all of the music assaulting your ears. If you don’t buy this album, you’ll be unpopular among all the other nu metal kiddies. Instead of remediating stress and anguish, the title alone causes additional psychological stress in supposedly addled pre-teens.

Yet, I digress again. The album opens with “F(R)iend.” Aside from Anders’ horrid screaming in the chorus, this song does feature one of the few solos on the album. By solos, I don’t refer to older In Flames songs like “Wayfarer” where Jesper delights our ears for minutes on end with wondrous melodies. I mean, the typical nu metal scraping the bottom of the barrel solos. C’mon. This is Jesper Strömblad. It would be one thing if it was another player but this man is arguably one of the most competent set of hands in metal. The riff structure is bare bones, relying on synth to provide the melody. They seem to use the synth leads a lot on this disc. I cannot stress how much this album would be improved if the synth leads were played on guitar. Especially in the second song “The Quiet Place” which is also the first single from the album. A guitar playing the leads would have helped matters. Anders’ vocals are terrible in the verse parts and the bridges when he tries to sing cleanly in that goddamned Korn/Limp Bizkit/Chevelle whine. The song has jettisoned any vestiges of their past. Equally irksome is the drum sound. While Dan Svensson does seem to be capable of tearing things up behind the kit, the drums sound like garbage. The kicks are especially bothersome, having a fuzz to their sound. Svensson also chooses to hit a woodblock on many occasions which, as a novelty, gets old rather fast.

“Touch of Red” which is also on the single is a slight step up with a more refined solo and slightly more interesting riffing. Anders at least makes an attempt on this song to emulate his vocal style of old. However the next song wins the award for worst lyrics. “Like You Better Dead” relies heavily on sampled beats and nonsensical musings. “My Sweet Shadow” suffers from a similar malady as the single. A decent keyboard melody not played on guitar. Forgive me if I remember what makes melodeath melodic. This song also has the whining clean vocals which drive me batty. “Evil in a Closet” is a ballad that evokes Pearl Jam more than any other band I can think of. As a ballad, it does ok and is probably the best song on the album. “In Search for I” is also one of the better songs here. Upbeat and evocative of older music, it falters when the first chorus hits.

While people proclaimed the death of In Flames with Clayman and furthered the call with Reroute to Remain, the nails are driven into their coffin with this album. While the final track “Bottled” is still worth a listen since it could have come from the Reroute to Remain sessions, the album does not deliver. It is not good for an escape or as a soundtrack. Reroute to Remain was a good album but it seems as though this release magnified all the shortcomings of that album. Maybe I’m bitter because there will be no more melodeath spewing forth from the once masters but it is really sad to see a great band sacrifice what made them sound great for whatever reasons they chose.