Changes happen in life. We are creatures of habit and we rarely like changes and our beloved music is a fine example. Countless are the times of your favorite band changing their "musical" direction (or how people plainly put it "selling out") or changing line-ups due to artistic differences. The easy way to react on a change is to whine about it and stick on the "once upon a time" nostalgia while the hard way is to hear what it has to say and then "judge" it.

IN FLAMES are in this "state" for 10 years now since "Clayman", their most successful album to date. Some might see them juggling with the heavy legacy of releases like "The Jester Race" and "Colony" while trying to "enjoy" their success outside of Europe. Others might see a band trying to build a sound of their own and evolve it beyond musical "borders". No matter how you see it, IN FLAMES never stayed in one place for too long, a rather hard feat  given the fact of their worldwide (and continuous) success. With "Sounds Of A Playground Fading", their tenth studio release, they are trying to prove, first to themselves, that they are still alive after the departure of their founding member and co-composer of almost everything, Jesper Strömblad.

"SOAPF" can be easily be described as their "darkest" album with their most diverse compositions. Don't try and judge the record from the single release "Deliver Us"(I am starting to hate the choices the band and/or their record companies make on what the first single should be). It isn't a bad song per se but it is so similar to "The Quiet Place" that really seems like a left over from "Soundtrack To Your Escape" album. Slow starts, acoustic parts and semi-clean vocals are all over the 13 songs of "SOAPF". The good thing is that the riffs that create the trademark IN FLAMES sound are still here, all of them courtesy of Björn Gelotte.

 "Fear Is The Weakness",which caught my interest on the first couple spins, is a good sample of how (most of ) "SOAPF" sounds;  catchy, slower tempo and more progressive than "usual". The biggest change though is the evolution of Anders Fridén's vocals. One that has already listened to IN FLAMES before can understand that change; how deeper his voice is, with less growls in it. A personal favorite, "Ropes" has only clean vocals so do yourself a favor, free your mind from any metal genre prejudice and just listen to the song.  It is one of the most interesting compositions ever created by them and one of the best songs since "Clayman".

Sadly there are moments in the album that they seem to appear some kind of (at least in the start) uninspired or mashed up ideas. "The Puzzle" and "Darker Times", for example, are songs that they do sound pretty weak but you can't really "put the awful- tag on them". They have really nice chorus with catchy (cliché much?) riffs but until you get there you have to "tolerate" the rest of the song. The only excuse I could think of is that of the whole album composition -music wise- relaying on one person, Björn Gelotte. One can understand how hard it can be when you spent almost two decades with a "writing" partner only to find yourself alone just before an album writing process starts.

I must admit that I enjoyed "SOAPF" more than anything IN FLAMES did after "Reroute To Remain". It is something different yet quite familiar, with changes in the vocal section and a darker vibe. It might seem a bit "boring" at times, too progressive for some of the fans, but there are songs that really blatantly remind us why IN FLAMES are worshiped as a band. No matter what they do, their next step will always be something to be expected as a major metal event and to be (sometimes way too much) discussed about .They have nothing to prove anymore and they don't really care to replicate the glory of their "past". Free from those shackles, they are putting their minds at a constant test of musical creationism and your ears to an aural roller-coaster.