Music
Album Review: In Flames ‘Sounds Of Playground Fading’
With a history as long and celebrated as In Flames, each new album is met by fans with great expectations and high hopes. “Will it be as good as The Jester Race or Clayman?” “Will it be something weird and a total deviation from what I’m used to?” Well, considering the fact that In Flames have been releasing studio albums since 1993, it’s impossible to ask them to stay with one sound. First of all, it gets boring for the listener and, second, musicians can’t be pigeonholed like that. Progression and expansion are a natural part of life as well as music. So it is with In Flames 10th studio release, Sounds of a Playground Fading. But does this expansion and progression work? Check after the jump.
The album kicks off with the title track, ‘Sounds of a Playground Fading’. What’s immediately apparent is how good the production sounds. Although it starts with only a clean guitar, you can hear the roundness, clarity and depth of the low-tuned strings. Then the second guitar comes in and we have the beautiful guitar harmonization that In Flames is so renowned for. When the distortion kicks in and the drums and bass enter, it is with such power and immediacy, that I couldn’t help but feel goosebumps raise on my arms. Once the song kicks in and Anders starts his trademark screaming growl, I knew I was set for a full on In Flames experience, one that I’ve been needing without realizing.
The production of this album is spot on with each instrument sounding crisp, full and clear. I could go into details but suffice it to say that while I was listening with my Grado’s, it felt like I was immersed in the music rather than it hitting me head on.
While I found myself loving the whole album, songs like ‘Fear Is The Weakness’, ‘Enter Tragedy’ and ‘A New Dawn’ that showcase the epic grandeur and astonishing melody and beauty that can inhabit metal.
The Final Word: Sounds of a Playground Fading is not just a masterful addition to the In Flames catalogue, it is a triumphant crowning achievement. I cannot recommend this album highly enough.
Synthwave outfit GUNSHIP has released a new official music video this morning for their cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” featured on the soundtrack to Corin Hardy’s (The Nun, The Hallow) supernatural horror film Whistle.
To bring it full circle, Corin Hardy directs the music video himself, incorporating previously unseen footage from Whistle. More specifically, the new music video features an extended sequence from the film.
This collaboration builds on GUNSHIP’s longstanding relationship with Hardy, who previously contributed vocals to the band’s track “Cthulhu.”
“Working with Corin is a total dream,” said GUNSHIP. “He’s an old friend who we bonded with over our love for cinema and music, and we were honored to have our song featured in the film. After the Whistle premiere, we were chatting over a pint, and he told us about a beautiful pseudo ‘one shot’ sequence he was heartbroken to lose in the final film. We suggested resurrecting it and using it as a music video. Corin got it immediately, and the result is perfect. It’s heartbreaking, haunting and pure 80s noir soaked.”
Corin Hardy added: “I wanted Whistle to feel like a horror movie I might have watched around the late 1980s, alongside films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Lost Boys, and The Breakfast Club. Films steeped in teen-angst and heightened feelings. Music was such a huge part of creating the romance of those cinematic worlds. Gunship’s synth-drenched cover of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’ was always top of my list. Their unique heart-on-your-sleeve sound was the perfect choice for a key moment in the movie. To come together post-release and create this extended music video is simply the cherry on top. Dan, Al & Al (Gunship) have provided the film a real companion piece in the world of Whistle… it makes me want my MTV again!”
It’s a fitting collaboration, as music serves a narrative purpose in Whistle. Music, the director told Bloody Disgusting, was a means of immersing viewers in this world and its characters’ perspectives. Hardy even touched on this particular track: “So in a way, the music you’ll listen to is effectively what Chrys is listening to, which is her dad’s record collection. Then there are other songs like the Gunship track, which is a Cyndi Lauper cover, which is more like Rel’s [Sky Yang] music. It comes in when we have a sequence in Rel’s romantic heartbreak moment. So yeah, I made a character list of who might be listening to what.”
Whistle sees a misfit group of unwitting high school students confronted with mortality when they blow a cursed Aztec Death Whistle, setting a terrifying chain of events in motion.
Dafne Keen (Logan, “The Acolyte“), Sophie Nélisse (“Yellowjackets”), Sky Yang (Rebel Moon), Jhaleil Swaby (“Supergirl”), Ali Skovbye (Grizzly Night, “Firefly Lane”), Percy Hynes White (“Wednesday”), Michelle Fairley (“Game of Thrones”), and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead).
The supernatural teen horror movie is available to stream on Shudder now.