“Lost Days” might have been a better title for this album as these former members of In Flames, joined by Dark Tranquillity vocalist Mikael Stanne, seem to be making up for the years that has passed since Jesper Strömblad left In Flames in 2010. It might be tempting to blame everything that befell In Flames on Anders but as this album shows, Jesper himself is still stuck in the watered out melodeath sound of the 10s. In Flames started losing a lot of what made them interesting early on and some of the material on albums like Soundtrack to Your Escape and Reroute to Remain is just as trite as their Hot Topic-era.
But rather than whining at the sound (that’s Anders’ job) the focus here should be on the songs. Who will like this album? What era of In Flames fan will be interested in this album? None, it seems, as this album is actually a modern Dark Tranquillity album with old In Flames playing as a backing band. Jesper‘s leads are instantly recognizable with their latter era sentimental sound on full display. It’s interesting that he can mimic the Dark Tranquillity sound so accurately. The first song presented is jam (In Flames), the second peanut butter (Dark Tranquillity) and starting with song three the band attempts to combine them for the ultimate Gothenburg experience.
How do you fail to make a simple sandwich like this? You use too much of one ingredient. It comes together well in the song “Conditional” where a typical Dark Tranquillity attack of thrash makes a baton pass for a typical groove you’d find in early In Flames. Elsewhere the album always errs on the Dark Tranquility side of the spectrum. The material here isn’t atrocious but it doesn’t make the case for itself well. As a Dark Tranquillity album it pales in comparison to the vitality that burst from the seams of “Atoma” and doesn’t have the darkness from odd records like “We Are the Void”. If this album’s mission statement was to proclaim who the members are, mission accomplished! But they will need to prove that they actually have something to offer where bands like Insomnium, Carcass and The Black Dahlia Murder (even Dark Tranquillity!) have been pushing the genre forward in the last decade.
