IN FLAMES are not done yet. Frontman Anders Fridén used an interview with Paolo Phoenix of Magenta TV at Wacken Open Air to knock down talk that the Swedish/American band's fifteenth studio album is in the can.
"Ah, the rumors. The rumors are not true," Fridén said. "We're still building, you know, building the LEGO. It's going well, though."
The band once again recorded in Los Angeles with Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson — a collaborator since 2016's "Battles", and a man whose CV also includes MOTÖRHEAD, BODY COUNT and SEPULTURA — alongside engineer Mike Plotnikoff. The follow-up to 2023's "Foregone" will mark the recording debut of drummer Jon Rice, who has been touring with IN FLAMES since May 2025 and previously played with BEHEMOTH, JOB FOR A COWBOY, THE RED CHORD and UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS.
Asked what will set the record apart, Fridén kept it blunt. "It will sound like IN FLAMES and like no one else. That's as unique as you can get, I would say. But I think we continue what we've been creating and putting everything that IN FLAMES [has] ever been into one big album. And I can't wait for people to hear it. We are really proud of it. Everybody's on top of their game. And, yeah, it sounds amazing already, and it's not even mixed."
He was rather less precious about IN FLAMES' status as architects of melodic death metal. The band had no idea they were shaping a genre, he said: "We were just fans of music, and we just wanted to create our way of what we thought heavy metal was. We were just having fun creating what we loved and took inspiration from tons of other bands." Hearing newer bands play riffs that sound "very similar" to his own does not bother him in the slightest — "but it's fine. We did it too. If IRON MAIDEN is listening right now, then we stole some of your riffs. And that's just the truth."
"It's so difficult to be super, super, super original," Fridén added. "You take bits and pieces, and you throw in some of your own ideas and it just keeps the music moving forward. When we create an album, and when we're done, we give it to the fans, and it's out of our hands. It's yours."
He had a word for metal's famously opinionated audience, too. "Heavy metal fans, they will judge you left and right, but they're also super passionate, and that's what I love about the genre." What surprised him over the years was discovering the scene had unwritten rules at all: "I wanted to be part of heavy metal because I thought there were no rules whatsoever. And years later, I found out, 'Oh, you can't do this, can't do that.' But fuck that. Do whatever you want."
Source: blabbermouth.net