Sounds of a Playground Fading is the tenth studio album by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, released on 15 June 2011.[8] It is the first album recorded by In Flames without founding guitarist Jesper Strömblad, who left the band in February 2010,[9] making it also the only In Flames release not to have two guitarists. The album was reissued in 2014, featuring five additional tracks.[10]
Background
According to Anders, this album features increasingly wide vocal registers and reduced growls.[11] In addition, some of the album's songs "pretty much go against the hard rock formula."[8]
The entire album was written by Björn Gelotte. The guitar solos, unlike most other albums, were able to be pre-planned out and worked much better according to the in-studio report.
Release and promotion
The band revealed the cover art, track listing and first single, "Deliver Us", on their official Facebook page in April and May 2011. Then on 3 June 2011, aol.com streamed the entire album on their music network.[12] In Flames performed the album on their European tour with support from Noctiferia,[13] as part of the "Defenders of the Faith III" tour, with bands Trivium, Rise to Remain, Ghost and Insense,[14] and with Trivium in their North American Tour.[15]
Four music videos were filmed including the lead single "Deliver Us"[16] and "Where the Dead Ships Dwell"[17] both released in 2011 while "Ropes"[18] and "Sounds of a Playground Fading"[19] were also filmed but not released until 2013.
The track "Deliver Us" was featured in the soundtrack to the 2013 video game Saints Row IV.
Reception
Sounds of a Playground Fading received generally positive reviews. Review aggregate website Metacritic gave the album a 68 out of 100 based on six professional critics.[1]
Commercial performance
Sounds of a Playground Fading debuted at number 27 on the US Billboard 200 album chart,[20] number 2 on the Top Hard Rock chart,[21] number 7 on the Top Rock chart, and number 5 on the Top Independent chart.[22] It also debuted at number 1 of the Media Control German Albums chart,[23] and at number 12 of the Billboard Canadian Albums chart.[24]
^Jesper Strömblad; Anders; Peter; Daniel; Björn (12 February 2010). "JESPER STRÖMBLAD LEAVES IN FLAMES". In Flames Myspace Blog. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2011.