IN FLAMES 'Spent A Lot Of Time' Writing 'Battles' Album, Says Producer HOWARD BENSON

Swedish metallers IN FLAMES will release their twelfth studio album, “Battles”, on November 11 via Nuclear Blast in all territories excluding North America and Scandinavia and Eleven Seven Music Group in the U.S. The CD was recorded in Los Angeles with Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson, who has previously worked with MOTÖRHEAD, BODY COUNT and SEPULTURA, among others.

The third “Battles” making-of webisode — in which Benson talks about working with IN FLAMES at his studio in California — can be seen below.

Said Howard: “I’d never worked with IN FLAMES before. I’d heard about them. A lot of the bands I worked with really respect that band, so I heard about them from all the bands I worked with, actually. When they came to me, through the management, I was pretty intrigued. I had a phone call with them, and I produced them, basically, ’cause they were Swedish. They seemed like some nice guys, so I was, like, ‘All right. I’ll do the record.'”

He continued: “They spent a lot of time writing this record. And we decided that we were gonna focus mostly on the songwriting and then the studio stuff would be pretty easy to do once the writing was done. So they were really open-minded to really, really putting the time in. But they were working literally the entire weekend, 24-7, writing material. So when they’d come back. I would always be, ‘Wow! There’s three more songs,’ or ‘two more new songs.’ That was really… I’ve gotta give the band a lot of credit for that.”

Benson added: “First of all, Björn [Gelotte] is an amazing guitar player, and I think he was also a drummer at one point, so his drum programming and drum ideas were great. So it was just so much fun to watch him layer stuff and put stuff down. And I probably worked more with Anders [Fridén, vocals], because the vocals are something I do myself with the singer. And I just really got to understand his point of view, about what he was talking about, and I liked them so much, I actually went to Sweden to visit them a couple of months ago, or a month ago.”

Gelotte talked about how the recording process for “Battles” compared to that of its predecessor, 2014’s “Siren Charms”.

“‘Siren Charms’ had a very dark vibe to it,” he explained. “We recorded it at a cold, damp and dark time during the year in Berlin so it gave it a certain melancholy to the record. Now recording in L.A. with the sunshine, it’s a different energy. The writing process was different this time, too — that I would like for us to continue to explore. Also, working with Howard and his team was great. I got stressed taking a break for even five minutes because they were always ready to go for the next take and kept my energy up.”

“I think being in California really affected this album in the sense that we had a studio in the house that we were staying at and the vibe was really relaxed which lent itself to productivity,” added vocalist Anders Fridén. “It really helped having a producer who could make us focus on what we needed to accomplish and keep us on track.”

“This was a very new approach for us because we’ve never let anyone else in the way we did with Howard,” said Gelotte.

“Battles” sees the band making the hooks sharper, the riffs tighter and honing the overall attack in a way that parallels their legendary live shows in an unparalleled fashion.

“When people hear this album I think they’re going to instantly know that it’s the new IN FLAMES without us repeating the same song over and over, and that’s something I’m incredibly proud of,” Fridén said. He went on to downplay the changes in the band’s sound, calling “Battles” “guitar driven, melodic… it’s like they know what to expect. It’s not like we’re coming out with something completely different, but at the same time it’s still new. If they already like IN FLAMES, they will like it — and if they don’t like IN FLAMES already, they still might like it.”