“Ah, the rumors. The rumors are not true.”
That’s In Flames frontman Anders Fridén, putting the brakes on any talk you’ve heard that the band’s fifteenth studio album is finished. Speaking with Paolo Phoenix of Magenta TV at Wacken Open Air, Fridén says the band is still “building the LEGO” but things are going well.
In Flames is once again working with producer Howard Benson and engineer Mike Plotnikoff, and Fridén says the new record is already sounding amazing, even though it hasn’t been mixed.
“It will sound like In Flames and like no one else,” he said. “That’s as unique as you can get, I would say.”
Fridén says the band is essentially pulling everything it has ever been into one record.
“We continue what we’ve been creating and putting everything that In Flames has ever been into one big album,” he said. “And I can’t wait for people to hear it. We are really proud of it. Everybody’s on top of their game.”
That confidence comes with a healthy dose of perspective. When In Flames formed more than three and a half decades ago, Fridén says they had no idea they were helping shape melodic death metal.
“We were just fans of music, and we just wanted to create our way of what we thought heavy metal was,” he said.
And if newer bands borrow from In Flames? Fridén isn’t losing sleep over it.
“But it’s fine. We did it too,” he admitted. “If Iron Maiden is listening right now, then we stole some of your riffs. And that’s just the truth.”
For Fridén, that’s how music evolves: take inspiration, add your own ideas and keep moving forward.
“It should not be, ‘This is ours, this is ours, this is ours.’”
He feels the same way once an album leaves the studio.
“When we create an album, and when we’re done, we give it to the fans, and it’s out of our hands,” he said. “We can’t control it. It’s yours.”
And as for the rules of heavy metal?
Fridén thought there weren’t any. Then he discovered there apparently were.
“Years later, I found out, ‘Oh, you can’t do this, can’t do that, can’t do that.’ But fuck that. Do whatever you want.”
The new album will apparently also mark the recording debut of drummer Jon Rice, who has been touring with In Flames since May 2025. The band teased the sessions in February when guitarist Björn Gelotte posted “XV” from the studio, while Plotnikoff shared a photo of Rice’s drum kit with the words, “Drums have begun.”
In Flames continues touring behind 2023’s Foregone. Now, with album number 15 taking shape, Fridén and company are still building.
Do you think In Flames’ fifteenth album will be their most definitive yet?
