IN FLAMES Drummer: 'We've Never Had A Problem' Coming Up With Great New Ideas

Australia's The Metal Forge recently conducted an interview with IN FLAMES drummer Daniel Svensson. A few excerpts from the chat follow.

On the group's new album, "A Sense Of Purpose":

"It's our ninth album and I don't think you will get surprised if I say it's our best album so far! (laughs) the new one usually is. It's always hard to describe your own music when you're in the middle of it it's easier from the outside. But if you liked the previous IN FLAMES albums then you will definitely like this one! It's still melodic metal with great choruses I mean, they're the trademarks of IN FLAMES. I think the biggest change on this album is the production. We really worked on it this time. The album was recorded in our own studio which meant that we didn't have any time issues we could really work until we were totally satisfied with everything. I think this record is more solid than ever before there's no detail we haven't worked with, because we had so much time. . . Usually you rent someone else's studio for a couple of weeks. And during the time, problems will appear and then you stand there with seven days left in the studio and you have seven more songs to record and you have to really stress out. But this time we could work for as long as we wanted. I mean sometimes you lose inspiration then you can go home for a couple of days and just forget about the album for awhile, and then come back when you get the inspiration back. I think that's the key to why this album sounds so good."

On how "A Sense Of Purpose" compares to the group's previous albums:

"It might sound more happy. It's not as dark as 'Soundtrack To Your Escape' was that's probably the darkest album we did. As I said, it's really hard to say. I mean I will always have my experience recording the songs and that's what I think of when I hear those specific songs. I will definitely get different feelings from listening to the album than you will get it's really hard to say. It's a little bit more happy which could maybe reflect that this is the first time that we were together recording an album in awhile. For the previous three albums at least I've been recording drums alone with a producer in one studio, and then we'd record the guitar somewhere else and then Anders did his vocals alone in another studio. This time it felt like a band effort again. We could hang out and have fun during the recording and I think that's why this album sounds more happy because we had a really, really good time!'

On whether he ever thought he'd be where he is today when IN FLAMES was still in its early days:

"No. No not really. I mean when you start a band especially in this kind of music your happy if you get a job at a local pub! (laughs) But I think our career has gone steadily in the right direction we never got big just overnight. We kind of grow into every step. It still feels natural for us to be at this level. I think it's really hard if you're a new band and you release an album and it gets really big I think you'd get really anxious about the rest of your career, or what you can do now to make it better. The way we have done it has been very healthy for the band and for us as individuals and for our egos as well because we have had the time to adapt to every level of our career. We didn't get huge overnight. Of course, if someone told me ten years ago that I would play these big shows and sell these amounts of records, I would've just laughed! We've had some luck and we've been working really, really hard so we definitely deserve it, I think."

On the perception that IN FLAMES is one of the bands responsible for shaping and directing both the Gothenburg style and the sound of modern European metal:

"Mmm. It might be true. I mean us, and some other bands, of course. Yeah, that's possible. I mean it's nothing that you walk around and think about every day. Of course we've understood that we've become an influential band for other bands and that's great! It's really flattering that you can inspire people to start playing music. But it's not an ambition, it just happens. I think we always try to write songs that we are comfortable with and we never try and catch any trends because that's really dangerous. We always try to find new ways in working with the songs and writing songs. We've never tried to follow any other bands and I think that's the secret."

On whether coming up with new ideas can be a chore:

"Not really. It comes naturally for us, I don't know what it is. I mean, right now I feel like, 'OK, it's going to be really hard to top this album.' But now we're going to tour for one and a half years and then take a month off and then we're going to start writing new songs. Every time we do this, new songs pop up as if nothing had happened before, and they always seem to be better than the previous ones. We've never had a problem when it comes to that luckily. I don't know what it is. We love playing music, and I think sometimes you need to force yourself to be creative. But when you get going the songs just pop out."

On his views on today's metal scene:

"To be honest, I really don't have time to listen to so much new metal. There are some really good new bands. I mean the latest trend in the U.S. is obviously metalcore. And always in the U.S. when something gets trendy everyone starts bands to catch the momentum. And of course there are some bands that aren't as good as the others. But I really enjoy listening to KILLSWITCH (ENGAGE) and AS I LAY DYING and stuff like that. I mean, music needs to evolve otherwise it will get stagnant. Those bands took the American hardcore thing and mixed it with a more melodic European style and came up with this new thing and created a new branch in the metal tree that's how music evolves."

Read the entire interview at www.themetalforge.com.