In Flames' "Here Until Forever" Works Well In The Now

I liken the pace of Swedish heavy metal band In Flames' new single "Here Until Forever" to that called into action by a ship's captain who knows exactly what he's doing so he keeps his vessel squarely set on cruise control. From the opening riff of Niclas Engelin's guitar we're in for a tune that dials down the bombast to glorious results. Each syllable vocalist Andres Friden utters comes through with clear intention. You can hear the pathos dripping from his lips. The first two lines in verse one would get any young female's heart going pit-a-pat. How could you not melt at the lines "I can't wait to hear your voice again. I am far from lonely but without you I'm a mess." Cue the waterworks. The members of In Flames each maximize his opportunity to shine. Joe Rickard drums without going overboard. He comes off as being extremely workmanlike, and that's no small hint that the aforementioned ship is churning along smoothly. Meanwhile guitarist Bjorn Gelotte places guitar riffs in just the right spots. In so doing he ramps up the intensity of Andres' longing. We want him to have his heart's desire. We want him not to suffer the angst of unrequited love. Cheering him on is gorgeously easy. What makes "Here Until Forever" stand out from the rest of the metal offerings is that there's no head banging guitar solo to contend with. That means we can really sink our teeth into the words because nobody is trying to dazzle us with his technical brilliance. In verse three a line pops up that makes me think of '80s band REO Speedwagon's words of delightful corniness from "Can't Fight This Feeling" "It's time to bring this ship into the shore and throw away the oars forever." In Flames impresses us with this nautically themed sentiment..."You are my lighthouse in the dark. I can see you from a thousand miles away. A little schmaltzy but endearing all the same. Moving on along to the fifth verse Andres gets really deep. With not even a trace of insincerity he proclaims "I hope you feel that nothing dies. I am alive in all you touch." From a spiritual standpoint I liken that to the Christian notion that God is everywhere. You can't help but cop a smile when gazing at the music video. Completely engrossing visual effects add sizable heft to the video's message. Kudos to In Flames for winning us over with a likable number that, although it may not tug at the heartstrings forever, it has a very good shot at staying in the mind's need to remember file for a hell of a lot of human years.