In Flames credit Van Halen with album sound

Anders Friden says In Flames guitarist Bjorn Gelotte brought a Van Halen vibe to their latest album.

Siren Charms, their 11th studio outing, launched last year via Sony, and Friden says Gelotte brought a classic rock feel to the record thanks to the guitarist’s love of Eddie Van Halen’s style of playing.

He tells Yell Magazine: “His main influences are Dio, Rainbow, Deep Purple and stuff. He listens to some new stuff but he’s very old school. He has a very loose playing style sort of like Eddie Van Halen and those guitar players like Ritchie Blackmore – not super technical as I sometimes think super technical players are amazing but there’s no soul in it.

“Niclas Engelin and Bjorn compliment each other very well because Niclas has more of a riffy, picky, attack type of playing, where Bjorn is way more loose.”

Earlier this month, Friden said he missed his friendship with former guitarist Jesper Stromblad who quit the band in 2010. They also recorded two gigs in their homeland of Sweden in November for an upcoming DVD release.

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