New album Foregone out February 2023



I'm not a drummer, so some of the more technical aspects were a little bit over my head, but I found this a pretty cool insight into how the band functions on tour and how it's been for someone coming into an act with such a beloved back catalogue. Apparently Anders chooses the setlist himself and the others prefer it that way, but I know if I was in his position, I'd definitely be like "Can we play this song?" "How about this one?" "Guys... Here's an idea, what about Biosphere?"

Interesting that he called The Mirror's Truth, Everything's Gone and Take This Life "their three hardest songs". I wonder if he still thinks that after having played December Flower and Coerced Coexistence.

Drumeo videos are always a treat, can’t wait to watch this.

Edit: Autocorrect fucked me over
 
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Pretty cool video and Tanner comes off as a likeable dude, I don't think I've ever watched anything like this that featured him until now. I thought the bit about him lying about being able to pull off the few faster songs for his audition was also really interesting.
 
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Crowds in the past have enjoyed Moonshield and Artifacts just fine - why they play Graveland nonstop instead of those is beyond me. Whilst Graveland is a fine song, in the context of TJR it's a pretty mid track. Almost any other song would be more interesting.

The 'crowds don't react' excuse has always been that, an excuse. In the end it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The band ignored their older catalogue for literal decades, those older fans then drifted away, so of course crowd reactions will lessen over time on the rare occasion they throw in a really old track. The majority of the scene kids who got into IF through CC or ASOP aren't going to care about or like TJR, especially if those songs are never played live.

I guarantee if Moonshield, Artifacts, Episode 666, Jotun, etc had been regulars on the set over the years they would get great reactions now. If they started putting them in from now they would get solid reactions soon enough, because they are inherently fantastic tracks and sound awesome live.

It was sad seeing Stand Ablaze get barely any reaction at Borgholm Brinner, but that's just what the IF fanbase is nowadays. 95% of people who still care about the band won't ever have heard Lunar Strain or Subterranean, and would probably recoil in horror if they did listen to them.

The reason TJR songs haven't been played live historically is simply because the band kept releasing increasingly commercial albums that brought in increasingly commercial fans, and they catered to that audience in a live environment. Fans of their best music were left in the dust. Anders may well like TJR and maybe it is his favourite album, but the commercial success of the band has always come first. I'm not saying they were right or wrong to do that, but it is what it is.
 
In the end, people will listen to what the band wants them to listen at. If they were regularly playing songs from their old catalogue, people knowing that, would take a listen at it and know and understand what to expect.

Then, when they've been neglecting the most of it, fans going to a show cannot react to something that they don't know. It's like going to a show from a band that you've never heard of. You must pay attention and even appreciate the music but you cannot be excited simply because you don't know it
 
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They used to make the excuse that because of the amount of guitar tracks on TJR, they couldn't play those songs live. And then when that stopped holding water, they went with the "well, it's really the crowds..." It absolutely was a self-fulfilling prophecy though. I think even now, a song like Moonshield would get a decent reaction. Lord Hypnos or Dead Eternity would probably be nonexistent though.
 
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As I said, if they don't play them most of the people won't care about listening to those songs.
 
That will always be the ultimate lineup, at what was the band's peak with Come Clarity's success. I'm glad I got to see them quite a lot in the mid-to-late 2000s. Their sets were still a good mixture of the older stuff and the more modern stuff. But back then the modern stuff was still good - songs from Reroute, STYE (mainly TQP and MSS) and Come Clarity. No Siren Charms, no Battles, no Howard Benson, no conspiracy theory eejits on bass. Just some good ol' Swedish lads playing top tier melodic metal.
 
Saw this on reddit:
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Does anyone here understand Swedish? Did Anders really say so or is it his regular silliness? That would be super dumb, if true. I mean, let's play fucking Everything's Gone every show, but retire Trigger lmao
 
Anders is the human embodiment of being non-committal, so he would never seriously say such a thing. When was the last time he made any statement at all? Everything is "this time", "we will see", "changes happen", "it depends", "be open". Ask him jokingly whether he puts cereal first in the bowl, like a sane person, or milk, like an absolute lunatic, and he will hit you with "whatever works for you, it doesn't matter either way".

Edit: also, they played it later that November, so... https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/in-flames/2023/el-teleferico-quito-ecuador-23a1b0c7.html
 
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Yeah, Anders says shit like that and I'm pretty sure he's just messing around. In the early 00's, he said they were retiring Jotun too and that didn't happen. Granted, they haven't played it much, but it certainly didn't get retired. Been almost a decade since it was last played though.
 


They finally played it!

That was a solid first rendition, despite Anders forgetting the first couple of lines to the second verse (I don't blame him for that, the man sings twenty songs a night). It'll get better if they keep it in the set. I found it kind of adorable that you could very clearly hear the crowd filling in with the "Push to the end" backing vocals.
 
This interview may have already been posted, but I just read it again recently and laughed. It's with Bjorn:


A year ago, almost to the day, In Flames—one of the most popular bands to ever come out of Sweden, regardless of genre—released what is considered to be their best album in decades. Foregone (Nuclear Blast), the band’s first concept album, saw frontman and vocalist Anders Fridén and longtime lead guitarist Björn Gelotte push their sound way past the melodic death metal boundaries in which they’ve been caged since the band began in 1990.

This opening paragraph is so strange that I'm not sure where to start. "One of the most popular bands to EVER come out of Sweden, regardless of genre" ? I'm not so sure about that. Ask most In Flames fans and they'll probably know who Abba are. I don't think it'd be the same in reverse. "what is considered to be their best album in decades, Foregone". Okay, firstly, considered by who exactly? Is there a community of In Flames scholars that have agreed this? Was there a vote I missed? Also, in decades? As in, more than one? The band have only been active in three decades, discounting the current one, and I wouldn't even say Foregone is better than SOAPF which came out in the 2010s. That's one decade. It certainly isn't better than Clayman, Reroute or Come Clarity. I'm not even going to dignify the idea that it's better than anything from the 90s (discounting LS/Sub). At best it's the greatest album they've released in this decade, but that's just by default, if we ignore the disgrace that was Clayman 2020. What a stupid thing to say.

I'm also not really sure about calling this a 'first concept album'. Wasn't I, the Mask technically a concept album with a story as well? TJR, Whoracle and Colony tell a story as much as Foregone does, too. I honestly don't even know what to say to the idea that they've "pushed their sound way past the melodic death metal boundaries in which they’ve been caged since the band began in 1990". Are you fucking joking? Half of this album is trying to go back to that sound by copying other bands from the MDM genre, including themselves. The other half is the same Benson-infested pop-metal shit they've been churning out for ten years now. They haven't been 'caged' in anything - they've lost the vast majority of their older fanbase precisely because they refused to keep the same sound.

I genuinely don't think I've ever seen a single paragraph that gets so much so wrong. Literally everything. It's almost impressive.

As far as the second paragraph...

"Indeed, In Flames drew new attention with the 12 songs featured on Foregone, in particular the five singles it spawned: “State of Slow Decay,” “The Great Deceiver,” “Foregone, Pt. 1,” “Foregone, Pt. 2” and “Meet Your Maker.” Critics and fans alike cheered the band’s decision to explore alternative metal while shirking the “bro” attitude that plagued the subgenre in the late 1990s and early 2000s."

What does this even mean? Cheered their decision to explore alternative metal on Foregone? What? No, they cheered the idea that the band moved away from the alternative metal sound, back to a supposedly more melodic death metal sound. Obviously when you listen to the album that isn't actually what happened, but still, those singles appeared to be a change in sound, not a continuation. I genuinely don't understand what the "bro attitude that plagued the subgenre in the late 1990s and early 2000s" even means. It literally seems to be something totally made up. if it was on wikipedia almost the entirety of these paragraphs would have "[CITATION NEEDED]" warnings plastered all over them.

"In Flames appear to have absorbed the feedback and are taking pride in Foregone"

Yeah bro, so much so that they barely played any of the songs live. Very proud.

The interview with Bjorn is nothing special, the standard boring questions and answers for the most part, but this section was hilarious:

How do you feel about the Halo Effect?


How do I feel about it?

Well, it’s interesting to have a band with five members that were formerly from your band. They’re not going out and doing covers, obviously …


Haha, that’d be funny.

I ask because you guys in Gothenburg seem to always have a good feeling among yourselves, regardless of who is in or out of your bands.

These guys, I know all of them really, really well. And they know us really, really well. They’ve been part of (In Flames’ history). Obviously there was a point where they were done with In Flames—or with touring or the way we were touring and are touring. They’ve found a new way of creating music. These are all extremely good musicians, and they’re great live. I mean, individually—I’ve never seen the Halo Effect. I think it’s awesome if they found a way to create music together that fits them and their life now. I haven’t really heard (their debut album, Days of the Lost). I’m in full-on In Flames mode. Anyone you ask, I’m not really looking for anything new—and it doesn’t matter what band it is. But I’m pretty sure the handiwork will be really good. I’m just excited they can be out playing again.

It's literally like Anders is sitting right behind Bjorn, glaring at the back of his head as he gives the answers.

"How do you feel about The Halo Effect?"

Bjorn: [Looks surprised, gulping nervously and tensing up] ... h-how do I feel about it?

Anders: [Scowling behind Bjorn]

"Well, it’s interesting to have a band with five members that were formerly from your band. They’re not going out and doing covers, obviously …"

Bjorn: [nervous laugh, interrupting] Haha, that'd be funny. [eyes dart behind to the menacing figure of Anders]

Then the standard lie about not hearing any of the THE, being fully focused on IF and not needing anything else in his life, as Anders slowly nods approvingly.

What a load of shit.
 
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It's funny because the use of the term bro, as it's used by the interviewer, has a negative... What's the word? I'm not sure. Let's show some examples so that you can understand.

AI broo
Bitcoin bro.
Burpees bro.

So, we use it to laugh at someone.

Then, asking them about THE is just nonsense at this point. Even if they've heard the music, that they most probably did, they won't concede because it's become a part of their message. Obviously, thinking that Bjorn is only listening to IF these days is just stupid and there's also the point of curiosity. We are curious animals so we need to know. Well, everyone needs to know but, apparently, Bjorn and Anders.
 
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