IN FLAMES Clayman Re-recorded 2020

Which is interesting because there are several well known bands who have if as an influence, Trivium comes to mind. But none of them had made a cover version.

Yes, you would expect there to be more covers out there considering how often In Flames are brought up as influences on the metalcore scene.
 
Just recently Matt Heart said that IF is their biggest influence for their music.
 
I can't say I've ever heard any major IF influence in Trivium's music. I like Ember to Inferno and Ascendancy, but they don't remind me of In Flames.
 
Yeah that's a pretty awesome setlist! You definitely saw them at a good time. I literally just used the snip tool in windows to capture the image and pasted it into my post, nothing fancy :D

IF got a decent reception from what I remember, there were a good amount of people there to see them. They sounded good, too. It was cool to see Touch of Red live, as that one isn't played much. In fact according to setlist.fm it hasn't been played since 2011.

I saw a better setlist the next year when they came to London for the Come Clarity tour.

View attachment 25340

Scream was the only song they played that night that I disliked. I believe this was also the only tour they have ever played "Vacuum" on, which is one of my favourites off Come Clarity.

The Come Clarity tours had some good setlists. Check out the one I saw. It's pretty epic.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/in-flames/2006/house-of-blues-chicago-il-63f4522b.html
 
I can't say I've ever heard any major IF influence in Trivium's music. I like Ember to Inferno and Ascendancy, but they don't remind me of In Flames.
https://loudwire.com/matt-heafy-trivium-interview-what-dead-men-say/

"If it weren't for In Flames, Trivium would not exist and I know that is a very bold thing. It always blows my mind when people have just gotten into In Flames or only know In Flames from the last couple of records. In Flames' albums — The Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony, Clayman, Reroute to Remain — if I didn't get into those records, Trivium would have never started sounding the way it did. It wouldn't have ever brought in that Gothenburg sound. I would have never have found other bands like At The Gates and Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork, Arch Enemy, Opeth — all these bands crafting incredible Swedish music. It wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here."
 
It sounds like he'd fit in well here :D







I don't mind their early stuff, but I don't get an IF vibe from it... or even really the Gothenburg sound. I guess there's a little bit in there, but no more than your usual metalcore band of the era. I've also never been a fan of Heafy's harsh vocals. On these albums they're just... bad. He has no technique whatsoever. Cleans are OK, but nothing special. Admittedly I haven't listened to much of their recent work so I'm not sure if he has improved since then.
 
Ascendency is a godly record. Their output since has been hit and miss but I own *most* of their albums. I remember hearing something about Matt saying he was bullied by a major band they toured with in their early career, and some people seemed to think in the past he'd mentioned it was In Flames and Anders, which I find really out of character for the band so I don't know how true it is. Matt Heafy hasn't outright said who it was, why would he throw one of his icons under the bus years later when things had settled I guess.

For the record though, yes his cleans have improved. Check out The Defiant from their latest album, it's the closest they've ever came to returning to an Ascendency like sound. His screams have got worse as he's had to learn proper technique and it's more of a Jamie Jasta style shout now, but his cleans are great.
 
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Not trying to turn this into a Trivium forum but Trivium's new album is proof that you can have a very modern and cleanly produced record and still sound good, take Sickness Unto You, the breakdown that builds from 2:50 specifically. when it drops, the bassline is FILTHY. The bass tone is complete ear porn. so much better than the almost always inaudible and very sterile bass (and guitars) In Flames have.



 
Off-topic, but I started following the American bros on Instagram. Tanner has really grown on me. He's great. I hope he stays with the band. Dude makes me laugh for real and he clearly enjoys being in the group.

Metal does not seem like Bryce's thing. Actually great bass work on ITM, though.
 
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I remember hearing something about Matt saying he was bullied by a major band they toured with in their early career, and some people seemed to think in the past he'd mentioned it was In Flames and Anders, which I find really out of character for the band so I don't know how true it is. Matt Heafy hasn't outright said who it was, why would he throw one of his icons under the bus years later when things had settled I guess.

I would be really surprised if it was IF. I've never heard anybody say anything bad about them in regards to touring.

For the record though, yes his cleans have improved. Check out The Defiant from their latest album, it's the closest they've ever came to returning to an Ascendency like sound. His screams have got worse as he's had to learn proper technique and it's more of a Jamie Jasta style shout now, but his cleans are great.

I had a listen to the two songs you posted... did not expect Heafy to have adopted a James Hetfield style of clean vocal :D sounds OK, although I don't think his singing has ever been great, just passable. Honestly I prefer his harsh vocals on The Defiant to how he sounds on ETI and Ascendancy. They still aren't particularly good but they sound a lot more controlled. Defiant is a pretty good track actually, sounds closer to MDM style than a lot of the stuff on ETI & Ascendancy, which always gave me a more 80s thrash metal vibe than MDM.

The biggest problem I had with Trivium at the time (and still do to some degree) is that they are very much a product of the hype machine. I remember them being advertised everywhere practically from day one. They got a lot of attention despite the vocals being pretty bad and the guitar work being good but not as good as other bands who didn't get the same attention from the media. Ascendancy is a good album but it's not that good. There are some nice riffs and solos but a lot of it feels like a best-of 80s thrash compilation, and as aforementioned the vocals just aren't good at all, objectively speaking. Absolutely nothing against Matt Heafy but during that time period he was like a budget version of Corey Taylor or the Shadows Fall vocalist.

Since then Trivium have experimented a lot and worked hard, so fair play to them. I have nothing against the band, they have just never really been my cup of tea and I never understood the comparisons between them and MDM bands, other than the screaming which was more like Slipknot and general metalcore than MDM.
 
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Off-topic, but I started following the American bros on Instagram. Tanner has really grown on me. He's great. I hope he stays with the band. Dude makes me laugh for real and he clearly enjoys being in the group.

Metal does not seem like Bryce's thing. Actually great bass work on ITM, though.

The American Bros are cool with me. Admittedly more in an ironic "lol @ these random American dudes actually being IF members" way, but they provide some amusement factor so I let them slide.
 
"So, a lot of our hero bands, a lot of our favorite bands, a lot of the bands that we would go on tour with made us feel quite ostracized and were bullying us.

"I remember my voice was squeaking on one of the tours we did - I was having issues with screaming - and one of my favorite bands of all time that we were opening up for on that tour, we walked off stage and they were all actually doing that squeak to my face and laughing and making fun of me.

:D Trying not to laugh at this, but no way this was In Flames. More likely to be Metallica I'd have thought, as it's something I can imagine them doing. Probably more in a "banter" kind of way but to a kid it would have felt like being bullied.

"The only time we were ever a press band was in the UK on the 'Ascendency' record [Trivium's second album, released in March 2005].

"That was the only time in Trivium's career that we were on every single magazine cover, we had perfect markings for every show we played, our record was hailed as one of the greatest records of all time, we were hailed to be the next 'biggest metal band ever.'

Also interesting, this might be why I remember them as being mega-hyped in the media. I didn't realise it was specifically in the UK. Weird and unsure if that's true or whether Heafy is just remembering things as he wants to remember them.
 
Ascendency is a godly record. Their output since has been hit and miss but I own *most* of their albums. I remember hearing something about Matt saying he was bullied by a major band they toured with in their early career, and some people seemed to think in the past he'd mentioned it was In Flames and Anders, which I find really out of character for the band so I don't know how true it is. Matt Heafy hasn't outright said who it was, why would he throw one of his icons under the bus years later when things had settled I guess.

For the record though, yes his cleans have improved. Check out The Defiant from their latest album, it's the closest they've ever came to returning to an Ascendency like sound. His screams have got worse as he's had to learn proper technique and it's more of a Jamie Jasta style shout now, but his cleans are great.
In another interview he talks how they toured with IF seven or eight times and how they always hang out together after every show. So I don't think that band was IF.
 
I would be really surprised if it was IF. I've never heard anybody say anything bad about them in regards to touring.



I had a listen to the two songs you posted... did not expect Heafy to have adopted a James Hetfield style of clean vocal :D sounds OK, although I don't think his singing has ever been great, just passable. Honestly I prefer his harsh vocals on The Defiant to how he sounds on ETI and Ascendancy. They still aren't particularly good but they sound a lot more controlled. Defiant is a pretty good track actually, sounds closer to MDM style than a lot of the stuff on ETI & Ascendancy, which always gave me a more 80s thrash metal vibe than MDM.

The biggest problem I had with Trivium at the time (and still do to some degree) is that they are very much a product of the hype machine. I remember them being advertised everywhere practically from day one. They got a lot of attention despite the vocals being pretty bad and the guitar work being good but not as good as other bands who didn't get the same attention from the media. Ascendancy is a good album but it's not that good. There are some nice riffs and solos but a lot of it feels like a best-of 80s thrash compilation, and as aforementioned the vocals just aren't good at all, objectively speaking. Absolutely nothing against Matt Heafy but during that time period he was like a budget version of Corey Taylor or the Shadows Fall vocalist.

Since then Trivium have experimented a lot and worked hard, so fair play to them. I have nothing against the band, they have just never really been my cup of tea and I never understood the comparisons between them and MDM bands, other than the screaming which was more like Slipknot and general metalcore than MDM.
I definitely see a lot of influence from MDM in those songs that you shared.
 
It's the way they create riffs.

It doesn't have to be a copy to be influenced. The same way that Jesper said that IF would not exist if it wasn't for the influence of sentenced while they do not sound like sentenced.
 
I don't really hear it. If I go from listening to early-IF, ATG, DT, Soilwork, Arch Enemy and then go to Trivium I don't get the same vibe at all. I'm not saying there is no MDM influence there but I wouldn't say a lot. Way more Metallica influence.

One American band I do remember coming up around the same time as Trivium who I thought were far better and to my ear had way more MDM influence was Still Remains. I really liked their debut album "Of Love and Lunacy", although from memory their next album wasn't as good and they disbanded after that.



Frankly I'd say even early Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold sounded more MDM influenced than Trivium.
 
I don't even like Trivium. And they don't claim to sound melodeath, just that they've been influenced by IF.

As I said, I also don't see Sentenced In early IF and still Jesper said that there would not be IF if there was no Sentenced.
 
However I do hear rumours you are a big fan of Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold :heh: