IN FLAMES Clayman Re-recorded 2020

[DE4life]

Listening through the Death is Just the Beginning first disc now...

Amorphis - Against Widows - 7/10 - nice riffs and melodics. MDM style song. Harsh vocals are really bad. Clean vocals sound fine.

In Flames - Episode 666 (demo) - 10/10 - classic, obviously. Nice to hear this version in 320kbps rip - sounds pretty damn good, actually.

Darkseed - Self Pity Sick - 8/10 - Not what I was expecting from band name and song title female/male clean vocals throughout. Somewhat straight heavy metal song with gothic elements. I like it.

EverEve - Autumn Leaves - 6/10 - Gothic/doom metal with mostly solid black/death metal style vocals and some brief clean male vocals later in the track. Very slow song. Not really my kind of music but I guess somebody who is into gothic/doom might like this. Reminds me of Tristania.

Pain - Learn How To Die - 5/10 - Electronic/Industrial metal. Again not really a genre I'm interested in so nothing much to say about this one. There is some nice MDM-sounding guitar work around the 02:20 mark.

Therion - In the Desert of Set - 6/10 - Symphonic metal. As the title suggests it's Egyptian-inspired so you get the usual stereotypical Egyptian riffs and keyboards. I don't know about this one. Reminds me of Epica, who I've never really liked. It's not bad for this style of music, I guess.

Crematory - Faces - 6/10 - More gothic metal. Combination of monotone male vocals and death growls. Basic riffs, synth heavy, pretty slow. It's OK, although I don't think I'd want to listen to an entire album of this.

Meshuggah - Sickening (Live) - 5/10 - Your typical 'live' metal recording from this era which doesn't really sound like it's live. I'm not a fan of Meshuggah so whatever to this one.

Gorefest - Tired Moon - 7/10 - @eochaid if you like Entombed then you might like this. Pretty similar "death n roll" style. It's a cool track, although the vocals aren't great. Good riffing, solid pace, nothing wrong with this one.

The Dreadful Shadows - Chains - 6/10 - Never heard of this band, new wave/gothic metal. Kind of weird, almost disney movie-soundtrack-like instrumental intro. The typical clean male vocals you'd expect for a gothic band, sounding like he came straight out of an 80s new wave project. Gets heavy at points with really weird sounding vocals in the chorus. Like most of the gothic songs on this CD it's fine, if you like this kind of music.

Slapdash - Kill Yourself - 3/10 - Well, I'm expecting great things with this song title it's a cover from some band called Stormtroopers of Death who I've never heard of. So apparently this band only ever released one album in 1996. Okay, the drum sound on this is fucking atrocious. WTF. Sounds like somebody literally banging on pots and pans. The guitar work and vocals are fine (kind of Metallica-ish) but the track is totally ruined by the drums.

Mortification - Northern Storm - 5/10 - Christian thrash metal. Meh.

Pyogenesis - Working Man - 5/10 - Really weird song. I don't even know how to classify this. Alt-metal I guess.

Left hand Solution - Thorns - 6/10 - More gothic metal. Female vocals this time. Fine if you like this kind of music, but once again not really my style, so, whatever.

So overall that was a bit disappointing Amorphis, In Flames, Darkseed and Gorefest sounded good. The rest was kind of heavy on the goth/doom/industrial side of things which I don't hate but I'm not really into either. I hope disc 2 is better.

 

[miniroch]

Verses are a bit too metalcore for my taste. Chorus isn't the best, clean vocalist is a bit too scene sounding for me. I quite like the pre-chorus though, and the section between 2:00 - 02:30 is cool. Krofius will cream his pants when he hears dat scream from Anders @ 02:13.

Talk about abusing autotune

Typical mediocre murican' metalcore, but it's good to hear Anders in shape. Sounds exactly like ASOP should.
Time to unleash IF from fatman Benson and we might even get some good music, all the pieces are right there.

 

[ciko_gfb]

Gorefest - Tired Moon - 7/10 - @eochaid if you like Entombed then you might like this. Pretty similar "death n roll" style. It's a cool track, although the vocals aren't great. Good riffing, solid pace, nothing wrong with this one.

Totally agree with you. If you like Entombed you can like Gorefest too. When the dead walk the Earth, Exorcism, Blood is Thick, For the Masses, River and Erase are my personal favorites from that group.

 

[DE4life]

Alright, onto disc 2...

Withered Beauty - Immortality is Mine - 7/10 - Alright, this is more like it. Melodic death/black metal. Starts off as you would expect from a mid-90s MDM band, then slows down to sound more like gothic/doom metal with choir-like vocals. A really strangely structured song, limited vocals and a lot of instrumental. Vocal suddenly becomes black metal at the end of the song. Pacing changes from fast to slow repeatedly. Apparently this band only ever released one full album in 1998. This track is all over the place structurally, but I'll probably check out the album they released to see if they honed their sound better as the potential is there.

Hypocrisy - Roswell 47 - 8/10 - Well, we all know Hypocrisy are awesome, so no need to elaborate on this one. Good quality mid-90s MDM.

Dimmu Borgir - Master of Disharmony (remix) - 5/10 - I haven't heard the original (or if I did it was a long time ago, so I don't remember), so I don't know what the difference is between this and the original song. It's as you would expect mid-90s Black Metal to sound. Poor production, icy atmosphere, screeching and growling, etc. Fine for what it is but production is so shit I can't really enjoy it. There is a really nice MDM sounding section about 3 minutes in though, would be better if it didn't sound like it had been recorded with a £10 microphone.

Satyricon - Forhekset - 7/10 - Black metal with heavy, often groovy riffs and some keys thrown in, very much what you'd expect from Satyricon during this time period. A weirdly upbeat melodic set of keys to end the track. Production is better than Dimmu Borgir's attempt, but still not great. Nonetheless this is a pretty good track.

Dissection - Where Dead Angels Lie - 8/10 - The track says "first mix" so I guess this is basically a demo, and you can tell as the drums in particular aren't mixed so well. Black metal/MDM song which has some really nice riffs. Vocals are fine. Very nice track, I will have to listen to the final mix as I like this one a lot. - OK, yeah, album mix sounds very good. Might have to investigate this band further.



Dismember - Hill 112 - 3/10 - Guitars on this mix sound like they are being broadcast through an intercom. Awful. @ciko_gfb @eochaid might like this as apparently these guys are grouped together with Entombed, but it's a no from me.

Disgust - The Last Embrace - 3/10 - Death metal, vocals sound like someone straining taking a shit. Nope. Some points for some OK riffing, but that's about it.

Benediction - Riders on the Storm - 3/10 - More death metal, more vocals that sound stupid. As above, OK riffing, shit vocal.

Night in Gales - Slavesun - 7/10 - Nice little MDM track. Vocals sound like Lindberg from ATG & early Mikael Stanne, music is very similar to Skydancer/Of Chaos & Eternal Night Dark Tranquillity era. Quite slow paced for the most part but some good leads and harmonies. Another band I am tempted to check out - have to say I have never heard them brought up in MDM circles, despite them having released a fair few albums over the years.



Album version sounds better than the DIJTB version. Really nice! Can't believe I've never heard of this band until now.

ABYSS - Satan's Majestic Empire (remastered) - 5/10 - Always funny when something says "remastered" and still sounds like shit. Makes me wonder how bad the original version sounded. With that said it is mid-90s Black metal so probably quite bad indeed. This is just typical BM from the era, vocals sound like latter-day Dimmu Borgir after Shagrath lost the ability or desire to growl/scream properly.

Monstrosity - Slaves and Masters - 5/10 - Florida death metal. You either like it or you don't. I don't.

Sinister - Bastard Saints - 5/10 - More death metal. Vocals sound like Deicide. As above really, it isn't my style.

Brutality - Certain Annihilation - 6/10 - More Florida death metal. I actually like this one more than Monstrosity, but still not something I'd listen to regularly.

Katakylsm - Rays of Ra - 2/10 - Death metal with weak production and laughable vocals. Next.

Disbelief - God? - 5/10 - Why did this album have to end with five DM songs in a row? Well anyway production sounds like shit as usual (especially drums) but some OK riffs and vocals aren't terrible, but not particularly good either.

I quite enjoyed 60% of this disc, then the end stretch was kind of disappointing with amateur sounding BM/DM tracks. Oh well. Withered Beauty, Dissection and Night in Gales all sounded great and I'll be checking out their discographies for sure.

 

[DE4life]

Talk about abusing autotune

Typical mediocre murican' metalcore, but it's good to hear Anders in shape. Sounds exactly like ASOP should.
Time to unleash IF from fatman Benson and we might even get some good music, all the pieces are right there.

I can tolerate metalcore with elements of MDM. Not my favourite genre but listenable. This track is OK. Better than a lot of what IF have released in the past 6 years, honestly.

 

[eochaid]

Gorefest - Tired Moon - 7/10 - @eochaid if you like Entombed then you might like this. Pretty similar "death n roll" style. It's a cool track, although the vocals aren't great. Good riffing, solid pace, nothing wrong with this one.

Will give them a listening.

Did it. No. Entombed has something... Different. Maybe is the quality or the musicians behind the music.

 

[galvanized]

Dissection \m/

Album 1 and 2.

I was surprised when Jon killed himself after Album 3 once he got out of prison. He considered it the end all and be all. Like, by putting out the album and killing himself he dropped the mic. But the recording is sterile and boring. Sorry man, but it wasn’t the masterpiece you thought it was. You basically died in vain.

 

[DE4life]

I believe the song I heard was from Storm of the Light's Bane. The band have a weird and interesting history.

 

[DE4life]

This made me laugh way more than it should have

 

[drawntoblack]

I believe the song I heard was from Storm of the Light's Bane. The band have a weird and interesting history.

Check out the Reinkaos album. Band's fans don't like it that much but it's pretty much straight up early 2000s melodeath.

And unrelated, but since I'm listening to it at the moment:

 

[krofius]

I honestly thought Reinkaos sucked ass. Only liked God of Forbidden Light from that album, the production was just so weird to me and many songs felt to slow. I have never been a huge Dissection listener but I used to listen to some tracks from the first 2 albums.

 

[DE4life]

I'll grab Dissection's discography shortly and give it a listen. I downloaded the Night in Gales discography and it seems their first couple of albums were really nice, basically early DT copycat MDM. Then some time during the 2000s they kind of turned to shit. Then last two albums in 2011 & 2018 sound more like the older stuff. I haven't listened to any of it in detail yet but I didn't like the few bits I did hear from their 2000s albums.

I really hope Nightrage release another album soon. Wolf To Man was one of the best MDM releases in the last two decades.

 

[DE4life]

Check out the Reinkaos album. Band's fans don't like it that much but it's pretty much straight up early 2000s melodeath.

And unrelated, but since I'm listening to it at the moment:

Love the riffs and melodies in Edge of Sanity's work. Vocals not so much, but those stereotypical DM vocals have never done much for me.

 

[DE4life]

Reinkaos is a decent enough MDM album. Some nice melodies, solid riffs, vocals are fine. I can't say there was anything outstanding on the record, but it's a solid enough effort. Quite different to their first two albums though.

 

[eochaid]

Love the riffs and melodies in Edge of Sanity's work. Vocals not so much, but those stereotypical DM vocals have never done much for me.

If you were able to go past the death vocals you would be enjoying great bands that you're missing right now. I had the same problem in the past. I don't have it anymore. Oddly enough, was mainly thanks to bands like IF that I grew accustomed to other vocal styles.

 

[DE4life]

If you were able to go past the death vocals you would be enjoying great bands that you're missing right now. I had the same problem in the past. I don't have it anymore. Oddly enough, was mainly thanks to bands like IF that I grew accustomed to other vocal styles.

Well, if it's not happened after 20 years I think it is unlikely at this point. I don't worry about missing out on anything as I have enough to satisfy me, and my tastes are quite different from many people here. I am fortunate to have a quite varied music taste outside of extreme metal, so I can find melodies/riffs in other bands that many who listen to IF/DT/Insomnium, etc could not appreciate. Most on here are unable to get past Power Metal vocals, for example (or good singing in general) so choose to miss out on some incredibly melodic and powerful PM bands and albums. That's fine though, as to each their own.

 

[eochaid]

I like PM vocals. But is another style of music that I find... Over the top in every aspect. Many bands sound, to me, as if they have to play fast and sing loud. And, though they're usually highly talented musicians, their music doesn't have the feeling that I'm searching for in music.

How to explain this...

I listen a ballad. For example. And everything is fucking well done, but I don't feel the ballad, if you know what I mean. Like... They're so good at they work that they forgot to put some passion into it. I just don't feel what I feel as, for example, when I listen to Anders final screams on System.

 

[DE4life]

I would agree, although I would say there are many MDM bands with the same problem. They focus so much on the technical aspects that they lose the 'feeling', which for all In Flames faults they have never been guilty of. They have been guilty of bad riffs, bad songs, bad structures, but frankly they are too lazy to put so much focus into the technicalities of a song when you listen to Metaphor, Dawn of a New Day, Evil in a Closet, Come Clarity or even newer stuff like Liberation, With Eyes Wide Open or Stay With Me it all has that natural feeling. They are good at putting that across even if at times the execution is flawed.

There are many PM bands I find and dismiss because they don't have that special ingredient which makes songs connect with a listener. They are technically solid, but there's just something not quite there that should be. However, there are also many bands that break away from the standard formula and produce unique music. As it is for all genres I suppose.

As an aside to this...



Looks like me and Tanner are bros on Twitter now. I could invite him here but that probably wouldn't end well

 

[eochaid]

Yes. I agree. There are lots of melodeath bands that are about technique. I don't like them. Luckily there are some that try to out some feeling into their music. And that's what I like about those melodeath bands. Just like IF. Is not just the voice. The music and musicianship was so passionate... So it was their music. Something they've lost in battles and partially in Siren Charms.

Tanner would be a good addition to the boys.

 

[DE4life]

I didn't realise Nightrage had released a lyric video for Disconnecting the Dots. Good choice, comfortably the best song on Wolf To Man. I really wish there were more bands making music like this. No metalcore influence, just pure MDM all the way from vocals to lyrics to riffs & melodies to production. I have to admit I had more or less given up on Nightrage before Wolf To Man, but they knocked it out of the park with this album.