IN FLAMES Clayman Re-recorded 2020

[ThePhobiac]

Hey wassaaaaaappp everyone, lmao. Are we listening to the new In Flames EP?

looks like everyone here is enjoying it, as expected. Gonna listen to it tomorrow. It’s probably perfectly fine.

peace out, f(r)iends

 

[eochaid]

I'm not listening to this crap. I have the original one and will stick to it.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

I don't believe the band is happy with how this sounds, it has to be some sort of joke only they are in on. I don't believe that Bjorn is genuinely like yeah this sounds good, but if he does then that's quite tragic. How incredible that only a year after the mini revival that I, The Mask was, the band has buried themselves again.

 

[eochaid]

Bjorn seems to be happy as long as he doesn't have to put any effort into it.

 

[galvanized]

I think Bjorns answers speak for themselves.... I'm 100% convinced it was a label thing and not their decision to do the whole project. He even says the songs were perfect as they were! refreshingly honest and long interview with Bjorn. Well worth a listen.

Indeed. “It is what it is, it was special at the time, and I think it sounds good the way it does.”

 

[eochaid]

Indeed. “It is what it is, it was special at the time, and I think it sounds good the way it does.”

For that time. You're missing that part.
"Well, we used Pro Tools, I think, back then as well, so editing and cutting and all that stuff, it was pretty straightforward, pretty much as today. But I think soundwise, it's improved so much. Back then, I think we were still discussing if it was good enough or if we still wanted to do some stuff analog. I kind of like the new way of doing it, because it's really quick and it doesn't take away from the creative process, 'cause you don't have to sit and wait for shit to happen, and I like that. I'd rather be very inspired throughout the whole session than sit and wait for four hours between moving a mic, finding the right cab — all that stuff. So that has certainly improved. But there's something, obviously, if you wanna be romantic about it that a two-inch tape smells, feels and sounds a little bit different. The old desks and everything, they were actual desks — the sound went through it — not like today when they're basically big remote controls for the computer. I like the way you can really get the essence of what you wanna do and not be tired because of technical shit."

 

[galvanized]

Themes and Variations — Great. Reminds me of a Legend of Zelda symphonic soundtrack. Whole EP should have been this kind of stuff.

Only for The Weak - Verse vocals distracting. Chorus pretty much untouched. Solo pretty much untouched.

Bullet Ride - I like Anders’ verse vocals here. Very good, works well, improves the song. Sounds more like Metallica than Offspring. Good job Anders!

They obviously took pains to hold onto the key guitar element, the “floating” sustain tone during the chorus, so song is pretty much intact. However, they did lose the mic ringing during the abrupt stops right before they go into the chorus, always felt that was a key element as well. Example at 1:04 of the original


Kept the cool/weird electronic beat. Whispers instead of “In Flames talking” worked well.

What is this “dark tone” everyone is talking about on this song? Sounds normal. Welcome to metal guys.

Pinball Map - Here come the So Cal pop punk vocals again in the chorus. Not good.

Also, I don’t want to sound like a SJW here but now that the vocals are more clean, it actually bothers me how Anders keeps talking about raping the day. And “who’s going to take me widely?” Song sounds way too sexual and fucked up for me to enjoy.

The last part of the solo is too low in the mix. It’s overcome by the rhythm guitar, loses its power.

Clayman - We listened before. Pretty faithful to the original, not much to say unless it’s about production.


Oh yeah, the production. Sounds like shit. All muddled together. Whatever they paid Benson and the mastering team, they got fucking ripped off. A live version of these songs would have sounded better. Not sure why they didn’t just do that since Bjorn seems to treat recording sessions the same as a live take anyway.

 

[galvanized]

For that time. You're missing that part.

The first time, when I quoted, he did not say “at that time”. Later he did, when he was talking about it being Hi-Fi, sounding good on headphones and in the car... at the time.

it’s almost like he is trying to justify the re-record at that point. Same strategy as political messaging that we’ve been hearing so much. I’m not buying it and I don’t even think he is buying it either. But he has to say that or he would look stupid, like there wouldn’t even be a reason to re-record them. Then on top of that, him admitting that the new recordings sound like shit would be admitting that he wasted his and the label’s money and squandered an opportunity. When there was no reason to do it in the first place.

Kind of ironic the conversation admitted several times that past recordings were not great, either due to their own headstrongness or due to a bad match with the producer. Yet here they are again.

Guys! Something in your decision making process is fucked up! It keeps happening and it just happened again!

 

[miniroch]

The good:
-makes me actually wanna listen to the originals
-Bullet Ride is nice. Chorus sounds good, the original vibe is somewhere there, not buried that deep. I don't even mind the second verse, it's perfectly fine.
-nice medley, will definitely listen to it in the future.

The bad:
-first verse of BR sucks big time.
-Pinball Map - lacks any emotion. I'm cool with verse vocals, but chorus is some generic murican metalcore. Random synths and weird interlude don't help.

The ugly:
-OFTW is some kind of abomination. That's not even half of the song I fell in love with, that's some fucking upbeat Rise Against track. "I want to drown in happiness" - you can't get more happy than you already sound, mate. My verdict - kill it with fire, before it lays eggs.
-production - how come it's possible anybody accepted that? It sounds random, sound levels vary, solos are randomly inserted. I wish there was a way to fix it so we could hear the "how it's supposed to sound" version.

My score is 2/5, I might come back for Bullet Ride, though obviously it's not the original, the medley stays with me. Pinball Map is just washed of it's character, OFTW is awful. I don't mind Clayman, but the production kills it, so no point in listening.

Great cover art though, still lovin' it.

 

[ThePhobiac]

"Themes and Variations" is so good

When it transitions into "Satellites and Astronauts"

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

 

[ThePhobiac]

Anders actually singing with a sense of discernable MELODY instead of muttering like a guy who has no idea what to do vocally in his own band is such a vast fucking improvement.

That's how I feel about this EP.

 

[galvanized]

The good:
-makes me actually wanna listen to the originals
-Bullet Ride is nice. Chorus sounds good, the original vibe is somewhere there, not buried that deep. I don't even mind the second verse, it's perfectly fine.
-nice medley, will definitely listen to it in the future.

The bad:
-first verse of BR sucks big time.
-Pinball Map - lacks any emotion. I'm cool with verse vocals, but chorus is some generic murican metalcore. Random synths and weird interlude don't help.

The ugly:
-OFTW is some kind of abomination. That's not even half of the song I fell in love with, that's some fucking upbeat Rise Against track. "I want to drown in happiness" - you can't get more happy than you already sound, mate. My verdict - kill it with fire, before it lays eggs.
-production - how come it's possible anybody accepted that? It sounds random, sound levels vary, solos are randomly inserted. I wish there was a way to fix it so we could hear the "how it's supposed to sound" version.

My score is 2/5, I might come back for Bullet Ride, though obviously it's not the original, the medley stays with me. Pinball Map is just washed of it's character, OFTW is awful. I don't mind Clayman, but the production kills it, so no point in listening.

Great cover art though, still lovin' it.

Nice breakdown. The vocals in Bullet Ride are just about perfect I thought in sound (Not much autotune, filtering Ok). I like the first verse, are they that different to you? The one thing that could be improved is the verse vocal delivery.

The timing is just slightly awkward, almost like someone doing karaoke or something. Maybe just one of those situations where they need Nordstrom to come in, flip over a table, and make him record it 20 more times.

Good rendition though, draws me in more than the original.

edit: But the original is more powerful, that’s for sure.

 

[Jester Slave]

hahahahahahahhahaahahhaa what the fuck did they do to oftw???? Haven't read the comments yet, so it's not aimed at anyone, but if you think it's good you are a fucking idiot. What is that vocal filter?? If he opts to sing the verses on a higher pitch, why doesn't he at least he keep the growly repeats of the lines "i feel so guilty" and "i fall behind"??? What is wrong with the guitars??? The original song is beefy as fuck, and this one is like a limp dick. And what did he do to the best fucking part of the second verse?? "the tale of the bitter man, here i am" was amazing in the original, and while I had an idea he may change it to how he sings in the live version (which is not bad either), he absolutely ruined it.

I will defend the pop EP, because it what it is, synth- and alt-rock songs being covered. They are supposed to sound like the way they are. No Good is a great track. But when you try to make oftw into no good, well, it ends up not being good. In fact, it ends up being shit. And if you actually like it, you are part of the problem, and you are the reason we can't have nice things.

Absolute travesty.

edit: skipped through bullet ride and pinball map, they don't sound terrible. I don't know what happened with oftw.

 

[galvanized]

hahahahahahahhahaahahhaa what the fuck did they do to oftw???? Haven't read the comments yet, so it's not aimed at anyone, but if you think it's good you are a fucking idiot. What is that vocal filter?? If he opts to sing the verses on a higher pitch, why doesn't he at least he keep the growly repeats of the lines "i feel so guilty" and "i fall behind"??? What is wrong with the guitars??? The original song is beefy as fuck, and this one is like a limp dick. And what did he do to the best fucking part of the second verse?? "the tale of the bitter man, here i am" was amazing in the original, and while I had an idea he may change it to how he sings in the live version (which is not bad either), he absolutely ruined it.

I will defend the pop EP, because it what it is, synth- and alt-rock songs being covered. They are supposed to sound like the way they are. No Good is a great track. But when you try to make oftw into no good, well, it ends up not being good. In fact, it ends up being shit. And if you actually like it, you are part of the problem, and you are the reason we can't have nice things.

Absolute travesty.

edit: skipped through bullet ride and pinball map, they don't sound terrible. I don't know what happened with oftw.

Lol, don’t worry. I think it is unanimous, OFTW is the worst.

 

[ThePhobiac]

It's fine.

Spoiler

OFTW is overrated anyway

Also randomly listened to "Paralyzed" today. Track still grooves hard. The magic this band had within its grasp, only to chicken out and throw it away for Howard Benson, smh...

 

[A88]

Ugh, here it goes. Morbid curiosity I guess...

In general, production is shit. I don't know who allowed this to pass for a professionally recorded album. I've heard better bedroom recordings. A lot of them. Drums are plastic and muddy all the time. Guitars are devoid of any life, power and beauty. Again very plastic, cheap and wah-infested. Synths are, well... midi I guess. Very cheap and very out of place. Bass is just there. Vocals - to loud most of the time. When Anders growls it is too controlled and processed to be convincing. When he sings it is just your regular overprocessed whiny thing he does. And worst of all - it sounds like everything was randomly recorded all over the world and then just pasted into the same song. Very amateurish.

1) Themes - OK I guess. No effort from the band. And nothing special really. Sounds like a bunch of classical musicians sitting down with sheets and playing a few melodies. Something like a little jam after few beers and all that.

2) OFTW - raped&gangbanged. I went over the sound, so I won't do that again. But when the singing started I genuinely started laughing. That bad. You should feel guilty Anders. That little new melody before pre-chorus is OK I guess, nothing special. Chorus fucked up by autotuning Anders into oblivion. The momentum of those chugging riffs completely destroyed by production. I will say this - FUCK a "metal" band afraid to show off distortion and guitar sound. Solo - oh Bjorn, why does everything has to have that shitty tone, wah and all!? How do you destroy something this good? Beyond belief.

3) Bullet Ride - when you hear cymbals instead of chunky guitar riff when this begins, you know it will be fucked up badly. "Dooo yooouuu hear..." Ugh, what is that effect? Makes Anders' regular whining sounds decent. And of course one of my favorite IF solos destroyed by what I can only imagine being some kind of selection of worst pedals and effects know to man used on this one. Oh, and holding a single note and bending strings seems to be as far as Bjorns creativity and guitar playing skills go these days.

4) Pinball Map - started normally. The verse was OK. I almost... almost thought it would at least be decent, but then that poppy chorus happened. Fucked up that little cool drum fill as well. Then some weird chugging - Siren Charms melody bastard moment happened. Then they borrowed those weird Cyhra out of place electronics. And then they fucked solo again. How can anyone with ears think this is good?

5) Clayman. Talked about this one. In hindsight, not even that bad compared to other "songs".

In total, if there was a decent but quite untalented modern US teen band with a $50.00 budget, this is how their IF cover EP would sound.

Oh, I almost forgot. That attempt at doing a sweep, arpeggio or whatever in Bullet ride solo was just... embarrassing from a technique and precision standpoint.

 

[galvanized]

Oh, I almost forgot. That attempt at doing a sweep, arpeggio or whatever in Bullet ride solo was just... embarrassing from a technique and precision standpoint.

Bjorn doesn’t care about what you think. 5 inspired takes and he’s done.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Nobody, even Ciko and Phobiac, can surely actually enjoy these cleans?

Oh shit, didn't see this, dude! Happy to weigh in: I enjoy these cleans.

I'm not going "fuck yeah, these cleans!" or anything, but my reaction is positive.

Now, these are the Anders Friden cleans I don't like:

 

[ThePhobiac]

"I'm waiting...in my cold CELL..."

This shit gets me every time

 

[DE4life]

Oh shit, didn't see this, dude! Happy to weigh in: I enjoy these cleans.

I'm not going "fuck yeah, these cleans!" or anything, but my reaction is positive.

I'm genuinely struggling to understand how anybody could enjoy the clean vocals on this EP. They are just garbage, on every single track. I'm not saying that as an opinion, either, they are objectively atrocious. Now granted people can like really bad singing, but I can't understand that any more than I understand people liking beastiality or necrophilia. It blows my mind that anybody with working auditry function can listen to that singing and say "yeah, that's nice".