In Flames lyrics discussion

[DE4life]

On the subject of old lyrics against new lyrics, I think one of the songs that really shows Anders does still have it in terms of lyrical talent is "Dead End". I think it's a fantastic song in general, but the lyrics are incredibly strong.

Save all your prayers
I think we lost today
There's no morning after
No-one's around to blame

I'm not afraid to bleed
But I won't do it for you
A star among hypocrites
The melody of our time

So say goodbye to the world
We are the dead that walk the earth

Scream your lungs out, wait for laughter.
You don't have to wait forever
Where's the next disaster?

What decides when you've lost a war
When the first man falls,
Or when they erase it all?

We're too numb to feel
The downfall starts here
Hold your breath and swim
Swallowed by life's tear

In times of make believe, no one really seems to care
Maybe I should care less, cause I will die too.

What will it take for us to realize
The more we provoke, winter will come twice.

Those kind of lyrics could have gone on Colony/Clayman imo, they're that good.

 

[Jester313]

Dead End is amazing. I love Lisa Miskovsky being on the track. The lyrics are really great, but you got the last line of the chorus wrong. It's "Here's the next disaster." I think there are a lot of lyrics from CC that are really similar in terms of how great they are.

 

[DE4life]

I copied and pasted the lyrics from a website so I'm blaming them for any mistakes

Lisa is indeed fantastic on that track. The song as a whole is just really well done. The apocolyptic lyrics are a throw back to the older lyrical themes which is nice. I've always thought In Flames best lyrics are the ones that deal with wider issues rather than narrowing it down to personal issues (though I respect Anders' freedom to write about whatever he wants!).

 

[Jester313]

I copied and pasted the lyrics from a website so I'm blaming them for any mistakes

Lisa is indeed fantastic on that track. The song as a whole is just really well done. The apocolyptic lyrics are a throw back to the older lyrical themes which is nice. I've always thought In Flames best lyrics are the ones that deal with wider issues rather than narrowing it down to personal issues (though I respect Anders' freedom to write about whatever he wants!).

That fuckin' site. Yeah, for the most part, I like his lyrics that are about a personal issue with a group of people; think Ordinary Story, Coerced Coexistence. But even Clayman's lyrics are more on the person vs. person level rather than the Colony-style person vs...well, a colony. But Clayman's lyrics are written so poetically. And I think CC brings back the personal but very poetic lyrics.

 

[Erik Erna]

I think the conceptual idea would have fit on Colony, but probably would have been written a little differently.

 

[Clay-Man]

Colony - Reroute had the best lyrics.
Jester and Whoracle had some cool lyrics, but sometimes it was just a clusterfuck.

 

[TheCharade]

i dunno about you guys... but scream had the best lyrics. ever.....

 

[Erik Erna]

^-- Ice Cream! (Ice Cream) Ice Cream! (Ice Cream), but in a big cone. Hand dipped would be superior, if it wouldn't trouble you!

 

[Jester313]

I would say Colony to Reroute had the best metaphors and such, but I still really like how the lyrics are written and the emotion that is created from the Soundtrack and CC lyrics. I still really like ASOP lyrics, but obviously compared to anything else Anders has written, they just really don't come close. Luckily, SOAPF seems to have really good lyrics again.

 

[Erik Erna]

"And this core, the slowly moving raptor will make the very notion of hell seem celestial in comparison" - Jester Script Transfigured.

One of my favorite lyrics ever from the band.

 

[Jester313]

That line really is awesome.

 

[Clay-Man]

Come Clarity had very good lyrics. I like the moral messages it portrays. It brought back a poetic bent to In Flames that STYE was missing. Pretty deep stuff. The performance was very persuasive and emotional.

 

[DE4life]

I agree with pretty much everything Clay-Man has posted

And also Erik Erna, that line from JST is one of my absolute favourites as well. I put it as my facebook status only a couple of days ago

 

[Dantess9226]

Come Clarity had very good lyrics. I like the moral messages it portrays. It brought back a poetic bent to In Flames that STYE was missing. Pretty deep stuff. The performance was very persuasive and emotional.

I agree- Come Clarity might be my favourite album lyrically (musically it is probably my favourite IF album), there's just so much ground it covers across 13 songs and all of it is artfully and creatively written. Your Bedtime Story is Scaring Everone reminds me of RTR's lyrics, just very clever and something other lyricisits would probably fail at. It's always nice to hear political/humanitarian themes in metal music too- because it is so righteous and fist pumping! Dead End, Vacuum, Versus Terminus. All favourites of mine.

I think it is purely subjective that TJR-Clayman are Anders' best lyrics- if someone didn't like sci-fi themes used as metaphors, then it wouldn't be their favourite lyrics. I think metaphors are slightly overrated and overused in music in general.

We should all post 5 lines from different IF songs that we each think stand out the most, personally, to each of us!

I'll start with just the one...

"I really don't have anything to say , just pass me by"

:Smokedev:

 

[Clay-Man]

I think TJR and Whoracle are cool. They have great lyrics, but sometimes it feels forced or over the top. Some of the tracks have the best lyrics you can find from In Flames, but I like how Clayman (some of Colony) and beyond had more relatable lyrics. Jester - Colony pretty much all followed the same theme actually, about a future where humans become this sack of shit race that relies on technology to do everything to the point where we pretty much become cyborgs.

I think the weakest lyrics are in STYE and ASOP though. ASOP had a few good moments but there were a lot of bad ones too, same with STYE. You could hear his lyrics suffering creatively. Obviously everyone hates Scream because it has probably the gayest fucking chorus that sounds like the "I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream" song, other than that, Come Clarity has really fucking deep lyrics, and probably ranks up there with Clayman when it comes to deep personal lyrics. You honestly can't fucking deny the greatness of lines from Leeches, Vacuum, Versus Terminus, and a bunch of others. It's no wonder why a lot of people liked this album when it came out.

 

[Jester313]

I'll start with just the one...

"I really don't have anything to say , just pass me by"

:Smokedev:

Thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Bottled's lyrics are good. Though for me I think "Like the time around me, this room is filled with nothing" stands out more.

You honestly can't fucking deny the greatness of lines from Leeches, Vacuum, Versus Terminus, and a bunch of others. It's no wonder why a lot of people liked this album when it came out.

I agree. So many great songs and great lyrics on CC. For my first stand-out-lyric here, I'll post something from CC.

I'll just go with my favorite song since it is really difficult to choose.

"I close my eyes for a second, and meet a fragile soul. I scream to hide that I’m lonely, the echo calls my name."

 

[Jester313]

Oh, and the artwork on CC might be my favorite. Derek Hess is ridiculous.

 

[theNeologist]

Here's my take on the old vs new lyrics. It seems that when anders was younger real world experiences weren't as prevalent...so instead it's more on sitting back and choosing his topics. This approach surely ends itself for more metaphorical approach. Now that anders is older he doesn't have to be metaphorical...he has real world experiences and matured to the point if writing more directly about personal issues. Could I be wrong, I prob am... But that's how I would explain the differences. Now personally as a whole I enjoy the younger lyrics that lend themselves more opportunity for interpretation and wonder. Older lyrics from whoracle fir example were strongly revolved around astrology...I find it interesting. But that's not to say his new lyrics suck... But as a whole the more direct approach doesn't give as much room to interpret and contorted the lyrics to suit our own situations...cause isn't that most appealing to people? I dunno... Where am I going with this. Home? Ok... Bye

 

[DE4life]

It's normally the other way round isn't it? A person starts off young and inward looking, then grows older, gains wider perception of the world and as a result writes about deeper topics... Anders has managed to go backwards must be a part of his plan

 

[Jester313]

I would say Anders is going in the natural way of progression. You start off young, and write about broad topics. Then things happen to you and you gain life experiences and write more personal lyrics, but I still love how he writes a lot of personal things but makes them reach a lot of people.