IN FLAMES new album being released by the end of 2016

[DE4life]

Man, that review does not bode well.

How can a band as experienced as In Flames screw up so badly on something like basic production? It points to a total lack of professionalism on their part. Half-assed is about right, and you know, a lot of it is the fault of their sheep-like worshippers who slobber over the bands dicks every time an album comes out - no matter how awful the music is. Why would they be motivated to do better when the majority of their fanbase accept mediocrity?

The band are - by their own admission - lazy. This is only compounded by having a fanbase which is more like a cult, viciously attacking those who dare to question the band's overall direction and lovingly lapping up bullshit like Siren Charms.

 

[AtotheK]

Thanks for the review Yagami.
I hated the choirs on the singles, but you're saying there are a lot more of them? Jesus... And it seems like there's a problem with the mix throughout the whole album...and of course - the MIDI drums. This review really killed my anticipation for the album. I just wanna hear the song "Wallflower". based on a few reviews it's a Tool-ish song, and I love "The Chosen Pessimist" for that. Hopefully this is in the same vein.

 

[A88]

But, but... that other review said it was awesome, best ever, monster album with brootalz riffs and mean solos. Oh, my, who do I trust...

 

[DE4life]

Delight and Angers... I guess that's the way it's supposed to be?

 

[shad0w__]

Most reviews so far have been negative. So its like 20% delight and 80% angers.

 

[ciko_gfb]

Thanks for the review but I prefer to listen the album. You were so harsh about the SC too but that album didnt turn out to be THAT bad. I said too many bad thing about The Truth but it grew on me. I guess new songs will drop soon so lets just wait and see.

 

[DE4life]

Most reviews so far have been negative. So its like 20% delight and 80% angers.

Delight and Angers doesn't actually make sense grammatically, does it? I mean, it should either be Delights and Angers or Delight and Anger... Anders, what a dunce.

Thanks for the review but I prefer to listen the album. You were so harsh about the SC too but that album didnt turn out to be THAT bad. I said too many bad thing about The Truth but it grew on me. I guess new songs will drop soon so lets just wait and see.

SC was THAT bad. Yagami's review of it was actually pretty balanced imo, and he gave ASOP major props so it's not like he's a nu N'Flaymz hater.

 

[ciko_gfb]

Delight and Angers doesn't actually make sense grammatically, does it? I mean, it should either be Delights and Angers or Delight and Anger... Anders, what a dunce.



SC was THAT bad. Yagami's review of it was actually pretty balanced imo, and he gave ASOP major props so it's not like he's a nu N'Flaymz hater.

I'm not saying anything bad about Yagami, he has his opinions. But for example he gave Eyes Wide Open a 4, but I love that song so its a 7-8 for me. Well if you could see SC through my eyes.. Why are we so DIF-FE-RENT?

 

[AtotheK]

We should be getting a new song this week. Any ideas/guesses on what track it's gonna be?
My guess would be either "Like Sand" or "Drained".

 

[shad0w__]

Delight and Angers doesn't actually make sense grammatically, does it? I mean, it should either be Delights and Angers or Delight and Anger... Anders, what a dunce.

Yea i always wondered what the heck Anders was trying to get to with this grammar. Poetry beyond my IQ level....

 

[Seppo91]

What were Yagami's thoughts on SOAPF?

 

[DE4life]

I'm not saying anything bad about Yagami, he has his opinions. But for example he gave Eyes Wide Open a 4, but I love that song so its a 7-8 for me. Well if you could see SC through my eyes.. Why are we so DIF-FE-RENT?

WEWO was a solid 6 for me, one of the better songs on SC for sure. By and large, though, Yagami's thoughts about SC were fairly close to my own. So if he's saying Battles is a continuation of that shit, I'm inclined to believe him - even taking into account that creepy avatar and his ASOP review

Yea i always wondered what the heck Anders was trying to get to with this grammar. Poetry beyond my IQ level....

Honestly, the grammar in the song title pisses me off more than the song itself. I've run it through my head a thousand times trying to work out if it could in any way be acceptable and I can't come up with anything. I mean, those words could be used in a run-on sentence - "Listening to the Jester Race will delight me, but play anything off Siren Charms and it fucking angers me." - but even then it's contrived. The three words together just don't make sense.

An unforgivable crime, in my book.

 

[only4theweak187]

*Long post warning*

In the few hours after hearing The End, before hearing the Truth...

I was hoping they'd made Battles to be a more simply structured continuation of Sounds of a Playground Fading. The End being one of the more "pop metal" style songs for a single... Then the other tracks just good modernized IF heavier songs. Then we hear The Truth etc. etc. and that theory goes right out the window obviously.

But, these weird, confused, upbeat songs with unexpected and unnecessary styles that just don't fit, including "California" sounding choruses(first non-english review we saw translated claiming this)... Bare-minimum effort lyrics "take the power back!" and overuse of teenage, "scene" music influences... (You can add these type of things once or twice while still sticking to core sound to stay in the realm of a passable level.

It's like, what in the fuck is going on?

I personally, never ONCE, looked at ASOP or SOAPF and really felt negative or that they were downgrading when those were the current records. Not once. A lot of people would hate on them but they still had a lot of good tracks. IF was still making THEIR music, heavy metal. Touring with good setlists and making guitar-oriented, heavier music. If you had to rank albums at the time, ASOP would be the "worst", but only because it belonged to a long line of good albums.

Siren Charms was the first time as a die-hard fan, where I thought "OK what's going on here?" I had some criticisms FINALLY. Literally never had one piece of judgement before that. ASOP & SOAPF both had parts reminiscent of iconic IF sounds and you KNEW it was still them.

So, after time, I just summed up Siren Charms as an album where they tried something different. Didn't really reasonate well with most and just looked at it as eh whatever, plenty of bands have went a weird route before, they'll probably go back to a heavier base, making harder songs and we'll see where the creativity goes from there.

All I know is, as of now, I'm just expecting a bit harder version of Siren Charms, that's it... With just some faster tempos as SC was mostly slow to slow-medium speed songs.

I'm saying lackadaisical lyrics, too-simple predictable structures, ridiculous & unnecessary things thrown in(overuse of choirs, electronics that don't match and just flat out weird stuff that doesn't work for what In Flames could do)

 

[ciko_gfb]

We should be getting a new song this week. Any ideas/guesses on what track it's gonna be?
My guess would be either "Like Sand" or "Drained".

Well I'm hoping for "Before I Fall" since I heard Björns thoughts about the song.

Honestly, the grammar in the song title pisses me off more than the song itself. I've run it through my head a thousand times trying to work out if it could in any way be acceptable and I can't come up with anything. I mean, those words could be used in a run-on sentence - "Listening to the Jester Race will delight me, but play anything off Siren Charms and it fucking angers me." - but even then it's contrived. The three words together just don't make sense.

An unforgivable crime, in my book.

I'm no expert on English but I think they bending some grammer rules for the rhyme on some of the songs. That could be a reason atleast.

 

[Jester313]

Delight and Angers doesn't actually make sense grammatically, does it? I mean, it should either be Delights and Angers or Delight and Anger... Anders, what a dunce.

Yeah, it should probably be Delight and Anger. That would make grammatical sense and still mean the same thing. What annoys me is how he switched "distant" and "distance" on I'm the Highway and Deliver Us. I forget which one is on which, but if you switch them, then they make sense.

EDIT: That's a lie, I know what he says. "I've become the distance" and "Fly into the distant". Switch them and it makes more sense.

 

[only4theweak187]

A song like The End is a perfectly fine modern In Flames single. Appealing to a larger scope of modern, more mainstream-ish metal genres. Absolutely fine. Guitar riffing is better than anything off Siren Charms(main riff & verses especially), great screams and super good use of choir and electronics. A flat out solid song and if The End was the first single to come out right after SOAPF then it'd feel fine(pretending SC never happened in this case)

I don't know why they don't just make Where Dead Ships Dwell, Fear Is The Weakness, The Chase & The End level songs and keep it within a nice creative realm...

Plenty of freedom to move around while not crossing into "too much"

Add cool, interesting stuff like The End has with its choir and vocal refrain... Without going overboard. That's all. Keep it at the current mainstream level all you want... Want to do simplified, pop-metal structures? Do it and do it well. IF can do that no problem. Not even that much extra effort.

Plenty of $ to be made going more mainstreamish, while still being in the vast scope of the heavy metal realm. Veering into teenage-scene garbage will not elevate the brand.

Bring us an awesome lead guitar riff/melody, harsh screams(i.e. The End, The Chase), More powerful cleans(again like The End, The Chase), build up a nice bridge to a memorable catchy/big chorus, cool solo and then one more repeat of that main guitar riff/melody... Boom, next track please! (Extras welcome by all means: electronics, solo breaks, choirs, refrains, synth key solos, breakdowns etc. etc.)

Just keep it fucking heavy and good shit.

^That should be the standard.

I use The Chase and The End as examples by the way, because they're the two most recent best songs they've made imo and are perfect examples of what less technical, more simplified good songs they can make if they wanted to.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

Like with all In Flames I ignore album reviews until I have listened to the album 4/5 times and have made my own opinion, that way I don't go in thinking 'is it as bad as they said?' which means by default I'm going into it looking for problems. I think this album will just be a more upbeat, faster Siren Charms but with a bit more effort put into it (riff wise at least) and as long as the songs translate well live that's all that matters.

 

[only4theweak187]

I actually liked Everything's Gone live. Was a good time in the pit. This of course, was because it was in a setlist opened with Embody the Invisible, Clayman right after, Bullet Ride etc. etc. But it's probably the only song from SC I liked live as its the heaviest and lyrically/instrumentally the only track from that album with decent power

 

[Jester313]

Slightly off topic here, but I'm listening to a random mix on Google Play Music and In Flames came on with Our Infinite Solution. It's just Our Infinite Struggle, but was it called "Solution" in other countries?

 

[Midas]

Apparently Joe Richard did the drums based in Bjorn's programming, so it must be the final mix what is wrong

I seeeeeriously doubt it. Just listen to the cymbals for example. They stick out like a sore thumb. It is the same, over and over and over again, not a change in the sound either on hit, or as it bleeds out.

Go to 35 seconds and listen... keep the cymbals in mind and it becomes obvious.

Thanks for the review but I prefer to listen the album. You were so harsh about the SC too but that album didnt turn out to be THAT bad. I said too many bad thing about The Truth but it grew on me. I guess new songs will drop soon so lets just wait and see.

You're welcome.

Yeah, I don't hold back on my opinions, and that is what they are, opinions, although harsh.
I am NOT saying that you won't like it, nor do I say that you will, all I do is offering my opinion, and you shouldn't take it seriously, at all. Your opinion matters to you, mine doesn't, and nor should it since it isn't evidence based.

What were Yagami's thoughts on SOAPF?

It certainly has its place, but to me, it was at SOAPF that In Flames started their real "downfall".
The only songs I like from SOAPF are Ropes, and Fear is the Weakness. The only great song on that album to me, is A New Dawn.