IN FLAMES new album being released by the end of 2016

[eochaid]

Do you think that keeps them in a place of creativity where as In Flames are a big name which forces them to devolve into lesser potential?

I don't think so. Just look at big bands, classics like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Slayer, Anthrax. They might not be making their best works, but they're working harder and trying their best.

I think it's a combination of trying to expand an already decently-large brand as well as having to adapt to the market shift of actual records barely making any $ anymore...

I don't think that they need to. I know that they've been trying to hit big into the USA, but bands like slipknot have shown that you don't need to make a soft sound to sell millions. The fans are, of course, also to be blamed for, when a band like in flames never surpasses half million copies sold while their fanbase is far larger than that. If we discount the people that's buying more than one version of the same album, there must be probably about 300 thousand people actually buying them.

 

[only4theweak187]

Krofius I find songs like Underneath My Skin a lot more boring than In My Room

In My Room, as a mid-tempo song still feels more energetic and powerful emotion-wise than those two for me
Lyrical content seems more mature than those two as well

Interesting how tastes can differ

What don't you like about In My Room specifically?

 

[eochaid]

Here Until Forever is written as a tribute for his Son because he asked for it since he wrote Come Clarity for his daughter, I don't know how you can hate on that really, when you understand the symbolism behind it.

Symbolism has nothing to do with the lyrics being good or bad. If you don't agree just read the lyrics that tommy Lee wrote for Pamela and his son.

 

[only4theweak187]

Another thing, Wallflower certainly didn't live upto it's reputation from the limited number of reviews we saw praising it.

As others have said, it easily could've been condensed to a regular, 4 minute track. Nothing special, not even TCP's level.


Also, Here Until Forever's main riff in the beginning shows they can make melodeath style melodies although it's so short-lived where it's placed and obviously was there to lead the pop structure of the song... But still, a nice little guitar melody that's reminiscent of nice melodic death riffing, though barely.

 

[eochaid]

"
13. Brandon

you bring those tears into my eyes so well
I've been waiting for this day so long
brandon I love you, you are the one brandon my son
you run around, and chase the clouds,
I only want you to be yourself
forget me not, you're all I've got
as you can see you are the one, brandon my son
your mother gave birth to you with love inside
she had candlelight and songs of life
brandon I love you, I love her, she is your mom
true love is ours, nobody else
I only want you to be yourself,
and when I'm gone, don't cry for me

we'll always be one...you are my son,
you are the one...you are theone"

E M B A R R A S I N G

 

[Dogge670]

Drained is starting to really grow on me. Love the chorus and the whole concept of the song. And funny enough us against the world is stuck in my head. The chorus. Its so happy sounding but not the lyrics much. I dont know. Its just stuck in my head.
Im pretty sure the whole album is gonna grow on me. Like all of the newer IF albums. Except the truth. Lets just pretend that song doesnt exist.

 

[Laverna]

Here until forever the best song

 

[only4theweak187]

Laverna great input as usual

 

[Jester313]

Sigh, I'm curious now, tell me which songs were not following a "boring" pattern on Come Clarity?

Leeches started with the chorus, and its chorus was expanded each time. Your Bedtime Story was unique. Vacuum starts out like System, I guess that's a plus. These I recognize, but what about the rest? Most of the other songs just have varying choruses.

Since when did Leeches start with the chorus? Or am I missing something? I'm trying to catch up here as I'm a few pages behind.

 

[Jester313]

It's just different, man. Every song on SC and Battles sounds like it was created from a basic template. No previous albums sounds like this, even ASOP or SOAPF. Melodic intro, quieter verse w/signing, pre-chorus and/or chorus, quieter verse, pre-chorus and/or chorus, wahhh solo... practically every song. I hate how predictable it is.

Reroute's songs, almost all of them I believe, follow the same structure but they all sound pretty different so it's easier to listen to as an album.

 

[only4theweak187]

I'm drunk and forgot which track is reminiscent of Satelites and Astronauts already?

I did get the same feeling when I first heard it but I now also find that connection made to be insulting haha

 

[DE4life]

Reroute's songs, almost all of them I believe, follow the same structure but they all sound pretty different so it's easier to listen to as an album.

Yeah, it's hard to explain... it's not just the structure of the songs, but also how they sound. Like they put together roughly the same song multiple times and just tweaked a few parts to make it sound slightly different.

I'm drunk and forgot which track is reminiscent of Satelites and Astronauts already?

I did get the same feeling when I first heard it but I now also find that connection made to be insulting haha

It is extremely insulting but you're usually cool, so I'll let it slide.

 

[Jester Slave]

I'm drunk and forgot which track is reminiscent of Satelites and Astronauts already?

I did get the same feeling when I first heard it but I now also find that connection made to be insulting haha

Like Sand.

 

[Laverna]

Jester Slave you are drained

 

[DE4life]

ffs

 

[eochaid]

Songs like battles could've been really interesting. The chorus is catchy and I might like it, but the song lacks development. My overall sensation is, again, the lack of effort. They need to sit, talk about what they want and work in the songs for a while, as many other bands do.

 

[A88]

01. Drained (4/10)

Starts really cool. Nice electronics and slightly distorted guitar. Very atmospheric. Solid riff kicks in. For a moment I'm hopeful.

Then we go emo metalcore screams. Then we go to whiny prechorus. Then we go to idiotic chorus. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Boring generic riff stolen from some of previous albums, maybe SOAPF?

Oh, my. A good, albeit short solo. He had it for a moment, then went wah end it.

Chorus again. Cringeworthy. You ripped the heart out, you ripped the heart out. Dance ya maddafukkas! Jump, jump, jump!

Then we go back to the intro riff, which sudenly feels very out of place in this song, and end the song with the same riff that now, with a different drumming, sounds like leftover from ASOP.

I liked the intro, I liked the solo. Everything else was shit.

02. The End (7/10)

We know all about this one already. Standard issue modern IF song. Fast enough, decent enough, catchy enough.

03. Like Sand (5/10)

All For Me, The hard rock version, with some SC vibe. Lyrics, again idiotic. But at least the singing and vocal melodies are better than on SC.

Song has some melody, and some... let's call it dynamic.

Also, this one sounds fresh from time to time. I've actually never heard IF do something like this chorus.

We also get one IF-ish riff-melody instead of solo. But, in this song, it seems very out of place. It's like Bjorn writes his solos and "solos" separately and then randomly distributes them among the songs.

Not insultingly bad. But still, nothing for me here.

04. The Truth (4/10)

IF on the dance floor. When I hear some of the other songs, this one is actually not that bad. At least it flows alright.

05. In My Room (4/10)

Yaaay, an electro intro with random slooooow guitar melody.

Something new - bass guitar! This I like.

Weird Anders singing, is this even IF? ASOP guitar sound makes big comeback.

And oh, decent solo. WTF!? It flows good with the rhythm, and chord progression in the background is cool and uplifting. Sadly, the rest of the song is lackluster, chorus included. Also, why is wah over everything!?

06. Before I Fall (6/10)

US modern rock-metal band intro. Some STYE-like stuff before the chorus.

Singing on this one is not bad. But when he screams it sounds out of place.

Solo started good, but ended just when something was about to happen.

Solid song I won't mind hearing.

07. Through My Eyes (5/10)

Another old friend. One good intro riff. Some screaming. Decent chorus. All in all, B-side from ASOP/SC.

08. Battles (4/10)

Oh yeah, bad Bullet for my valentine song on IF album. He even sings like that little fucker.

Lyrics induce diarrhea.

Some decent melodic riff work instead of solo.

Song ended, I already forgot it.

09. Here Until Forever (4/10)

Wow, some melodic metal melodies and riffs!? Nice.

Totally random of course, as song goes into Anders singing only without instruments.

Ultimate gay emo US teen chorus. If one child got the epicness that is Come Clarity, why did the other get... THIS?

This song tries so hard to be grand and emotional, but just feels so fake.

10. Underneath my Skin (4/10)

The only metal riff still know to Bjorn and Niclas strikes again. Random Anders yelling. Random Anders chorusing. All that, once again.

After intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus... goes the solo, naturally. And the solo tries to do something, but really goes nowhere. Better than the standard wahing to death.

And again, naturally, after solo, we get another round of chorus and intro riff for the end.

11. Wallflower (8/10)

Great intro. Bordering good music. That's what you get when you leave your intros longer than usual 9 seconds.

Intro devolves into chugging riffing that takes too long to get anywhere.

But where does it ultimately gets? Well, right to Anders singing over electro stuff.

Well, I do like this song. Has some interesting stuff going on. Both on guitar and with all the electronic thingy. I think it deserved better chorus, and some nice solo section.

Beats TCP any day.

12. Save Me (4/10)

Dat intro gives me... Ugh.

Kind of nice melody, followed by more emo metalcore kid screaming and 20+ times of "Save me, save me" and that awful high pitched chorus ending.

Disgusting song, especially after Wallflower. But obvious radio material.

Good position on album as a closer after W.

13. Greatest Greed (4/10)

Fuck I hate this type of #MakeAmericaGreatAgain riffs. Shitty emo chorus. How old are this guys, 16?

Standard issue Bjorn wah solo No. 736.

14. Us Against the World (4/10)

Totally get it why this one didn't make it to album. That happy quasi-melodeath riff is comical. As is that Frankenstein of a song that follows. Has some life in it, I must admit.

-------------------------

So, my ultimate verdict is somewhere around 4-5/10. After the whole album, as I've already got my dose of The End, I only want to listen one or two solos and Wallflower, everything else goes from bad to forgettable.

Anders singing is OK. Sometimes ultra annoying, sometimes almost good and fitting. Yeah, he can't pull this live, but I don't care.

More metal and IF like songs on this album feel wrong. This is american modern radio hard rock album. Don't know what's the genre official name. So, hiring Joe makes complete sense. He comes from the genre.

No riffs worth remembering. Maybe one or two mediocre melodies worth mentioning. One or two good solos (more than I expected). Some nice electronica. That guy should be official member, they need him more than they need Engelin.

Production is something OK, something really bad and uneven. Drums are generic and plastic. Sometimes you don't notice them and that is good. Sometimes they actually make song worse than they already are.

Bonus tracks are worse than album tracks.

Album is better than Siren Charms. Could actually get them some new fans. But, there is always but, this is just not In Flames. So, we can say, IF found their sound somewhere between Sub and TJR. Gone up, gone down, until SOAPF. Then we have SC as a failed experiment, and Battles as a totally new genre-band-direction-fans with the same name.

Highlights: Wallflower, In My Room solo, first few seconds of Drained solo until Bjorn fucks it up.

 

[Jester Slave]

Jester Slave you are drained

You can drain me any time, just leave your Lunar Strain cassette at home.

 

[Jester313]

Listened through the album couple times now and I'm starting to really dig it. It's pretty much only In My Room and The Truth that is boring as hell. Here Until Forever undoubtedly my favorite track. I love the powerful chorus. It's very similar to Bring Me The Horizon's song ''Drown'', which I find pretty good although I don't listen to the band. Lyric wise I think it fits most the songs. He's done the apocalypse, talk about robots thing with questionable interpretability, his real style has always been the more direct and introvert lyrics. A lot of people relate to ''everyday'' lyrics believe it nor not. It's not just 13 year olds. Older lyrics are definitely more cool and poetic, but newer one's although cheesy for some people, are much more relatable to our own lives. Here Until Forever is written as a tribute for his Son because he asked for it since he wrote Come Clarity for his daughter, I don't know how you can hate on that really, when you understand the symbolism behind it.

And let's be real, the more accessible music are, the easier lyrics often are. Let's just imagine you have battles music with Whoracle's lyrics, it would just sound retarded. It work's cause it's aggressive vocals. If I think about bands like Gojira, Be'Lakor & Sacrilege, their type of metaphoric and more poetic lyrics only works cause of their music style. If you have more shorter songs with simplistic song structures, you can't really fit in those type of lyrics without it sounding bad. If it's very audibly pronounciated clean singing as well, it won't work with those type of lyrics whether you like it or not.

Same way it wouldn't work vice-versa with more accessible lyrics for more intricate and aggressive music. At least that's my opinion.

I don't have a problem with simpler subject matter or pure emotions driving songs, but when they for the most part just sound whiny like most of ASOP it's very disappointing. There are plenty of songs on Clayman that have simple meanings or are about being really sad, but they are masked in a much more poetic and beautiful way. That's why I like STYE because I feel the lyrics are unusual and interesting for describing something simple. I haven't listened to Battles yet so I don't know what he's singing about, but I don't mind what it seems like he's singing about, it's just that he doesn't seem to write poetry anymore.

 

[Defter]

Fear (Is The Weakness) In My Room
listen start melody and Fear Is The Weakness from 40 second

Also first riff of Here Until Forever reminds me Gyroscope
And Like Sand in some acoustic and riffing parts like Satellites and Astronauts