IN FLAMES new album being released by the end of 2016
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krofius
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- Mar 16, 2009
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It's an interesting subject, granted, but there are better things to read on that topic than Anders' lyrics
this is the same guy who wrote "and I don't care what you think!!!! Or maybe I do??" and "I feel like..." well, I'm not going to complete the sentence, you know what it is. Dude is capable of some great lyrics, no doubt, but that's what makes it so annoying that majority of his lyrics are so contrived, cliched and dull. Wasted potential.
His voice will sound basically the same as it did last time they toured, couple of months with a vocal coach ain't going to change that. I honestly struggle to watch any live vids post-2012, Anders just sounds so weak. I know Krofius says "DEM GROWLZ" whenever he does 2 or 3 seconds of a low growl, but most of the time it's a strained sounding half-scream combined with off key singing. Why watch that when there are so many better older live vids out there of In Flames, or better live bands in general?
Jester Slave
Narcissist
I don't find this record lyrically or thematically as childish as you painted it to be. Even major contenders for cheesiest lyrics like Save Me has some saving grace (the verses are cool, actually), but most of the songs are at least all right. Again, aside from such a chorus as Save Me's, I haven't find a song which couldn't have been penned by a mature man.It's an interesting subject, granted, but there are better things to read on that topic than Anders' lyrics
Dude is capable of some great lyrics, no doubt, but that's what makes it so annoying that majority of his lyrics are so contrived, cliched and dull. Wasted potential.
His voice will sound basically the same as it did last time they toured, couple of months with a vocal coach ain't going to change that. I honestly struggle to watch any live vids post-2012, Anders just sounds so weak. I know Krofius says "DEM GROWLZ" whenever he does 2 or 3 seconds of a low growl, but most of the time it's a strained sounding half-scream combined with off key singing. Why watch that when there are so many better older live vids out there of In Flames, or better live bands in general?
Death, growing apart, civilisation heading to the wrong way, people not understanding you, coming to terms with aging, etc.
As for his live performance, you probably could never be pleased unless he miraculously regained his screaming prowess. To me, he's still fine, even if his growls are considered to be baby farts compared to the big growler guys in the industry. Anders does an excellent job in selling what he has. Sure, I'm sad I never got to experience seeing them live back in the day, but can't do much about that now - though people called him shit 12 years ago as well, so...
I did not realize they were the bonus tracks. Thanks for pointing that out. Surprised they sucked though. Typically the bonus tracks for In Flames are better than the album tracks.
I don't find this record lyrically or thematically as childish as you painted it to be. Even major contenders for cheesiest lyrics like Save Me has some saving grace (the verses are cool, actually), but most of the songs are at least all right. Again, aside from such a chorus as Save Me's, I haven't find a song which couldn't have been penned by a mature man.
Death, growing apart, civilisation heading to the wrong way, people not understanding you, coming to terms with aging, etc.
As for his live performance, you probably could never be pleased unless he miraculously regained his screaming prowess. To me, he's still fine, even if his growls are considered to be baby farts compared to the big growler guys in the industry. Anders does an excellent job in selling what he has. Sure, I'm sad I never got to experience seeing them live back in the day, but can't do much about that now - though people called him shit 12 years ago as well, so...
Lyrically Battles is better than ASOP & SC, but that's about it. I'm not sure you or Krofius should necessarily be judging what a 'mature man' is
let's leave that to people more boring than us.Btw, Anders was shit 12 years ago
in terms of clean vocals anyway. He's always been terrible on cleans. His screams/growls have been bad for long stretches too. His screams/growls were atrocious until around mid-98 to 99. His voice got all fucked up for a while in late '00-03, then for about 4 years he was pretty solid screaming wise (still shit on cleans). I got to see them in 05 & 06, decent setlists, Anders sounded OK. Glad I got to see those shows. 08 onwards has been very hit and miss, but mostly miss. Last 2-3 years Anders just sounds like he's in pain. It's kinda sad and I would be surprised if he goes on for much longer. When you hear him talk it's obvious his voicebox has taken a fucking battering over the years through bad singing & growling techniques (that is, no technique on either).
Nope. He can act however he likes/feel. I can say he looks funny. But that is my subjective opinion.
Him being a terrible singer is a fact.
krofius
Active Member
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You started it by telling me to pick fights pal
Blame yourself. Easy way to kick-start discussion, start trolling about Anders.
Jester Slave
Narcissist
FFFUUUU, no Eastern-European dates?! Fuck off!! Can't even go to the UK because I'll have exams.
So much for being with Anders in his room...
Ahahaha, and someone is sad because they won't come to Cologne. They fucking have 4 German dates, but the guy is upset none of them is in Cologne. I was born on the wrong side of this continent.
So much for being with Anders in his room...
Ahahaha, and someone is sad because they won't come to Cologne. They fucking have 4 German dates, but the guy is upset none of them is in Cologne. I was born on the wrong side of this continent.
Every time you say you are just trolling...You started it by telling me to pick fights pal
Yes. Even when compared to other vocalists in prog/melodic death metal, guys like Dan Swano, Mikael Akerfeldt, and Mikael Stanne still kick Anders' ass in the vocal department. If you were to compare the clean vocal performances between those four, the only way one could believe that Anders is superior is if that person was entirely tone-deaf.
Jester Slave
Narcissist
No. Being worse is not being bad.
Never heard of Swano and Nightingale before, so I randomly found Nightfall Overture (song) and daaaaaamn, pretty fucking good. Is that album worth checking out? Not a fan of that piano, and overall the song is way too progressive for its own good, but chop down 2 minutes from it and it's easily a 9/10. (By the way, arund 4:30 and onwards it sounds like Diablo 2 LOL, same fucking guitar tone and style)
Stanne is fucking shit though, he is the sole reason I am not even trying to listen anything from DT aside from Skydancer - and yes, Anders is terrible on it too, but at least listenable -, because when he does that growly thing I want to shoot my brains out. His cleans are nice though, so it's sad how he wasted his talent. From my perspective, of course, I know many many others have no problem listening to a demon choking on words if the music is good.
By the way, Anders has a much different voice to begin with. Both this Swano guy and Stanne have a very deep, masculine tone. Anders' is much lighter, and that's part of his uniqueness. Sure, being unique means you either fall in love with it at first sight or absolutely detest it. I did the former, as I absolutely like his somewhat chaotic singing style, like the way he sings Borders and Shading and the last chorus of TQP.
Swano makes you one with the music in Nightfall Overture (like a lullaby), while Anders makes songs personal, more relateable for you - talking about the singing, not the lyrics. It's apples and oranges, but Anders does great justice to his own style. You can criticize him in a vacuum, but he managed to dug a hole where he shines bright.
I'm definitely a hypocrite saying this, but it's pretty disheartening to see how most of you treat him. The guy gets no fucking chill; 20+ years in the industry, being the frontman of an iconic metal band, constantly getting shit throughout all of his career, and even when after all of this he writes whiny, self-conscious lyrics he is ridiculed for not being a fucking secure man.
@Jester Slave That's the issue though. I'm not comparing range. I'm comparing quality. No one ever says that Midnight (from Crimson Glory) has worse vocals than Peter Steele because his range is higher.
Also...
As for Swano, I'd recommend all of Edge of Sanity, Nightingale, Witherscape and Moontower, the album he recorded under his own name.
Also...
As for Swano, I'd recommend all of Edge of Sanity, Nightingale, Witherscape and Moontower, the album he recorded under his own name.
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Slave, so you don't like Stanne's growls, and I'm pretty sure you said you don't like Insomnium because of the vocals. Do you like any growls/screams other than Anders'? Just curious.
Jester Slave
Narcissist
Since all you do here is memeing anyway, at least make it entertaining for us. Here, let me help you: https://www.reddit.com/r/MemeEconomy/
Check the market and invest accordingly, because Picard facepalms in the dawn of 2017 is just not acceptable.
Where does something you are willing to consider as a growl or scream starts? Most of the heavy stuff I like are still on the so called mainstream spectrum, like Mudvayne, Slipknot or Static-X. The common link is once again the conveyed emotion (mainly aggression). Stanne monotonely doing that awful shit he does, or Kreator being loud is just effing boring to me. Go crazy, play with your voice!
I like Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir (I don't think I heard them with the new singer) too. Yes, they also sound like the spawn of satan, but the difference is night and day. I was enjoying the groove on Atoma then out of fucking nowhere Stanne started dying, like wtf, at least make instrumental versions.
I like the growls on Subterranean too, absolutely un-fucking-comparable with Lunar Strain. That guy sounded even better than Anders on TJR.
I can even listen to Cereonial Oath and DT's Skydancer. Anders is pretty shit, the music is so good you can get used to it. Funnily enough, Stanne's clean part on Skydancer is magic. Maybe he sabotages himself willingly, he knows he has to balance out that god-given gift of his soft voice.
Children Of Bodom is on the fence for me. The vocals are both bad and good at the same time.
edit: I know you said no Anders, but he is fucking great on Whoracle. Listening that to that after hearing some shitty, over-brutalized growls (let's not name anyone here, shall we?) Whoracle is a breath of fresh air.
Imagine, instead of writing these ridiculous essays, you came to the realisation you just have fairly poor taste in vocals and music in general. That we could all accept.
How do Cradle and Dimmu convey emotion? But Stanne doesn't? There's a lot of aggression in his vocals. That's where you lose me with your logic. But, different strokes. I'm not trying to start any shit, I was just curious.
Jester Slave
Narcissist
They don't convey shit, they just serve the melody much better, see the chorus of Nymphetamine. It's completely emotionless, but has that rhythm to it.
Listen to that song from Atoma which was first linked in this thread, and pinpoint to me when exactly did he put any emotion in his lifeless, staggering excuse of mindless death-growls? It's just there cuz... I don't know, MDM for life or something.
That would alternatively mean you have the good taste in vocals, which is evidently not true, so I'm not accepting this. I was blessed with an ear for "commercial" and non-conventional vocals, so I am a fairly good judge of vocals being good or not, as you could hardly find a better target audience. Then again, most of the shit you try to sell as good vocals do not really care about good vocals - thus being bad or mediocre -, and instead trying to reach eargasm via their instruments, while the vocal is just there.
Which is fine. Also, it's still mostly subjective, and getting completely turned off from unique sounds is completely normal. I absolutely can't stand Dave Mustaine's voice but I'm not going to say he is bad, because I'm not an idiot.
