IN FLAMES new album being released by the end of 2016
- Thread starter PlainVanilla
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Dog Hates Us All
Member
Much like Metallica will never make another Master Of Puppets or ...And Justice For All, In Flames will never make another Whoracle or Colony. With the exception of Siren Charms, I really do like all of their albums. I understand the Whoracle-era fans not liking their direction, much like I understand the Metallica fans who don't like anything past Justice. I just like In Flames as a band, and I'm OK with their direction, Siren Charms being the exception, of course.
Dog Hates Us All
Member
I didn't mean everybody (or at least those on this forum), but there are those who want another Whoracle, and they will be terribly disappointed as long as that's their expectation. I can see why people don't care for Battles, it's a pretty good album IMO, but let's be honest, Sounds Of A Playground Fading was a lot better.
Dog Hates Us All
Member
Fair. I can totally see that, especially compared to the rest of their discography. That's why I don't like it as much as Sounds Of A Playground Fading, which was their last really good album.
Dog Hates Us All
Member
Battles has a certain sterile quality to it, for sure. They used the same producer that P.O.D. used, and minus the rapping aspect, there are certain P.O.D ish qualities to Battles (the choruses especially). I don't mind P.O.D., so that may explain why I don't mind that album.
Indeed, most of us would be happy with another SOAPF but even that seems beyond them nowadays.
Clay-Man
Anders pre-2003
- May 18, 2008
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Tell that to all the autists that still show up to every new IF song on Youtube and post "WHERE IS MY MELODIC DEATH METAL" when it's not even the same fucking line up as Whoracle.
Here's a prime example of a fucking loser who keeps commenting on every new IF album trying to talk shit when they obviously gave up on the band a long time ago. You're free to not like them anymore, but there's nothing more pathetic than coming on every fucking new song and telling people "In Flames is gay, Anders should kill himself"
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxqrfcIlTzEBFPs0yq6Torw/featured?&ab_channel=Metalguru81
Jester Slave
Narcissist
Hahaha, I was just about to say that if someone still expects a new [insert name of an IF record made in the 90s], then they are autistic.
Battles is very much listenable if you don't mind watered down metal, and that shouldn't be a problem, I'm in that boat as well, but to rate it critically above SC is just too funny. People who nag SC for being shit but dig Battles lose a lot of integrity in my eyes. At the very least say that both are dogshit, but Battles is easier to listen to - I can see that.
Battles is the very definition of mid-life crysis. Ooooh, I've always wanted to make a shitty American metal record, but sadly I had to make proper music back then in Europe. May I still do it? Pleeeaaaaseeee??? And then wish granted and we've got Battles - which is fundamentally very much so an IF record, but the end product is absolutely uninspiring. Battles is like STYE but without the effort.
Battles is very much listenable if you don't mind watered down metal, and that shouldn't be a problem, I'm in that boat as well, but to rate it critically above SC is just too funny. People who nag SC for being shit but dig Battles lose a lot of integrity in my eyes. At the very least say that both are dogshit, but Battles is easier to listen to - I can see that.
Battles is the very definition of mid-life crysis. Ooooh, I've always wanted to make a shitty American metal record, but sadly I had to make proper music back then in Europe. May I still do it? Pleeeaaaaseeee??? And then wish granted and we've got Battles - which is fundamentally very much so an IF record, but the end product is absolutely uninspiring. Battles is like STYE but without the effort.
I will agree that at least on SC Anders tried. I don't think anybody else did, as everything except the vocals is uninspired as fuck, but I think Anders was genuinely trying to push himself on SC and create something. It ended up being a turd, but he tried.
Battles is the definition of cookie cooker. It's just nothing. It exists but when that's the most you can say about something it isn't a good sign.
Battles is the definition of cookie cooker. It's just nothing. It exists but when that's the most you can say about something it isn't a good sign.
Pallbearer
Passive Member
I can understand why people like it. The album does have many nice/cool ideas. But personally, I think the songs could be (quite a lot) better if the band worked on them more. Maybe I'm mistaken and Battles is precisely the kind of album In Flames wanted to make, but to me it sounds like they've become lazy, and are relying on catchy choruses to carry the songs. Here's a quote from Björn concerning the song Wallflower:
"Wallflower
Björn: “Anders was talking about ‘space metal’ earlier… we felt the album needed something that wasn't ‘In Flames Format 1’ – quickly getting into the chorus and stuff – and wanted to have something that built all the way through the song to something big in the end. And that's what we did. So it starts off with something small, and we add instruments and sounds and stuff to make it sound – not to sound too cliché – a proper musical journey. We haven’t done a song like this since [2008’s] The Chosen Pessimist, and it's a format we wanted to try it again.”
There we have it. In Flames today is mostly about the choruses.
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I'd say IF have been all about dat chorus since 2002 when Anders decided he wanted to show the world his beautiful "singing" voice. Even SOAPF, which is a great album, is chorus-driven music.
For me their focus on chorus isn't an issue, the issue is that they don't put enough effort into everything else. On the older albums it felt like the songs had effort put in throughout, whereas now it seems the bulk of the effort goes into making dat catchy chorus and the verses, solos, etc are just phoned in and redundant. They do some good intro riffs sometimes on the newer stuff, but otherwise every IF song nowadays seems to be a rush to the chorus. I remember their older songs for a lot more than a catchy melody in the middle.
For me their focus on chorus isn't an issue, the issue is that they don't put enough effort into everything else. On the older albums it felt like the songs had effort put in throughout, whereas now it seems the bulk of the effort goes into making dat catchy chorus and the verses, solos, etc are just phoned in and redundant. They do some good intro riffs sometimes on the newer stuff, but otherwise every IF song nowadays seems to be a rush to the chorus. I remember their older songs for a lot more than a catchy melody in the middle.
Clay-Man
Anders pre-2003
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Yeah to be honest, if your focus is to work on the chorus and have everything else be padding, then you're missing the point in writing a song.
I think in a song, every aspect should be worked on to their fulled potential. It doesn't mean you can't have the chorus be explosive, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give the verses any purpose either.
I think in a song, every aspect should be worked on to their fulled potential. It doesn't mean you can't have the chorus be explosive, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give the verses any purpose either.
I don't agree. Music was still important. Anders did his work separately from Björn and Jesper. Now, they sit down together to decide what to write, together, put the vocals first and use the music as mere background with no value of its own. You can also her how Anders has gone to be a thoughtful writer to write generalities that have been told many times before.
Nailed it.
