IN FLAMES new album being released by the end of 2016

[A88]

Wallflower is such an awesome song. Even Depeche Mode part works well. Chorus singing is fine too. Clean, but strong and emotional. A lot better than screaming Save me, Break my heart in girls voice.

I got used to this album. Definitely better than SC. Weak points are lazy songwriting, some emo singing-screaming and lack of memorable riffs. But it has some sell-points. Even solos are better then I thought they will be after hearing singles.

IMO Wallflower even has some potential as a live song. Good balance between slow and silent parts and heavy riffs and choruses.

 

[eochaid]

I hope you don't have that bad reading comprehension eochaid. That's 2 ½ weeks making the DEMO's for the songs, not the actual writing process. Björn wrote most of the guitars by himself before they went to LA and created the demo tracks.

They had not toured for a year before Knotfest so they had plenty of time to write stuff.

Btw pretty cool pic shared by Björn
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMqeOcPDtJK/

where did they say this? Nowhere?

 

[eochaid]

Based on this, he himself isn't saying they returned to form. He's saying people still go into the album hoping it is.

Did I suggest something different?

 

[krofius]

where did they say this? Nowhere?

Interview, don't remember which one, a recent one I think. Anders said Björn did his thing and he didn't want to interfere cause he knows Björn comes up with good stuff. He said he visited Björns place 1-2 times during the time he wrote stuff, then they went to LA together and started to create ''full'' songs as in the demo tracks, whereas Niclas joined in the end and composed some stuff too. So Peter was the only guy not involved in the songwriting progress at all pretty much.

 

[eochaid]

Interview, don't remember which one, a recent one I think. Anders said Björn did his thing and he didn't want to interfere cause he knows Björn comes up with good stuff. He said he visited Björns place 1-2 times during the time he wrote stuff, then they went to LA together and started to create ''full'' songs as in the demo tracks, whereas Niclas joined in the end and composed some stuff too. So Peter was the only guy not involved in the songwriting progress at all pretty much.

Lets see. First the producer says:
"They spent a lot of time writing this record. And we decided that we were gonna focus mostly on the songwriting and then the studio stuff would be pretty easy to do once the writing was done. So they were really open-minded to really, really putting the time in. But they were working literally the entire weekend, 24-7, writing material. So when they'd come back. I would always be, 'Wow! There's three more songs,' or 'two more new songs.' That was really… I've gotta give the band a lot of credit for that."

Then Anders says:
"We worked two and a half weeks making demos before we started recording, and we showed him the material."

"We wrote whole songs, made demos, recorded vocals, did everything, basically, and that's something we hadn't done in the past either. We usually do music first and vocals way later and then we meet in the mix. But now we had to create the whole thing, so he could get a feeling."

From which you conclude that:
"Björn wrote most of the guitars by himself before they went to LA and created the demo tracks."

So Anders said that Bjorn did his thing and he also said that they created the full album together.

And I'm the one lacking basic reading comprenhesion.

 

[krofius]

I don't know what you are talking about, I just said that the facts I stated was from an earlier interview. I quoted you from that interview when you were insinuating that they are so lazy they just spent 2weeks writing the album.

The foundation of the songs Björn wrote before they got to LA making the demo's. If you remember they had 12 songs planned but then they wrote 2 more while there.

If you think they wrote the entire album from scratch with no previous riffs or song ideas then you are definitely overestimating people.

 

[Jester313]

Did I suggest something different?

I thought you said that the reviewer said it was a return to form, like that's what he thought. I'm pretty sure you did, but maybe you didn't mean to.

 

[eochaid]

That's what I conclude from different interviews that I can quote. You, until know, think that you've read it somewhere but don't know where. And anders said that they wrote the songs together. So, unless you have something different from your opinion I stick to mime.

And no, having some riffs in mind is not writing songs.

 

[eochaid]

I thought you said that the reviewer said it was a return to form, like that's what he thought. I'm pretty sure you did, but maybe you didn't mean to.

No, I quoted him. What I said is that he starts with the usual "they're not melodeath anymore, so deal with it"

 

[TheJestersDoor]

I read though the notes in the back of the lyric booklet, and about half the songs are written by Niclas as well as Anders, Bjorn and Howard. Good to see he finally gets to write stuff for IF.

 

[DE4life]

Their producer helped them write songs? Strange.

Songs I'm mainly going back to at the moment are Before I Fall, Like Sand, Save Me and Us Against the World. The last two have kinda grown on me, even though I initially didn't like them so much.

Wallflower has a really nice part starting at 4:00 and ending at about 5:35.

 

[krofius]

Well in that double Björn & Anders interview, i think, they worked with Howard on some songs a lot and first time they let the producer come with some input and ideas and they ended up liking it. I'm paraphrasing of course but something along those lines.

 

[eochaid]

One of my main concerns, apart from not finding anything "In Flames" is that, anytime that I listen to the songs I have the feeling that I heard something like that before. And this happens to all of the songs.

Then it is, of course, the fact that, though I kight like some bands making music similar to this, specially Raise Against, that's not the music that I prefer to listen most of the time. I'm more into classical metal, especially European metal. Never liked the experiments mixing metal with pop or alt rock and I personally hate nu metal, with the exception of slipknot, a band that I find to be nearer to trash than to nu metal. Fuck, I wouldn't even call korn, linking park or limp bizkit metal.

 

[Dantess9226]

Hey guys, good to see some familiar faces still frequenting here! I remember chatting with DE4life, Krofius and A88 (I see you're still waving the anti-Bottled flag!) back before SOAPF was released.

So I got the new record.

To be honest I hated Siren Charm's upon release, but have since grown to really appreciate it. Especially tracks 1 through 7. I think my love for prog rock and rock in general lent itself to having the record grow on me.

I'm not sure whether Battles can grow on me though. The lyrics are really wearisome to me, and Anders' vocals frustrate me more than I thought they would. I think it's just the combination of the lyrics and vocal melodies. And the gang/chant vox. I can't even express how much I hate those!

The record really does sound like it was written in a couple of days.

Some positives; Wallflower is great, just shows that when the band take the songwriting outside of the "3 minute pop-metal" formula they can actually do something interesting and creative. It's just a shame this is one track out of a whole album. I also enjoy some of the more alt-y parts of tracks, I think somebody else picked up on the Depeche Mode feel?

For me Siren Charms was overall more memorable and packed more punch. Weakest IF record since A Sense of Purpose.

 

[Midas]

This album suffers a bit from R2R syndrome, where a lot of the nice guitar melodies are buried in the mix. You can hear them easier in Battles than R2R, but you're stil left wondering they aren't higher in the mix.

Any song in particular?

 

[krofius]

One of my main concerns, apart from not finding anything "In Flames" is that, anytime that I listen to the songs I have the feeling that I heard something like that before. And this happens to all of the songs.

Then it is, of course, the fact that, though I kight like some bands making music similar to this, specially Raise Against, that's not the music that I prefer to listen most of the time. I'm more into classical metal, especially European metal. Never liked the experiments mixing metal with pop or alt rock and I personally hate nu metal, with the exception of slipknot, a band that I find to be nearer to trash than to nu metal. Fuck, I wouldn't even call korn, linking park or limp bizkit metal.

I don't know in anyway how Battles could be perceived as being similar to Rise Against. Link me the songs in mind that are similar. I think Battles although obviously much more accessible music, still sounds fresh in a way, since it's In Flames releasing it. It still has a ''unique'' In Flames vibe, at least in my opinion. I can see the comparison to bands in the sense of the music being more modern and accessible, but soundwise I still haven't really found any bands that sound similar to In Flames (any era of IF).

 

[eochaid]

I don't know in anyway how Battles could be perceived as being similar to Rise Against. Link me the songs in mind that are similar. I think Battles although obviously much more accessible music, still sounds fresh in a way, since it's In Flames releasing it. It still has a ''unique'' In Flames vibe, at least in my opinion. I can see the comparison to bands in the sense of the music being more modern and accessible, but soundwise I still haven't really found any bands that sound similar to In Flames (any era of IF).

I think it depends on the music that people listens at. Definitely the last two songs, then Battles at some points and other songs here and there.

BUt this album, I don't find that unique vibe. It sounds as if they're trying to be other bands. Picking pieces here and there and joining them together. The only IF that I recognize is when they copy older riffs into the new songs.

No, I don't see In Flames anywhere on this album.

 

[ciko_gfb]

So after a few days, what's your opinion on the album guys? Some songs grew on me (Drained, Greatest Greed, Us Against The World), some songs I still dont like (Battles, Here Until Forever) and some songs that I dont know what to think about (The Truth, Wallflower). I love this happy sound on this album. It's more fun to listen. Better from the SC yet not on SOAPF level. (Except for 4-5 songs)

 

[only4theweak187]

After more time to digest... Conclusively, Battles is an alternative/hard rock hybrid album... With more screams. You can barely recognize it as In Flames, only for a few seconds at a time (In My Room/The End/Here Until Forever main riffs)

I like several songs. More replayability for me than any song off of Siren Charms. Which is major, because I seriously don't listen to ONE song from SC ever, anymore. But, Battles is nowhere near the calibre of music IF are capable of, I believe we can all agree. It's also a compliment to the band, by the way, as some bands can ONLY ever reach this level of standard, more generic hard rock/radio metal. Its a compliment because it means this is child's play compared to the more complex epicness they could produce.

I'm not sure what the music I believe IF could make would sound like, though. Yet I'd say almost everyone here unanimously says they are certainly capable of achieving it.

Any thoughts on what material current IF are capable of creating would sound like?

We always talk about it but never go in depth...

 

[galvanized]

This album is better than I expected. Far better than SC. There are quite a few cool guitar parts and decent solo parts around. Anders vocals DO sound the strongest they've ever been. Could he pull them off live? Dunno. But yeah, the middle of the album is very solid to me, maybe the first half.

My top picks:

Before I Fall - Current favorite. Solid composition, cool melodies. Good use of electronics. I like how when the solo ends the song drives forward even harder instead of falling straight back to chorus. Its solidness and good use of electronics reminds me of Where the Dead Ships Dwell, fav song on SOAPF.

In My Room - Weak sounding title and maybe terrible lyrics??? (Is he saying "and sucks to drive"?) But another solid composition musically and this time they gave the solo more room. They came through a second time to harmonize. Thumbs up.

The Truth - I still like it. I don't really see why everyone is so repulsed. Other songs are worse going all the way back to RTR. Solo sounds good.

Underneath My Skin - great
Drained - pretty good
The End - good but suffers from "single syndrome" (overplayed, lots of baggage as we've cast years of judgement onto this first new song)

Not Really Feeling Yet:
Battles
Here Until Forever - want to like it but chorus is boring. Might grow on me.
Through My Eyes - hate the shitty wannabe hard verse
Save Me - love the verse but do not like chorus. Might grow on me.
Like Sand - Hearing this just makes me want to listen to All For Me which I like better.

Haven't listened much yet:
Wallflower
Greatest Greed - engel sounding intro definitely
Us Against the World