Slave, he just made a set list he'd like to see.
He wasn't factoring in current IF's live tendencies.
Also. Zombie Inc's solo is great. Just like the rest of the album.
Very unlikely, as he did not even gave Battles a 5 out of 10, yet he put there 3 songs from it. And you can't even counter this by saying he wanted the setlist to be a plausible one, because he just threw a bunch of songs from TJR there. IF playing even 1 song from the TJR/Subt/LS trio is wishful thinking on its own.
Yes, the solo on the record is hands down amazing, but this... this is a rollercoaster. It's like you winning the lottery, but then you remember you burned the ticket, then you get a call, your parents were murdered, but your wife calls, she went into labour, then you get hit by a bus on your way to the hospital, but you remember you have an awesome health insurance, but then you remember you are American, so you can't have an awesome health insurance, but at the very end you were drunk the whole time so you don't really care. That's my summary of that solo from the vid.
Just listened to Scorn again and reaffirmed my love for it. It's fast paced, awesome leads, fantastic solo, great vocals that get downright brutal. 10/10 for sure. If I heard this live I would go crazy, hard to believe others wouldn't.
As for Goliaths Disarm their Davids, it was an EP between TJR and Whoracle but in the same year as Whoracle came out. I have the stand alone Black Ash Inheritance EP but if this was on TJR as a bonus I'm not surprised it stood out. Production is more similar to Whoracle but lacks the power of Whoracle (I say that in a non-disparaging way). If they put it on Whoracle it would sound weak. It stands alone.
Why is Goliaths so great? It's like the missing link between TJR and Whoracle. Like Whoracle in that it had more expansive production, a bigger and clearer lead guitar and solo tone and style. They gave the vocals more room in the mix where Anders' extreme vocals have now reached their full brutality without any of the later fatigue. (Like they said in that Wiki video they only did something like 12 tour dates for TJR plus one-offs).
But it still retains the charm and core musical elements of TJR. The verse and chorus riffs are simtaneously rhythmic and melodic in a way only In Flames could ever pull off. The song maintains its composure, never rushing, well-paced. For example, look at how long that transition is from verse to chorus 1:40 to 1:55 and 2:34 to 2:48 "Eyes, Eyes". Nobody rushed in to add more vocals or leads, they just let the song unfold at its own pace. To me that kind of artistic side defines the TJR era which is maintained here. Lyrics are great too.
Goliaths is a fantastic song 10/10 even ranked on a classic In Flames scale. Again, if I heard this live I would go crazy.
Colony is probably my least listened IF record after LS (not counting the Trigger and TMT EPs, but do counting Subterranean), and it's not even justifiable. The production (or the sounding of the songs) is a million times better than on Clayman and it has a bunch of good songs, but more importantly, it doesn't really have terrible ones.
Now, Goliath on the other hand lacks everything to me. The Jester Race sounds terribly outdated, on many songs the majority of the vocal parts are very bland, and the only saving grace is Anders not butchering them - and he makes Moonshield as great of a song as it is. But they have good ideas, a folky vibe and of course great melodies. But it also has absolutely terrible songs like Graveland, and in many ways, the whole record sounds primitive. Dead Eternity is a good example. That song is a bomb (=very good), but goddamn, some parts feel like they were just an afterthought. "Yeah, yeah, this is good, but what if we added this part to it too??" - reminds me of Skydancer, where the randomest shit can happen during songs.
Now, Whoracle is easily my favorite from the LS-Clayman discography; it has that LS/Subt/TJR aggression, but opens up to new stuff like Colony/Clayman. Anders sounds fucking great, plays with his voice oh so much more, the guitars are ripping ass, decent drums (okay, Colony and CC has the best drum settings for my ears), nice synths, still great solos, aaahh, I might even buy that record eventually, it's that good! The only song I am unable to get into is The Hive, which they still play for some reason.
Anyway, my point is that Goliaths are none of this. It's extremely far from Whoracle, but lacks that cool, experimenting vibe of TJR. It's just literally a... song. To me, it's most similar to Dead God In Me. I don't like that song at all, but it has some nice parts, some nice melodies, like the part that starts after 1:25. I have no idea what that style is, as half of TJR is a mystery to me, but it's kinda cool.
I like the intro for Goliath, that's actually Whoracle-ish now that you mentioned. That 30 seconds or so is promising, and it's still not too bad until Anders opens his mouth and the music changes with it as well. I guess if you get hooked on that one guitar melody it can be enjoyable. Now that I listen to it again, it's not shit, it's just rather boring and played very safe considering what they were doing on TJR and Whoracle.
