In Flames New Album being released in Q2 of 2014 thread

[Jester Slave]

If it's true that Jesper wrote (then deleted) such a statement, he should really sit down and think a bit. Let's suppose they departed on terrible terms... so what? Would telling to every interviewer "...then we cursed each others' families for thirty minutes, Jesper threw bottles at us, we threw out his equipment, then we fought a little bit more" be helpful to anyone? No one does that. It might be a hypocrite thing to say that they were veeeeeery good friends, and it was Jesper who probably wanted to left, but throwing dirt around via the media has never helped anyone. It would be terrible PR to In Flames AND to Jesper as well, because let's be honest, if only Anders and co. were huge jackasses, Jesper would have nothing to fear, he could just tell everyone the honest truth. Obviously he doesn't do that because he doesn't want to be reminded what he might leave out of the story.

Or, alternatively, he is the most kind-hearted (and frankly, stupid) guy on Earth, who's swallowing these lies for ~4 years now, holding his back to the people who betrayed him. Jeez, he should really decide on his stance on the whole thing. It's obvious that the IF guys are going with the same neutral story every time, whether they are lying or if they are actually not destroying Jesper's reputatation, it's something we will never know. But Jesper puts up his happy face with SC in his hands, then now he wanted to throw a tantrum, because Anders said the same exact things about him he (and the other band members) have been saying since he left? Hell, at least he did not bring up his alcoholism now, so I just don't understand the dude. Move on, he has another project, focus on that, show the people what's "real music", or write some long-ass wall of text where he explains everything, once and for all.

"Adults."

edit: or register to this board and join in on the never ending battle here

 

[DE4life]

If it's true that Jesper wrote (then deleted) such a statement, he should really sit down and think a bit. Let's suppose they departed on terrible terms... so what? Would telling to every interviewer "...then we cursed each others' families for thirty minutes, Jesper threw bottles at us, we threw out his equipment, then we fought a little bit more" be helpful to anyone? No one does that. It might be a hypocrite thing to say that they were veeeeeery good friends, and it was Jesper who probably wanted to left, but throwing dirt around via the media has never helped anyone. It would be terrible PR to In Flames AND to Jesper as well, because let's be honest, if only Anders and co. were huge jackasses, Jesper would have nothing to fear, he could just tell everyone the honest truth. Obviously he doesn't do that because he doesn't want to be reminded what he might leave out of the story.

Or, alternatively, he is the most kind-hearted (and frankly, stupid) guy on Earth, who's swallowing these lies for ~4 years now, holding his back to the people who betrayed him. Jeez, he should really decide on his stance on the whole thing. It's obvious that the IF guys are going with the same neutral story every time, whether they are lying or if they are actually not destroying Jesper's reputatation, it's something we will never know. But Jesper puts up his happy face with SC in his hands, then now he wanted to throw a tantrum, because Anders said the same exact things about him he (and the other band members) have been saying since he left? Hell, at least he did not bring up his alcoholism now, so I just don't understand the dude. Move on, he has another project, focus on that, show the people what's "real music", or write some long-ass wall of text where he explains everything, once and for all.

"Adults."

edit: or register to this board and join in on the never ending battle here

The fact he deleted the post surely suggests he has sat down and thought about it, and realised it wasn't worth it?

Bjorn knows about this place, no idea if Jesper or any of the others do though.

 

[Jester Slave]

But I think you can't. Taste is somethin inherent to the person. I can't even tell why I like IF or the music I like, I can't tell why I like the food I like, execp for there is part of me. There's is not something that I learnt, is something that just came, and I think is so for the most people, since you can't learn your tastes.

This is true; it's pretty much boils down to what makes you resonate with the music. In primary school (and early secondary) there was the club music vs rock music "war", so we refused to listen to the other genre, because "it's shit because it sucks balls". But I can't help liking the mainstream club musics, with their disgustingly simple, yet catchy hooks.

But I believe discussing music (even tastes) is still not pointless, because there are things you can answer. We already had a discussion/debate on vocal-driven vs. music-driven melody, which is one of the main difference between old IF and cool IF.

The fact he deleted the post surely suggests he has sat down and thought about it, and realised it wasn't worth it?

Bjorn knows about this place, no idea if Jesper or any of the others do though.

Obviously, but he needs to sit for a bit longer, and make up his mind once and for all, otherwise he might just flip out reading the next generic interview again. Eventually he will look pretty silly if he keeps firing shots years after his departure without not backing it up with anything.

 

[ciko_gfb]

Obviously, but he needs to sit for a bit longer, and make up his mind once and for all, otherwise he might just flip out reading the next generic interview again. Eventually he will look pretty silly if he keeps firing shots years after his departure without not backing it up with anything.

Actually I'm totally agree with you. Jesper should make his mind about his decision. First he says that he left because addiction, than he says addiction was very little part of it. He smiles while he has SC on his arms, than he says he doesnt like IF's musical direction. Weird.

BTW you guys should check this interview.

we never really managed to get along with Anders

http://www.radiometal.com/en/article/jesper-stromblad-leads-the-resistance,116975

 

[only4theweak187]

We already had a discussion/debate on vocal-driven vs. music-driven melody, which is one of the main difference between old IF and cool IF.

Eventually he will look pretty silly if he keeps firing shots years after his departure without not backing it up with anything.

old IF and "cool" IF? Lol.

Idk how Jesper would look silly "without not backing it up with anything(wat?) when "firing shots" just because one particular sentence Anders said pissed him off.

Sometimes if someone says an opinion about you (Honestly I don't think he wanted to be in the band anymore) publicly your knee-jerk reaction if you don't agree might be to react negatively. It happens, then he deleted it because he cooled down and thought more clearly about it after.


From an interview Jesper did:

"OK, but actually Anders Fridén stated in an interview that his relationship with you wasn’t going well. Does this mean that your departure wasn’t just for the reasons you just gave me?

- No, I’d say it’s the official reason, but it was also because I was done with where the band was going and where it took me, both musically and personally. I’ve got a lot of experience touring around the world, but yeah, we never really managed to get along with Anders and when I feel that I have to go to the studio and feel forced to write stuff, then it’s time to move on. That’s the main reason I quit. I would have quit anyway, even if I didn’t have drinking problems or whatever. It’s just everything summed up, it was too much for me. I needed to take a step back and get my passion for music back, because music had always been my driving force, it’s never been fame or money. I just want to play music in a band I really love and that’s what I do right now, so I’m super happy with the situation. "

He didn't say he hates it, not in this interview nor his facebook post earlier this year simply stating he didn't care for the direction IF are going in.

Now, it's interesting to say "we never really managed to get along with Anders". Not to mention talk of not being able to just capture the essence/vibe in the moment of recording songs where instead they wanted to keep doing reproduction and polishing stuff.

 

[Jester Slave]

"Cool IF" was just a joke. Yeah, I did not see this interview until ciko did not post it earlier, it is really interesting. But damn, if you keep bitching about the same thing over and over again you do look ridiculous. What did Anders say now that made him talk about karma (rofl)? Seriously, it's like lava: everyone's avoiding it, and just keep dancing around it.

Anyway, as for not getting along, Jesper surely has a lot of followers because it sounds really mean that Anders made the CREATOR of the band leave, but how much credit does that title hold? It varies from band to band. Marilyn Manson will never leave the band Marilyn Manson, right? But Jesper was not IF by any means, he really was "just" a band member. It probably boils down to one's personality as well. If he wanted to, he could've been IF, the rockstar, the leading force, but he wasn't. You can't even find interviews from him, even though - if I'm correct - he speaks English. Now Anders was probably a nobody when he got recruited by IF, a young folk eager to make some music. Someone else written the lyrics for him, they sent him into the booth to growl and he did just that. Cut out the vocals from TJR and no one would bat an eye. Or hire some homeless to growl it up, who cares?
Now, Anders is obviously a different personality, than Jesper. As you can read from the interview, Jesper just wanted to go into the studio, play some fast, aggressive music and be done with it. Simple, but respectable ambitions. Anders - for better or worse - is creative, and he wanted to push the limits. Even the vocal progression from TJR to Colony is noticeable, and while people are naming R2R as the beginning of their fall, Anders said in an interview they had a really bad time during recording Clayman, because they had creative differences with the studio, aka if it was up to them, Clayman might've been what R2R became. Anyway, you either tell Anders to get the fuck out of YOUR band as soon as he shows any signs of creative force, or you let him have his way, which is ultimately giving up power. No, he wasn't the Marilyn Manson of Marilyn Manson, IF remained pretty democratic towards the public eye, and I suppose it's the case with most metal bands, but once you are at Come Clarity, you can't just say "dude, I changed my mind, I want to continue on the MDM route, sorry, you are fired". In hindsight, we can say that Anders propelled IF to the fame they have today, and it's not kindergarten to say "oh yes, but I created the band, so everything is thanks to me, nananana!!!". IF probably reached the state - god knows when - when the band became polarized, but Anders couldn't fire Jesper, nor Jesper Anders. Hell, they might did not even want to. You only accumulate the shittiest relationships with certain people if once you were close, so I think (thinking back to the dozens of interviews I watched, where Anders was really torn, speaking about Jesper and his departure) both of them felt shit, like a bad marriage. Yeah, we had an amazing time, yeah we had children, yeah we remember the silly things, but right now, if we did not have these ties, we'd just say "get out!" to each other. But they could not, and since Jesper was apparently outnumbered by his opinion - also, his personality falters against Anders' -, he eventually broke, but not before ruining (not blaming him, don't get me wrong) the mood in the band. It sucked for the ones who agreed with Jesper, sucked for the ones who agreed with Anders, and sucked for the ones who just wanted to be in an environment, where people have fun, and not giving each other the death stare.

Given this, the hate towards Anders is not surprising. He is the satan, who ruined your (talking in general) precious band and made poor Jesper leave, fuck him! On the hand, I really don't have anything to be mad at Jesper for. I wish he'd still enjoy playing with the others, I wish he once returns (no way), and that's all. I'm grateful for Anders' ambitions, without him I'd have to miss out on such an amazing band as IF, and I'd probably never listened to their MDM stuff if it weren't for their newer ones. If they had 30 TJRs I really couldn't care less to eat through their catalog, while others would still scream at the front rows during their shows, instead of spamming their facebook with spamming shit. That's how it is, but if you think about it, people who dare to get shit done are the ones in the spotlight. No one cares what random bassist #4 in some average metal band does, and no one blames him for anything.

(Just to clear it up, I'm not taking sides, it's just annoying to read people crying for Jesper, when he had the power to avoid it all. If. He. Wanted. To. Dot. Dot. Dot.)

edit: fun fact: it was just yesterday when I read about Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett. Powerful stuff, which shows you the same dilemma IF probably had, except it played out much faster due to Syd's mental problems. But you can read how they wanted to at least have him in the band as a studio member or anything, because they knew he was who started it all, and made everything for them possible, so they did not just say "okay dude, you are useless now, bye", the guy essentially forced them to do it.

 

[A88]

Yeah well, now both old and new IF dudes can do whatever they like.

Sad truth is, we had one excellent band, and now we have two musically insignificant bands.

We'll see what will Jesper release as his solo album.

As for IF, I couldn't care less.

 

[eochaid]

I mean, personally, I would like to challenge the listener a little bit — make them think and not be… almost like I wanna provoke them to a reaction

He must be frustrated with Krofius, Ciko's and JesterSlave lack of reaction.

 

[DE4life]

Unfortunately Jesper's style of music on its own doesn't do much for me. Jesper's old school death metal background + Anders/Bjorn's more melodic leanings are basically what made the In Flames musical style work. Separated Jesper's stuff is too bland and Anders/Bjorn's stuff is too weak. A shitty situation for all concerned.

 

[ciko_gfb]

He must be frustrated with Krofius, Ciko's and JesterSlave lack of reaction.

Well he has a point actually. It is a good thing that he wants to challenge the listeners. Other way, it would be same thing over and over again which that would be boring as fuck.

 

[Jester Slave]

He must be frustrated with Krofius, Ciko's and JesterSlave lack of reaction.

Every IF record since Clayman is pretty much challenging the listener, us included. You couldn't just say "oh, another IF album, good as ever!". I'd definitely wouldn't like a softer album than SC, nor another one just like that.

 

[eochaid]

Oh you liar

 

[krofius]

I've seen some other interviews with Jesper as well saying he didn't really get a long with Anders in the latter years when it came to the music but if he met him on the street they would be really good friends, or something like that. But I've heard Björn say that several times as well, Anders is like in the front, he wants to push the envelope, Björn is kinda in the middle and then Jesper is more in the back, oldschool guy. I mean since The Resistance is what he really wants to do, it's not shocking he left. But remember also that he got tired of the old sound (specifically guitar harmonies) as well, the whole band did, Fredrik Nordström said so himself.

Cool gibson video with Björn/Niclas btw, with Paralyzed instrumental version.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=900019876696145

 

[only4theweak187]

Hopefully they've learned never to "experiment" like they did on this album again.

Anders should be screaming. There should be actual guitar riffs/melodies and the songs should feel complete.

But that's too difficult.

 

[DE4life]

Next album will be worse than this one. I think this is only the beginning of an era which will make STYE and ASOP seem like metal masterpieces in comparison.

 

[only4theweak187]

Next album will be worse than this one. I think this is only the beginning of an era which will make STYE and ASOP seem like metal masterpieces in comparison.

^Unfortunately

 

[eochaid]

No doubt it will be. I like how Andrés unconsciously admist that they take in mind people reactions when making the music.

 

[Jester Slave]

When did he do that? Isn't he saying (almost) the exact opposite?

 

[ciko_gfb]

When did he do that? Isn't he saying (almost) the exact opposite?

He's eochaid, just ignore him.

So here's a new topic. I think the most important thing for IF is Anders's vocals. Thing that made IF special is Anders's vocals. If we had a list for most important thing for IF, 1 would be vocals and then it would be melodies. If we put someone else on Jester Race it wouldnt be good as that. Or any other albums. Yes he could take an album to minus (ASOP), but if he's vocals good than the album becomes greater. Anyone agrees?

 

[Jester Slave]

So here's a new topic. I think the most important thing for IF is Anders's vocals. Thing that made IF special is Anders's vocals. If we had a list for most important thing for IF, 1 would be vocals and then it would be melodies. If we put someone else on Jester Race it wouldnt be good as that. Or any other albums. Yes he could take an album to minus (ASOP), but if he's vocals good than the album becomes greater. Anyone agrees?

http://imgur.com/rNbbjzy

To give a short answer, the best thing in IF was most probably what our Bottled-lover friend here said about the mixture of musical orientations from the Jesper-Anders-Björn trio.

What did Anders do on TJR exactly? It sucks to be honest. The singer in subterranean was million times better than Anders on TJR. You listened to Skydancer? Do it, if you did not yet. That has got to be the shittiest vocal performances I heard, and yes, I listened to Rebecca Black's Friday.
On TJR he played it safe. Let me present Moonshield with Anders: "waaah wah wah, wah wah wah wahwah". Now let me present how it would sound if they dragged in some hobo for the streets to do it: "waah wah wah, wah wah wah wahwah". Sure, it sounds nice, I mean it's a pretty melody, but it's all about the music. Not to mention the songs where the growls doesn't even have much melody in them. They are empty as fuck, unless you are reaaaallly into that stuff, but even then, the MDM scene had to be a really sad one if Anders' growls on TJR were to be called remarkable.

It's much better on Whoracle and Colony, but it doesn't have that trademark Anders feel to it which surfaced on Clayman first. When he actually plays around his voice, it's like a beautiful imperfection. You know, that cute girl who has a mole on her face. It's a degeneration, and I'm sure a lot of girl are less attractive by it, but that particular one is a 100 times more sexy thanks to it. That's how I see Anders' power as a vocalist, and songs like Crawl Through Knives, Vacuum, Leeches, The Quiet Place etc. are good examples. I love when his voice cracks, and he's a smart man, because he recognized it's appeal and used it a lot IF songs. Crawl Through Knives is heavy, angry, soft and fragile in one. It's just so cool and makes the song really interesting. Now, that's when I'd say it's challenging the audience, but you are not sure if you are listening to some great metal, some gay singer who whines about the sky, or something entirely else.

But let's look a song I reaaally like in almost every aspect from the old catalog - and is not that mainstream -, which is Worlds Within The Margin. Now, that song is growl all over (yeah, there's the talk, but come on...), but it works. It has a nice flow, a nice melody, and the synth compelemnts the singing so fucking good. Do I want an album full of songs like that? Hell no, even that'd be boring (unlike an album full of Crawl Through Knives, hello Come Clarity!), but a song with full growls, full screams or full cleans can be amazing, just not an entire album, especially not many in a row, at least not from a vocal standpoint. Do we like Episode 666 because Anders' yells THIS IS EPISODE 666? Well, it's certainly not the highlight of the song for me. The guitar kills it, hands down.

Anders' vocals on later records definitely played a key part in international success, but I equally love that music itself as well. What I think is really important here is the DRIVE to experiment with things, and if it was mainly Anders who urged his bandmates to that direction, then yes, probably he is the most important "thing" in the band's history, but given that their early records were heavily carried by the guitarists, while ANders tried to be either not annoying (but irrelevant) or decent (which is not enough to win this vote), an arguement could be made that without those kick-ass melodies he'd never had the luxury to say "hey guys, let's try something new, shall we?".

I also noticed almost everyone here likes his lyrical talent, so let's not forget that either.