Play it loudly. Way too much high-end. It's awful mixing.
After listening to the album twice I can unequivocally state that it is a pile of junk. I even went back and listened to SOAPF for the first time in a while, after Clayman shit his pants and yelled at me in the other thread (I wonder which came first, the pants shitting or the yelling?). SOAPF is still an awful album for a band of In Flames caliber but it is way fucking better than Siren Charms. God Damn this is a horrible record.
I like it when bands stick to their roots. You can still stick to your roots and evolve/progress at the same time. Many bands do/have done it: Nevermore, At The Gates, Threshold, Decapitation, Lunar Aurora, Omnium Gatherum (to name a few from various genres). So the argument that 'bands change and that's that' does not hold. There was a recent interview with Bravewords/ATG and Tompa put it nicely:
BraveWords: So how would you describe this album to fans that are chomping at the bit to hear this!
Anders: “It lands in some kind of familiarity with the old At The Gates, with a fresh costume.”
Tomas: “When Anders says it is a fresh costume, it’s not like it’s nu-metal. There’s no cleaning singing on the album.”
BraveWords: The production is sick. Talk about working with Fredrik Nordström at Studio Fredman (In Flames, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir) and then with Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios (Opeth, Amon Amarth, Kreator)
Tomas: “We were very meticulous. Me and Anders were actually finished with the whole writing process - music and lyrics - in January. It was just details from then on and we went into he studio in June, so you can imagine what kind of detail went on for that long. But I would say for the money grab thing - I’m still holding onto that question - it would be easy to do another Slaughter Of The Soul, but have a little bit more melody on the choruses. That would be a money grab, right? It’s darker, almost more evil. The heavier parts are heavier, the faster parts are faster.
I mean that speaks for itself. Any bands with an ounce of integrity would say the same thing and everyone here knows it.
The interviewer also asked Tompa a great question and one I have been pondering for a while now: he asked whether the band was trying to make an album at least as good as Surgical Steel (which is probably the best extreme metal record of the past 2 or maybe 3 years). And you know what he said? His answer floored me. Here is the exchange:
BraveWords: Of course you are fans of this genre as well, so were you paying attention to the Carcass record? The Black Sabbath record? I can see it in your faces that you knew this had to be as good as the Carcass record. Right? Artistic failure was not an option…
Anders: “Our aim was higher.”
How fucking awesome is that to hear? Bands that still have competitive juices flowing. Can you imagine how hard they must have worked to TOP SS? Even better is the fact that they want to! So much better for everyone when there's competition. Bands progress as musicians and writers (WHILE sticking to their sound) and fans get rewarded with better music.
ffs.
