IN FLAMES new album being released on 1st March, 2019

[A88]

- Voices - 6/10

Intro starts quite good then riff kicks in. Not a bad riff, but it sounds like they merged two unrelated ideas into one song (intro+verse riff, funny enough intro melody follows the same pattern as I, the Mask main riff). On its own, verse is just fine, but then we get another generic chorus. 3.00 mark and we have an annoying SC ripoff (can't bother finding the actual song). Generic solo, nothing to see/hear there. Another chorus and another weird vocal "performance" from hipster-hamster.

If there was a connection between intro and verse, the first two minutes of the song would have been quite decent. That's all.

- I, the Mask - 3/10

Wow, they've actually managed to repeat the shitty riffage AND shitty vocals from ASOP (yup, that's oldskull for all ya people). Cool little bridge around 20 seconds mark, and we're back in the mud. Embarrassing chorus (remember those cheesy autotune emo bands around year 2010...), shit repeats few times, some weird riffs (Look at us, we are still heavy. See?). Another generic solo which solidifies Bjorn on throne as one of the most boring lead guitarists of modern age. Give me a Sig-g-g-g-g-N, ugh (goes straight into top 10 most embarrassing IF moments). Shit repeats, lame version of Disconnected ends.

Must say this is the first time ever I've struggled to stay interested enough to listen the new, leaked IF song all the way to the end.

 

[DE4life]

Another generic solo which solidifies Bjorn on throne as one of the most boring lead guitarists of modern age.

I'm pretty sure if you took a compilation of Bjorn's solos from the last two albums (plus this one when it's released) it would be very difficult to place at least 50% of them in their respective song, as his solos all sound so generic and uninspired. I wonder if he had somebody else write the solos for him on SOAPF? Title track solo still comes into my head instantly when I think about it. Can't say that for any song post-SOAPF.

 

[A88]

50%? More like 80%.

He does the same thing every time. And he is dialing in the same ugly, thin tone since 2011.

Bjorn and his uninspired performance aside. Did they even bother to record bass guitar for this album at all? Also, drummer is absofuckinlutely terrible and robot-like. I've heard GuitarPro drum tracks with more feeling and purpose.

 

[InWaves]

Well you can hear the bass at 3:00 on Voices.

 

[krofius]

After first listen of both tracks there's some positives and some negatives for me.

The Mask:
I really like the aggressiveness of the verses, and that part at 20seconds is really fucking good, the lead guitar with probably the fastest double bass drums I've heard IF do since like Clayman/R2R. But I don't like the chorus, the lyric where he sings ''so many faces'' the tone doesn't fit IMO, it's clearly pitched/autotuned a bit and I think it takes away instead of adding anything. I thought the solo was pretty good, although a bit short, which sadly has been a thing for IF, it's usually shorter similar sounding solos.

Voices:
Pretty cool intro, the starting riff reminds me a bit of Drenched in Fear, verse good, really cool vocal part at 1:36-1:48, chorus decent, bridge then the short solo decent but not overly memorable.

All in all, after first listen I think it's the best screams/growls I've heard in a while from Anders, sounds very powerful and it's nice to finally hear him add a bunch of growls on a album instead of only live. Verses and riffs accompanied by the vocals sound more aggressive than in a couple albums, but the choruses so far does have somewhat of a Battles vibe which in my eyes isn't the best thing in the world.
Only heard 4 songs so far but I'm already certain I'll like it better than Battles unless the rest of the songs are all power ballads. The riffs seems better and the vocals as well, especially the screams. They also seem to try out some different stuff in the songs instead of just verse-chorus-verse-chorus. But it's clearly not going to be an album I'm gonna spin a lot for a long time, maybe when it's released but it's not going to be one of those albums I listen to for years regularly. It's kinda weird though, on IF's songs it's usually always been the chorus that's the highlight of the songs and the verses weren't always so memorable. But now it's the opposite, the choruses are the weakest point on most songs. If there was better choruses It'd make the songs so much better.

 

[DE4life]

The riffs only sound a bit better because they're practically all stolen from better songs from their past albums

 

[Vermyn]

Sarcasm?

A little bit yes. Lol.

 

[Ilias7]

Well, I enjoyed more I, The Mask than Voices.

Voices: I like the intro a lot, but I cannot ignore the fact that the main riff is similar to Borders and Shading. Verses are pretty interesting, but the chorus is mediocre. Generic solo. Good thing they went for a longer song than usual. 6/10

I, The Mask: I like the energy in the whole song...it is heavy and up-tempo. Verses do remind me of Disconnected or Through My Eyes, but in a good way...it gives me a ASOP vibe, but it's not a rip off. Pre-Chorus and chorus are highlights, I like the constant transition from melodic to heavy vocals and backwards. I used to like the bridge, but Slave ruin it for me...he is right, I can sing in my head the bridge from I'm The Highway while listening to it. Finally, I find the solo beautiful, but it could be like 10 seconds longer. 7/10

I had to listen to I, The Mask and Voices more than 2 times in order to comprehend every aspect of them and that's something rare with the latest In Flames.
IAA is still the best from the songs so far ( 8.5/10) and House the worst ( 3/10 ).

I may change my mind about these songs until the album is released...

 

[krofius]

Well I wouldn't call it stolen since it's their own songs and it's not a blatant ripoff, it's just similar, which isn't that unnatural since it's the same guy writing the riffs.

 

[DE4life]

When you have people able to come up with the songs they know those riffs from in minutes then clearly they are pretty similar even if they aren't total rip offs.

The point remains if you're just using your past riffs because you're out of ideas creatively, why are you writing a new album?

 

[krofius]

Well they're definitely not stealing the choruses from earlier albums LUL

 

[eochaid]

Both forgettable songs. Theybhave no value. They add no value. It's not just the similarities between riffs. It's Bjorn taking a riff and slightly changing it to create a new song. That's lazyness or lack of ideas. I agree with you. They need to stop releasing albums. They can write a song from time to time and try to be creative. But this... This is bulshit.

 

[eochaid]

Well they're definitely not stealing the choruses from earlier albums LUL

No, they did not. But they're pretty similar to some songs from battles. I think that the extra tracks.

 

[Ilias7]

Give me a Sig-g-g-g-g-N, ugh (goes straight into top 10 most embarrassing IF moments)

It's tolerable.I want the whole wo-wo-wo-world was much worse.

 

[DE4life]

Well they're definitely not stealing the choruses from earlier albums LUL

Choruses sound exactly like the shit on Battles. Anders crooning on autotune, trying to "sing" way beyond his natural ability. At least on SOAPF the actual vocal melodies were quite catchy even if the quality of those vocals were so-so. Now the melodies are forgettable and the vocals are autotuned to hell and still sound shit. Double fail.

 

[krofius]

Do you honestly think Björn is purposefully listening to ASOP and listening to I'm The Highway and thinking ''Wow I should take this riff and use it in I Am Above''? I don't believe you actually think Björn is taking riffs and writing new songs with that riff and just ''changing it''. That's just retarded.
I do agree that the songs aren't anything special though.

Choruses sound exactly like the shit on Battles. Anders crooning on autotune, trying to "sing" way beyond his natural ability. At least on SOAPF the actual vocal melodies were quite catchy even if the quality of those vocals were so-so. Now the melodies are forgettable and the vocals are autotuned to hell and still sound shit. Double fail.

That was my point, they aren't stealing older (not as in old In Flames) good choruses since these new ones are bad.

 

[DE4life]

I think Bjorn is just out of ideas. Has been since SOAPF.

 

[Ilias7]

Björn probably didn't even notice that he wrote similar riffs with older songs, which are not even played live anymore.

 

[eochaid]

Do you honestly think Björn is purposefully listening to ASOP and listening to I'm The Highway and thinking ''Wow I should take this riff and use it in I Am Above''? I don't believe you actually think Björn is taking riffs and writing new songs with that riff and just ''changing it''. That's just retarded.

On purpose? No. Does he know that they're pretty similar? If he doesn't then he's stupid. If he does then he's dishonest.

 

[eochaid]

Björn probably didn't even notice that he wrote similar riffs with older songs, which are not even played live anymore.

He does not know his own music?