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

[ThePhobiac]

Dude I am on the shores of time right now.

I suppose this is another “All For Me” scenario where, to me, that song is great and I hear zero drop in quality when it comes on after “Deliver Us”, but most people feel differently. Can’t say I get it, but that’s alright.

 

[DE4life]

There's no way that cmn is the weakest track. Anders cannot sing it and the chorus is weird. But there are worse songs than this one.

For me it was a comparison between Burn and CMN, not the whole record.

Dude I am on the shores of time right now.

I suppose this is another “All For Me” scenario where, to me, that song is great and I hear zero drop in quality when it comes on after “Deliver Us”, but most people feel differently. Can’t say I get it, but that’s alright.

Nah, me and A88 are pretty much on our own when it comes to All For Me. Everyone else on here loves it.

 

[eochaid]

“House” is fine. It’s dumb fun. I put it in the same category as “World of Promises” in that I don’t take it very seriously. But it should’ve been a bonus track like WoP so I could just disregard it as necessary.

I don't understand how anyone can say something positive about house. And yes, saying that it's fine is saying something positive.

 

[eochaid]

Nah, me and A88 are pretty much on our own when it comes to All For Me. Everyone else on here loves it.

I don't love it or hate it. It's a whatever song.

 

[ThePhobiac]

I don't understand how anyone can say something positive about house. And yes, saying that it's fine is saying something positive.

I’m saying it in a dismissive “yeah yeah it’s fine” way. It’s not IF’s worst song, and on a basic, basic level, I somewhat enjoy it. Kind of like how I enjoy “Shitload of Money” by Sonata Arctica, which is bad and a joke but I kind of like it for whatever reason.

 

[DE4life]

Going forward I'll likely erase Call My Name, House & In This Life. I'll then be able to listen to the album in full without skipping tracks.

 

[eochaid]

I don't think that follow me or all the pain are any good...

 

[galvanized]

Going forward I'll likely erase Call My Name, House & In This Life. I'll then be able to listen to the album in full without skipping tracks.

Early impressions here but In This Life is really interesting to me. I won’t delete that. And House as well. If I were to delete stuff it would be in the second half... the songs aren’t totally bad but don’t live up to their initial promise of some of the opening riffs... more to follow later. A lot of them devolve into the same tired generic power chord chorus.

And the middle eastern one... disappointed by the hype on that one. Arch Enemy has a riff in World is Yours (I think) that sounds almost the same and no one called it a middle eastern song. And theirs was much more powerful.

 

[krofius]

Call My Name grew on me a bit, I dig the vocals, the verse vocals reminds me a lot of the yelling style Björn from Soilwork did on Late For the Kill, Early For the Slaughter. All the other power ballads are still boring and I haven't listened a second time to any of them. Not sure if I'm gonna add any songs from the album to my playlist, probably not. It's still better than Battles though because there's some solid aggression in the music on the 3-4 songs I think are okay/good.

 

[DE4life]

Why is Anders asking us to set ourselves on fire in We Will Remember? I guess it's a callback to Stand Ablaze, but it's still a really bizarre line

 

[ThePhobiac]

idk, I’m sick of cycles and I’m bouncing in grey

Spoiler

i have no idea what the fuck that line means, lmao

 

[eochaid]

My opinion is that the most of the times he doesn't have anything to talk about. So he's using those generic lines that he finds cool, don't know why. Its extremely difficult to ceate a background for a song if you spend more time singing the chorus than building the story. And In Flames is now a chorus band. Specially since they changed the way they were working and are now creating the songs together Anders and Bjorn. So both parts resent this constraint. None of them develope the song to its full simce they're both thinking on a generic and general structure that leads them quickly to the chorus.

For real. The chorus cannot be the reason for the song. It just can't.

I feel that I could be enjoying the most metal songs of the album. But the choruses are destroying that enjoyment. I simply cannot stand I the Mask because of this. And, from the new songs, I only find stay with me enjoyable. The rest of them are shit. Shit made by a band tht does not intend to be trending but to follow what's trending.

Voices is a good example. It starts with a good, though not original, riff and rythm. The verses are good and transitions almost excelent. Then the chorus with the vocals that have little to nothing in common with the music behind. Why? That's the question.

 

[Cobra8472]

the verse vocals reminds me a lot of the yelling style Björn from Soilwork did on Late For the Kill, Early For the Slaughter.

Hey, that's what I said. Copycat.

 

[Vjeshta]

Cmon bro, even Vjeshta admitted Call My Name is the weakest track on the record, and dude thinks this is basically modern day Master of Puppets. Ciko, Anders' favourite son, said "BUT THE VOCALS ARE SO DAMN BAD. EVEN THOUGH I'M ANDERS LOVER, I HATE IT."

You're way out on your own with this one. So far that you've drifted beyond the horizon's edge.

Lmaooo... idk what it is man but I can't listen to stuff like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Death, anything that is old im too much of an audiophile the quality really bothers me. I would say that I tend to slightly overrate In Flames but to me they set the standard for what I'm looking for in my music; heavy riffs, catchy hooks, catchy choruses, interesting synth and electronic additions... like i said earlier my musical tastes are very narrow. That being said, @ThePhobiac , Call my Name doesn't even come close to Burn it just reminds me so much of Save Me which might be their worst song ever. He just sings the notes way too high for my liking and the lyrics are kinnda trash...

 

[miniroch]

Ok, so my story so far. TL;DR - it's a step in the right direction, but fuck Howard Benson big time.

Voices - probably most uninvasive autotune out of the "trve metal songz". Sure, it is there, but it doesn't make me want to kill The Hamburger instantly. Sounds heavy, solo is not that bad, Anders' screams are spot on, which is one of the greatest news on that album. Decent lyrics in this one as well. Nice way to start an album, I'll give them that. 7.5 out of 10.

I, The Mask - really love the pace on this one, it's fast, it's aggressive, it can be raw in chorus... yeah, right, the chorus. Fuck Howard Benson. Nasty autotune. Still, not a bad one, and I like the drum section on the second pre-chorus (only one or two times I actually paid attention to drums on this record, lol). Really dig Anders' outro. Overall, I'm ok with it and will probably listen to it once in a while, but it's only a 6.5/10. Shame on you, murican.

Call My Name - what a mess... How on earth there is a two liner of a verse? And the solo tease... God damn it. Big, big shame, since I liked the first verse. Awful autotune, boring chorus, lyrics are forced ("so find... so that...", so what?). 3/10, I don't think I want to listen to it again.

I Am Above - it really grew on me. Lyrics are awful, but I even managed to like the "music video", makes it sound even more angry. Absolutely love the low pitch growl, great job. Fantastic job on screams, I'm a big fan of higher - pitched scream followed by a growl before the Slayer-ish random solo... I like Slayer, so I can excuse Bjorn this one. 8/10 from me. If it wasn't for the Benson's chorus I think it could be easily placed on Come Clarity

Follow Me - I think I will come to terms with it, since it really kind of sounds like Come Clarity part two, but vocals are far, far worse. I've seen CC doesn't get much love in here, but what the hell, I love it. Follow Me could be really good without the usual trick pulled off by our friend Howard. Give me an instrumental version and I will hold it dearly. I was longing for acoustics for so long, plus I like the solo (the best so far?), also great guitar follow-up on lyrics around 3:55 mark). And great outro. Damn, it's a tough one 7/10 at this time, I will probably revisit it hundreds of time. Certainly a keeper, at least until I made my mind.

Children lalala house - not that bad and certainly stays in mind longer than it should. I don't like it on this album, I would accept it on any random EP. I like pre-chorus vocals though, super-robotic but it's a guilty pleasure. 5/10, won't be deleting that one. Get rid of the children.

We Will Remember - wow. It is cheesy, cheap, basic, sounds totally like something Rise Against would do. Did I mention that I like Rise Against?
It felt like I was hit with a big, nostalgic punch and I really, really love it. Too bad chorus is far worse than verses, even worse that after second verse there were no more ideas, so they just kept repeating chorus. It would benefit from being a 3 minute song. But what the hell, I'll set myself on fire. It is my guilty pleasure and I rank it 8 out of 10.

In This Life - you know guys, during this post I was listening to each track as I was ranking it. This one... I don't want to. Fuck this song. Fuck Howard Benson. What the fuck was even that. Absolutely worst song by IF so far. And here I was, hoping for another Take This Life. Absolute disgrace.1/10

Burn - nice way to say "sorry", after putting it right after the ultimate shit IF song. Fast one, catchy chorus, has some good ideas, lyrics fit really well. I absolutely adore mad Anders' during bridge, sounds mad. 8.5/10, this is what I was searching for.

Deep Inside - another good one, with middle eastern theme reminding me of Moonspell's Medusalem. Nice pre-chorus. The chorus itself - who would have guessed - too autotuned, but we are not reaching Save Me levels here, so I can live with it. Another heartbreak from Anders is woeful. I really feel for that guy. I'm in love with acoustic + Anders vocals during bridge. Vocals remind me a little bit "The Attic". That, along with powerful exit, make it a 7.5, could've been great without this Benson fucker.

All The Pain - not really sure on that one. I kind of like it on some level, I hear couple of nice melodies here and there, but chorus sucks big time. Probably would benefit without vocals. Cool outro, I was missing those.
There was no need to make it that long, again. I blame Howard, for he probably forced them. 6/10

Stay With Me -

My absolute favourite. A hidden gem, outstanding way to close the record. It's my Dawn of a New Day two, it's a light in the dark. Phenomenal guitar work, perfect vocals delivery. I cherish hearing every "stay with me" - Anders sounds broken, Anders sounds angry, Anders sounds hopeful. It is haunting. It gives me goosebumps. I think that A88 wrote that he sounds honest, I don't think there is a better way to describe it. And then it unveils, goes with powerful, mad "darkest of nights", just to unfold into the final harsh "stay with me", with a perfect little transition from clean singing to scream. I love every second of that song. Reminds me of the great In Flames and left me speechless when I listened to it for the first time. Lyrics should be much better for that kind of a song, but I don't mind them at all. It is 10/10, with zero fucks given.

Not Alone - it's just good that it is a bonus song, since it's a nice way to ruin the impression left by Stay With Me. I don't hate it, but it's one of worst, or even worst bonus by IF. Not absolutely disgusting, but c'mon, before it was Eraser or Discover Me Like Emptiness Not going to judge that one, probably won't be skipping it, but only time can tell.

Overall - fuck Howard Benson big, big time. It seems like a big step in a truly right direction. For my taste, Bjorn managed to do just well in terms of melodies (not that good with solos), Anders was really fine with verses (not exactly good with lyrics), but the amounts of autotune are way too high. This record could have been something and it truly bothers me. I'll most definitely keep it, I'll come back to it, I'll listen to most of the songs, but I'll never forgive the murican fucker.
If they get rid of him, I believe we might get another SOAPF-level album. Maybe even faster, probably with worse lyrics and even more clean singing. But I'm really cool with Anders' clean, as long as it is him, not MacBook Pro.
7/10. We will remember, Benson. Burn.

 

[DE4life]

Ok, so my story so far. TL;DR - it's a step in the right direction, but fuck Howard Benson big time.

Voices - probably most uninvasive autotune out of the "trve metal songz". Sure, it is there, but it doesn't make me want to kill The Hamburger instantly. Sounds heavy, solo is not that bad, Anders' screams are spot on, which is one of the greatest news on that album. Decent lyrics in this one as well. Nice way to start an album, I'll give them that. 7.5 out of 10.

I, The Mask - really love the pace on this one, it's fast, it's aggressive, it can be raw in chorus... yeah, right, the chorus. Fuck Howard Benson. Nasty autotune. Still, not a bad one, and I like the drum section on the second pre-chorus (only one or two times I actually paid attention to drums on this record, lol). Really dig Anders' outro. Overall, I'm ok with it and will probably listen to it once in a while, but it's only a 6.5/10. Shame on you, murican.

Call My Name - what a mess... How on earth there is a two liner of a verse? And the solo tease... God damn it. Big, big shame, since I liked the first verse. Awful autotune, boring chorus, lyrics are forced ("so find... so that...", so what?). 3/10, I don't think I want to listen to it again.

I Am Above - it really grew on me. Lyrics are awful, but I even managed to like the "music video", makes it sound even more angry. Absolutely love the low pitch growl, great job. Fantastic job on screams, I'm a big fan of higher - pitched scream followed by a growl before the Slayer-ish random solo... I like Slayer, so I can excuse Bjorn this one. 8/10 from me. If it wasn't for the Benson's chorus I think it could be easily placed on Come Clarity

Follow Me - I think I will come to terms with it, since it really kind of sounds like Come Clarity part two, but vocals are far, far worse. I've seen CC doesn't get much love in here, but what the hell, I love it. Follow Me could be really good without the usual trick pulled off by our friend Howard. Give me an instrumental version and I will hold it dearly. I was longing for acoustics for so long, plus I like the solo (the best so far?), also great guitar follow-up on lyrics around 3:55 mark). And great outro. Damn, it's a tough one 7/10 at this time, I will probably revisit it hundreds of time. Certainly a keeper, at least until I made my mind.

Children lalala house - not that bad and certainly stays in mind longer than it should. I don't like it on this album, I would accept it on any random EP. I like pre-chorus vocals though, super-robotic but it's a guilty pleasure. 5/10, won't be deleting that one. Get rid of the children.

We Will Remember - wow. It is cheesy, cheap, basic, sounds totally like something Rise Against would do. Did I mention that I like Rise Against?
It felt like I was hit with a big, nostalgic punch and I really, really love it. Too bad chorus is far worse than verses, even worse that after second verse there were no more ideas, so they just kept repeating chorus. It would benefit from being a 3 minute song. But what the hell, I'll set myself on fire. It is my guilty pleasure and I rank it 8 out of 10.

In This Life - you know guys, during this post I was listening to each track as I was ranking it. This one... I don't want to. Fuck this song. Fuck Howard Benson. What the fuck was even that. Absolutely worst song by IF so far. And here I was, hoping for another Take This Life. Absolute disgrace.1/10

Burn - nice way to say "sorry", after putting it right after the ultimate shit IF song. Fast one, catchy chorus, has some good ideas, lyrics fit really well. I absolutely adore mad Anders' during bridge, sounds mad. 8.5/10, this is what I was searching for.

Deep Inside - another good one, with middle eastern theme reminding me of Moonspell's Medusalem. Nice pre-chorus. The chorus itself - who would have guessed - too autotuned, but we are not reaching Save Me levels here, so I can live with it. Another heartbreak from Anders is woeful. I really feel for that guy. I'm in love with acoustic + Anders vocals during bridge. Vocals remind me a little bit "The Attic". That, along with powerful exit, make it a 7.5, could've been great without this Benson fucker.

All The Pain - not really sure on that one. I kind of like it on some level, I hear couple of nice melodies here and there, but chorus sucks big time. Probably would benefit without vocals. Cool outro, I was missing those.
There was no need to make it that long, again. I blame Howard, for he probably forced them. 6/10

Stay With Me -

My absolute favourite. A hidden gem, outstanding way to close the record. It's my Dawn of a New Day two, it's a light in the dark. Phenomenal guitar work, perfect vocals delivery. I cherish hearing every "stay with me" - Anders sounds broken, Anders sounds angry, Anders sounds hopeful. It is haunting. It gives me goosebumps. I think that A88 wrote that he sounds honest, I don't think there is a better way to describe it. And then it unveils, goes with powerful, mad "darkest of nights", just to unfold into the final harsh "stay with me", with a perfect little transition from clean singing to scream. I love every second of that song. Reminds me of the great In Flames and left me speechless when I listened to it for the first time. Lyrics should be much better for that kind of a song, but I don't mind them at all. It is 10/10, with zero fucks given.

Not Alone - it's just good that it is a bonus song, since it's a nice way to ruin the impression left by Stay With Me. I don't hate it, but it's one of worst, or even worst bonus by IF. Not absolutely disgusting, but c'mon, before it was Eraser or Discover Me Like Emptiness Not going to judge that one, probably won't be skipping it, but only time can tell.

Overall - fuck Howard Benson big, big time. It seems like a big step in a truly right direction. For my taste, Bjorn managed to do just well in terms of melodies (not that good with solos), Anders was really fine with verses (not exactly good with lyrics), but the amounts of autotune are way too high. This record could have been something and it truly bothers me. I'll most definitely keep it, I'll come back to it, I'll listen to most of the songs, but I'll never forgive the murican fucker.
If they get rid of him, I believe we might get another SOAPF-level album. Maybe even faster, probably with worse lyrics and even more clean singing. But I'm really cool with Anders' clean, as long as it is him, not MacBook Pro.
7/10. We will remember, Benson. Burn.

It's scary how closely your thoughts resemble mine regarding this album like, I could almost have written this word for word.

I cannot understand people praising In This Life. It is fucking atrocious. Of all the mid tempo ballads this one is by far the worst. There is nothing redeeming about this song. Shit riffs, shit vocals, shit chorus, shit everything. It's Bottled/Scream/TCP levels of bad for me. I absolutely hate it.

I wouldn't quite rate Stay With Me 10/10 but of all the songs that weren't released/leaked this one has definitely grown on me the most. Musically I think it's really, really good. I'd say this is closer to Come Clarity II than Follow Me, personally. The main thing that lets this song down, as with all the others, is the unnecessary and excessive autotuning on Anders' voices - but it is what it is. This album should have been called "I, the Autotuned" because it's everywhere and impossible to ignore.

Regarding the lyrics - it's obviously based on a concept (this is a concept album, essentially) so it's tough to grade them on a normal scale. Lyrics on concept albums always tend to be a bit so-so because they're trying to tell a longhand story whilst also fitting into the music. We probably won't see that again from the band, I wouldn't have thought, but I guess this is technically the first concept album since the days of TJR/Whoracle/Colony, although those were more loosely based on an idea rather than an actual story being told. The story on ITM is pretty weak and a bit silly so the lyrics are going to struggle to rectify that. When the music is really good like on Stay With Me, Burn, ITM or IAA then it doesn't matter too much. It's only on the worse songs like Call My Name and In This Life that it becomes really apparent how cringy some of the lyrical content is.

 

[DE4life]

Lmaooo... idk what it is man but I can't listen to stuff like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Death, anything that is old im too much of an audiophile the quality really bothers me. I would say that I tend to slightly overrate In Flames but to me they set the standard for what I'm looking for in my music; heavy riffs, catchy hooks, catchy choruses, interesting synth and electronic additions... like i said earlier my musical tastes are very narrow. That being said, @ThePhobiac , Call my Name doesn't even come close to Burn it just reminds me so much of Save Me which might be their worst song ever. He just sings the notes way too high for my liking and the lyrics are kinnda trash...

It's all good bro. You come on and explain your thoughts in detail which earns respect from me, even if I don't agree with what you say. I only really get annoyed when somebody comes on and says "omg amazing 10/10" without giving any reasoning as to why. Like, if you're going to say Call My Name or In This Life are good songs, OK, but why? Objectively I don't understand it, but if you give solid reasons then fair enough. I'll still disagree but it's okay, we all have our own tastes and preferences.

Agree on Call My Name, a really poor song that doesn't do anything for me. Save Me is one of their worse songs, for sure, although I'd still rank it above some of the other shit they've released. Not much, granted, but to my tastes it isn't as bad as something like TCP or Everything's Gone, both of which I think are really bad and borderline unlistenable.

 

[miniroch]

It's scary how closely your thoughts resemble mine regarding this album like, I could almost have written this word for word.

I cannot understand people praising In This Life. It is fucking atrocious. Of all the mid tempo ballads this one is by far the worst. There is nothing redeeming about this song. Shit riffs, shit vocals, shit chorus, shit everything. It's Bottled/Scream/TCP levels of bad for me. I absolutely hate it.

I wouldn't quite rate Stay With Me 10/10 but of all the songs that weren't released/leaked this one has definitely grown on me the most. Musically I think it's really, really good. I'd say this is closer to Come Clarity II than Follow Me, personally. The main thing that lets this song down, as with all the others, is the unnecessary and excessive autotuning on Anders' voices - but it is what it is. This album should have been called "I, the Autotuned" because it's everywhere and impossible to ignore.

Regarding the lyrics - it's obviously based on a concept (this is a concept album, essentially) so it's tough to grade them on a normal scale. Lyrics on concept albums always tend to be a bit so-so because they're trying to tell a longhand story whilst also fitting into the music. We probably won't see that again from the band, I wouldn't have thought, but I guess this is technically the first concept album since the days of TJR/Whoracle/Colony, although those were more loosely based on an idea rather than an actual story being told. The story on ITM is pretty weak and a bit silly so the lyrics are going to struggle to rectify that. When the music is really good like on Stay With Me, Burn, ITM or IAA then it doesn't matter too much. It's only on the worse songs like Call My Name and In This Life that it becomes really apparent how cringy some of the lyrical content is.

High five

I like TCP, I feel the atmosphere, I like it's high pitched vocals, really love the unfold near the outro with Anders' screams.
I'm ok with Bottled, I always found STYE harsh vocals neat. It's probably a solid 6 from me.

I can't bloody stand this thing that most certainly is not Take This Life and just the thought that it's name is so similar makes me go apeshit. They had radio friendly songs for quite a while now, but god damn it, this is some Enrique Iglesias level we are talking about. In the sha-la-la-life. Lalalalaalalalife my ass.

As for the Stay With Me, it resembles me of so much. Vocalwise, sometimes it's Discover Me Like Emptiness, sometimes Liberation (another one probably not that much appreciated in here ), sometimes Come Clarity. This "breathe in, breathe out" is Rome-ish (Jerome Reutera's band). Melodies give me A New Dawn, Dawn of A New Day, Jester Script Transfigured, Jester's Dance vibes... It really is something. I think it's the only one autotuned on a reasonable level that doesn't really bother me, I don't think it is that obvious for anyone outside.
And it is another one which would work perfectly just being instrumental. Haven't heard that from IF for a long, long time.

As for concept albums, both Winter's Gate and Feathers & Flesh is my high set bar, with interesting lyrics, fitting music really well. In "Stay With Me", you could put literally anything - as Petri Lindroos once sang:
In the lyrics whatever fits
Thunder tits!

It would be fine if they just weren't that basic. Some of them are really embarassing. It can't really ruin a song, but it's plain bad coming from a guy, who, once again, saw beauty in dead flowers. If only Anders gave it a little effort, it could have been much better. Instead, it's straightforward and utterly not interesting. I consider Burn's lyrics good, as they fit heaviness and pace of the track and seem truly angry, also well delivered. Voices are decent. The rest is either absolutely mediocre or awful.
Oh, and obviously, verses on We Will Remember. Simple, but real fun. It will take a while to connect all the dots on this one.

 

[eochaid]

The one thing that annoys me on stay wirh me is that low pitch voice that's spread through all the channels. That effect is terrible and breaks the mood of the song.

 

[eochaid]

As for concept albums, both Winter's Gate and Feathers & Flesh is my high set bar, with interesting lyrics, fitting music really well.

Winter's gate has a great starting point that's the story that Niilo Sevanen wrote, interesting and well written. This and the amazing music that they wrote.

Most conceptual albums lack this. They start with an idea and develope it through the music. But it's better if you have a written story as the starting point.