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

[DE4life]

I'm never sure why the band members felt the need to evoke old albums when hyping upcoming ones. 99% of their new fans give no shits about anything pre-Come Clarity. Those of us who were brought up on the older albums and still retain an interest in the band are part of a distinct minority.

At least this time Anders was quoting a relevant, recent album in SOAPF. We all know they will never write anything that can compare to the 1996-2000 albums ever again, so they should really stop talking about them as trying to compare their earlier work to their current work is frankly disrespectful to the legacy of the band they used to be.

Anyone remember when Siren Charms was released and they started calling it "the Gothenburg sound" and said everything from Lunar Strain had led up to that point? still don't know if they were trolling or being serious. I'm not sure they have a very good grasp on what their old material represents anymore.

 

[eochaid]

This from an interview with Anders for a Spaniard magazine back in 2004.

"Would you agree with me if I were to tell you that this new album (stye) has remind me of a mix between Whoracle because of the harder songs and r2r or clayman becsuse of the softer melodic ones?"

"No. I do not agree. I think this has nothing to do with whoracle. Also we were not looking for something like this. But, as i told you before, everyone has his own perception. Every fan, every media, every person has his own point of view about everything and, specially, about the music. If that's your opinion then it's to be respected, eben if i don't agree. I think that every album that we do is different and has some things that are common with the previous ones and other things that are not."

So maybe this is what he's talking about.

 

[DE4life]

A lot of words to basically say nothing.

 

[eochaid]

I think that he was being polite. Because, come on, comparing stye with whoracle...

 

[DE4life]

I actually remember people hyping STYE up as being more like Whoracle before it was released. Not sure what they were smoking, there aren't any similarities at all. I'm not even sure why it was Whoracle specifically. I'm sure it was some reviewer with a pre-release copy who said it, whipping everyone into a frenzy. The disappointment when STYE dropped was off the charts. I mean, people were pissed already with Reroute, but STYE blew a lot of people's gaskets.

I vaguely recall seeing the tracklist before it was released and thinking the song titles were garbage. I don't remember much about when it was actually released, other than that I really liked Dial-595 Escape. It's kinda sad to think that most of us would be pretty impressed if they released anything close to STYE nowadays. The barometer has been set very low.

 

[Ilias7]

Yeah, I remember calling Siren Charms "the Gothenburg sound". I also remember the band members posting pictures of the album recordings with the hashtag #SC and some people thought it meant second colony or second clayman...hilarious.

There is no way they will ever return to their old sound and everyone should come to terms with that. However, there will always be remnants of the past in all of their new work and that's probably what band members claim when they are comparing upcoming releases with older stuff. For example, Like Sand was clearly influenced by Satellites and Astronauts, but it was taken to another direction.

As far as the new album is concerned, I expect more up-tempo songs like The End and Drained...and I expect Anders to be true to his words and the album to sound like SOAPF ( their best record without Jesper, indeed ) with a few new elements, of course. However, I keep in mind that is never safe to try to predict what new In Flames will sound like, you can never tell with these guys...and that's not necessarily a bad thing for me.

 

[eochaid]

Yes. I also don't see any similarities between both albums. I would bet that this was an intentional effort to separate stye from their previous works.

Still, I like it.

 

[DE4life]

If the new album is being recorded in America with Howard Benson again I can't see it sounding much like SOAPF, which I believe was produced at IF Studios in Gothenburg. I'd like nothing more than for them to go back to that sound, but I think there's too many other influences in the States which will steer it more towards another Battles type record.

Admittedly I'd be a lot more worried if they were recording in Germany again, so at least there's that.

 

[eochaid]

Something that they have been doing right since r2r is creating fresh albums. They sound, at least for me, as if they've just been released. If you get what I mean.

 

[DE4life]

Their albums always sound different, which I guess lends itself to a fresh/new feeling. On the other hand if I was given the choice between not totally fresh but still awesome Whoracle after TJR, or Clayman after Colony, compared to ASOP after Come Clarity or Siren Charms after SOAPF, I know what I'd pick!

 

[eochaid]

As I do . Listening to their albums in release order is a nice experience. This is one of the best things about them, even if I don't like what they're doing now.

 

[DE4life]

I remember a quote from the SC thread, when we were all kind of down about the album (except Krofius, obviously) which said something like "if you listen to In Flames discography in reverse order they evolve into a legendary melodic death metal band".

 

[eochaid]

Yes. That was taken from their facebook page. One of the best comments ever, even if you like their latest albums.

 

[Pallbearer]

I also remember the band members posting pictures of the album recordings with the hashtag #SC and some people thought it meant second colony or second clayman...hilarious.

Really? Now that's desperate.

 

[eochaid]

I was going to say that in ten years peopke would be asking for soapf part two but we're doing it right now

 

[Vermyn]

That is a trend I have noticed lol. I used to despise listening to asop and soapf compared to their older albums. Now I find myself jamming to those albums more often than I ever thought I would.

 

[Sister Of Destruction]

Anders lost his powers, he is must to sit on the box because he is so weak XD
Btw in flames change their drummers very fast.. Daniel, Joe, Tanner who next? Jen Ledger ?

 

[eochaid]

Fuck. Look how the crowd cannot contain its excitation. Now I get why they keep on playing songs like this and not the old ones

 

[DE4life]

That is a trend I have noticed lol. I used to despise listening to asop and soapf compared to their older albums. Now I find myself jamming to those albums more often than I ever thought I would.

I liked SOAPF pretty much from day one, that hasn't changed. I think it's up there with Come Clarity as the best album they've done since 2002. Oddly I remember liking ASOP when it came out, too, but my opinion on it has gone down a lot over the years. I just can't get past the vocals or lyrics. Instrumentally there are some really nice parts on ASOP, but Anders genuinely ruins it for me. He sounds 100x better on SOAPF.

Time hasn't really improved STYE much for me, either. Admittedly I don't hate it as much as I did when it first came out, but for an In Flames album it's pretty dull. Part of that is the production as it sounds MUCH better live (see the Used & Abused DVD for proof of that) but really, even in hindsight STYE deserved a lot of the negative energy it received. Alternatively, Reroute was a much better album than people gave it credit for. Again, hamstrung by a shitty final mix.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Not only the band members. I read a review of asop saying that Alias was like oftw.

I would say "Alias" is the OFTW of A Sense of Purpose, personally, mostly because it's a longish, mid-tempo heavy track in the early part of the album. I always thought several In Flames albums had an OFTW-equivalent in that vein (i.e. "Colony", "Cloud Connected", "All For Me"). "My Sweet Shadow" plays a similar role on STYE.

Yeah, I remember calling Siren Charms "the Gothenburg sound". I also remember the band members posting pictures of the album recordings with the hashtag #SC and some people thought it meant second colony or second clayman...hilarious.

I thought #SC was going to be "Some Clarity."

I have a Gothenburg playlist I listen to during my commute and nothing gets me more than mid-2000s IF and DT coming on. "One Thought", "F(r)iend", "Pacing Death's Trail", "Blind at Heart", "Superhero of the Computer Rage". Good shit. STYE and Character were my first Gothenburg albums and they're personal classics, imo.