The drums in the intro of ITL are the new low for IF record.
I recon half of the forum would've done a better job. And that electronics in the beginning have no connection to the song whatsoever. Just so random. Like the beginning of CMN.
So, after 10 days, I guess this album sticks better than SC and Battles.
Voices - Still a good song. If not for modern chorus, very IF-like song. Verses have everything, good mid tempo riff, cool melody, and nice screams. Why not do it more often? Song could benefit from a better chorus and much better solo.
ITM - It's good but a really generic song. That fast melodic bridge brings the song up, chorus fucks it all up with whooo-aaam-iiiii in that sad, autotuned style. Good solo, bad breakdown.
Call My Name - Pretty much, one of the best IF riffs in the last decade... fucked up by shitty singing and the generic chorus. The beginning of the classic IF solo, cut after 4 seconds. This one has all the elements of a good song, but a lot of bad decisions during the recording made it as bad as it is now. Shame. Shame. Shame.
IAA - Another good riff, another good verse with decent guitar work and growls (pretty much the thing that works well on the whole album), solid chorus with some dynamics at last. Good melodic, solo section. The only thing that sucks is the weird "singing" in the end.
Follow Me - Great beginning, nice acoustics, distortion kicks in just fine, verses I could live with, solo is quite nice... and then we have that terrible, fake chorus. I'm sensing a pattern here... Another good song fucked up.
House - Just terrible on any level. From that awful choir, boring riffs, weird german panzer sound in the background, to lyrics and vocal melodies. I has a nice ASOP electro/guitar melody in the background of the chorus and that's about it. If the band had any self-respect they would delete this from the master and forget it ever existed.
We Will Remember - Battles leftover with some SC verses. Maybe the most empty-sounding song on the album.
ITL - The riff is plaaaayed liiike iiin 60% of the intended speeeed. So slow, so boring. Sky used to be blue, world is coming down... We're down to elementary school writing on this one. In LiiiIIIiiiife. Damn. Another song you could delete completely except that decent solo.
Burn - Finally a riff with some groove. Decent verses. I was against the chorus at first listen, but it fits just fine. Nice guitar melody x2. Unnecessary breakdown. All things considered, a solid song with minor fuck ups.
Deep Inside - Totally out of the blue, arabic melody and Arch Enemy ripoff riff. Another good verse with screaming. Pre-chorus felt like metal version of pop song, but then it hit me it is quite RTR-like. Chorus is not great, but not bad either. Good solo, that could work even on Clayman. Nice acoustic section and finally some good, emotional singing from Anders. Ends good with a strong chorus. A lot of stuff happens in this one. Def the most interesting metal song on album.
All the Pain - Good clean guitar, decent singing, really good guitar riff (with a different production it could sound like something from Clayman filler song). Best solo on the whole album. Fuck, why doesn't Bjorn do this more often? This song is better than I first thought. With a good chorus, this would be a good tune. Unfortunately, aaaalll the paaain iii feeel is not a good chorus. "I can't be..." part kills it though.
Stay With Me - That combo of guitars and electronics in the beginning is bloody emotional masterpiece. Simple, but moving. Verse works great. Nice music, nice singing, decent lyrics even. When distorted guitars kick in there's another production fuck up. It sounds like another generic chorus background when it should sound more raw and crushing to follow up on very emotional and desperate song. Bjorn could have played some better solo/melody in the fade out part. Still, minor flaws of a good song.
Not gonna review Not Alone. It's a bonus for a reason. Except that Sweden Eurovision contest entry chorus, there is nothing good to say.
So - If I cut that 3 awful songs from the middle of the album, I can really enjoy this one (in contrast to SC or Battles, or even some earlier albums). A third of the album is good. A third is good material fucked up by Anders or Benson or Anders&Benson at the same time. And a third is just embarrassing.
I'll stay by my initial assessment. As a whole, album stands slightly above 6/10.
With a different producer, drummer and another guitar player to complement the songwriting this could have been the best IF album in ages. I guess I was a bit unfair to Bjorn when the first songs were out. There are some really strong ideas here, but there is also a lot of rehashed material and empty spaces.
