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

[DE4life]

"Anders: That is not a love song, but it's about overcoming your obstacles in life, and how important it is to say to someone you care about that they are great and how you feel you're on top of the world. Now it sounds so simple, but back then I tried to write using a lot of metaphors because I don't like to tell everything - I want people to make up their own minds. I'm happy if people can adapt my lyrics to their own life. "

Hmm, cant really make the connection though, any thoughts?

Hey, I'm not that old motherfucker 32 at the end of the month... it feels weird even typing that though. I was 21 when I joined here... jeez.

As for Deliver Us, honestly it's a pretty weird and vague set of lyrics. At a basic level it feels like Anders is talking about trying to appreciate life, and not letting negative elements drag him down. He wants positivity out of a person or the people around him, but he isn't always getting that, hence asking that person to "fly into the distance, disappear for a while" - he feels like being by himself for a while allows him to gain perspective about the world and everything going on around him. He just wants to appreciate "being alive" and not have outside bullshit pollute his mindset.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

For me Reroute to Remain is some of Anders' best "modern era"lyrics. The album as a whole too is quite good, but the song especially. SoaPF is fairly good for lyrics, especially in retrospect compared to battles. Still really enjoy the lyrics for Fear is the Weakness (it's about jesper, no matter what he Denys), Ropes, A New Dawn and Liberation.

 

[DE4life]

Best songs lyrically for me post-2000 are:

System
Transparent
Minus
Metaphor
Reflect the Storm
Dead End
Vacuum
Abnegation
SOAPF
Fear is the Weakness
Where the Dead Ships Dwell
With Eyes Wide Open
The End

So x4 from R2R, nothing from STYE, x3 from CC, x1 from ASOP, x3 from SOAPF, and x1 from SC and Battles. So yeah, I'd agree Reroute is probably his best modern set of lyrics. That was still at a point when they were transitioning from classic to nu In Flames though, so that makes sense. It's been pretty slim pickings since Come Clarity in all honesty though.

Last two albums have been the worst lyrically by some distance. Whilst I don't think any of STYE's songs have noteworthy lyrics, the album as a whole has stronger lyrics for me than SC or Battles.

 

[ciko_gfb]

Best songs lyrically for me post-2000 are:

System
Transparent
Minus
Metaphor
Reflect the Storm
Dead End
Vacuum
Abnegation
SOAPF
Fear is the Weakness
Where the Dead Ships Dwell
With Eyes Wide Open
The End

So x4 from R2R, nothing from STYE, x3 from CC, x1 from ASOP, x3 from SOAPF, and x1 from SC and Battles. So yeah, I'd agree Reroute is probably his best modern set of lyrics. That was still at a point when they were transitioning from classic to nu In Flames though, so that makes sense. It's been pretty slim pickings since Come Clarity in all honesty though.

Last two albums have been the worst lyrically by some distance. Whilst I don't think any of STYE's songs have noteworthy lyrics, the album as a whole has stronger lyrics for me than SC or Battles.

What about Dead Alone from STYE though? I like its lyrics.

 

[ciko_gfb]

Hey, I'm not that old motherfucker 32 at the end of the month... it feels weird even typing that though. I was 21 when I joined here... jeez.

As for Deliver Us, honestly it's a pretty weird and vague set of lyrics. At a basic level it feels like Anders is talking about trying to appreciate life, and not letting negative elements drag him down. He wants positivity out of a person or the people around him, but he isn't always getting that, hence asking that person to "fly into the distance, disappear for a while" - he feels like being by himself for a while allows him to gain perspective about the world and everything going on around him. He just wants to appreciate "being alive" and not have outside bullshit pollute his mindset.

Huh, still pretty old for me dude! Just recently became 24. Thanks for the explanation though.

 

[DE4life]

What about Dead Alone from STYE though? I like its lyrics.

Like pretty much all the lyrics on STYE, they aren't bad, but I don't think they're great either. Just somewhere in the middle.

That said, some of my favourite lyrics from IF discography are from Borders and Shading:

"Oblivion can no longer shade you
Reminded by the tattered tissue

Bleak silence
Errors stigmatized in you
A weak worn out friend
There's nothing left for me

Again and again
Your face reminds me of a bleak future
Despite the absence of hope
I give you this sacrifice"

Unfortunately the rest of the song's lyrics are a bit weird, but that part is great.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Anders in 2019: “From the top of the mountain / to the deepest below!!”

Me: “Can’t believe In Flames would sink so low as to use that cliche turn of phrase—“

Mikael in 1994: “Atop the highest mountain / below the darkest depths!!”

Me:

 

[DE4life]

Stanne's lyrics have always been quite cliched, but of all the lyrics that's what you got upset about? I'm more annoyed by:

"What we had, we threw away...
We were close to Heaven,
But we ended up in Hell.

Just cause the hurt doesn't show...
Threes no way to recover!
You broke my heart in two!

I had a dream of growing old...
I saw us driving to the end of the road...

We had this world of make believe
I thought I saw the fire in your eyes

[Chorus:]
You ripped the heart out of my will to survive,
You killed the part of me that kept us alive!

I'm drained and out of place!
I was shooting straight, but you stole my aim!
Could have walked for miles!
We were supposed to be the end of the line..."

Drained is IMO the worst lyrics Anders has ever written. It's fucking terrible from start to end, full of shitty, cliched, inauthentic bullshit. That chorus makes me want to slap him in the face. He's written worse lines in songs, but Drained as a whole is just absolutely fucking pathetic.

 

[ThePhobiac]

What about Dead Alone from STYE though? I like its lyrics.

Where there are only my bones
Please put them in use
Want to be part of a new dawn
The (day) darkness disappears

Don’t release these chains
Never been closer to myself
All your mistakes run through
As I realize what we’ve become

Some of the best on STYE. “Don’t release these chains / never been closer to myself” is one of those rare instances of Anders striking lyrical gold.

 

[Vermyn]

What’s wrong with the lyrics on the last album?

“I want the whole world, the whole world, the whole world in my hands, IN MY HANDS. But it’s just slipping through like sand.”

Oh yea, that’s right....

 

[ThePhobiac]

Stanne's lyrics have always been quite cliched, but of all the lyrics that's what you got upset about? I'm more annoyed by:

"What we had, we threw away...
We were close to Heaven,
But we ended up in Hell.

Just cause the hurt doesn't show...
Threes no way to recover!
You broke my heart in two!

I had a dream of growing old...
I saw us driving to the end of the road...

We had this world of make believe
I thought I saw the fire in your eyes

[Chorus:]
You ripped the heart out of my will to survive,
You killed the part of me that kept us alive!

I'm drained and out of place!
I was shooting straight, but you stole my aim!
Could have walked for miles!
We were supposed to be the end of the line..."

Drained is IMO the worst lyrics Anders has ever written. It's fucking terrible from start to end, full of shitty, cliched, inauthentic bullshit. That chorus makes me want to slap him in the face. He's written worse lines in songs, but Drained as a whole is just absolutely fucking pathetic.

Eh, I’m no fan of his lyrics on Battles, but I’d hardly say Drained is the worst (Wallflower has that distinction). Cliche, yeah, but what do you expect at this point. It falls within the realm of Forss’s work on Subterranean for me. (“Beauty divine / your tears taste like wine” — like, okay)

For me, cliche lyrics are like, okay, whatever. Not good but not bad. It’s neutral. It’s like bread. The lyricist doesn’t get any points from me, but he doesn’t lose any. Wallflower combines cliche with painfully bad turns of phrase, and that makes it bad, as opposed to Drained, which is just there.

And nah, I’m not upset about Stanne’s work at all, haha. Just realized the other day that that phrase appeared on LS! Cliche phrases like that can work when used in the right context, or to the right effect. It’s not always bad.

 

[DE4life]

I'm one of the few who doesn't really dig the vocals or lyrics on Subterranean. I don't mind Forss' vocals for Dawn, but hearing him screech lyrics that sound like they were ripped from a vampire light erotica novel does absolutely nothing for me. Stand Ablaze sounds much better in the '99 Gothenberg live bootleg with Anders on vocals.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Totally. And it’s a shame because Stand Ablaze is, IMO, the quintessential In Flames song.

Also, I retract my statement about Wallflower being all bad. “I want to be heard / but leave no trace / I want to be seen / but take no space” is pretty okay. Not the greatest *In Flames* lyrics but it’s honestly better than what your average creative writing undergrad would come up with.

 

[eochaid]

I would dare to say that this is our house are the more cliche and empty lyrics that he has written so far, unless he is a nationalist. Then they male sense.

I like system and the chorus of trigger, though it has no meaning, but the lyrics are cool. I also like this part from evil in a closet "I once read a poem, held my breath, but that moment is gone". Descriptive and efective.

And crawl through knives. One of my favourite songs ever.

 

[Jester Slave]

What does deliver us even mean? The expression itself. In what context would you use it in a day to day speech?

I'm really glad that D4 is old, because it's common psychology that older people want to give back to society, so we can ask a bunch of questions from him and he will gladly answer them to us, the youth.

 

[DE4life]

Questions, you ask. Answer, I will.

Deliver Us isn't a common phrase at all. You'd most commonly hear it if somebody was saying "deliver us from evil" in a religious context. In the context of this song I guess Anders is asking to be delivered from the evil of negative thoughts and influences. However, more than likely Anders just thought it sounded kind of cool and didn't put anywhere near as much thought into it as us dickheads are.

 

[Jester Slave]

So basically delivering someone from something is setting them apart. I suppose it also can't be material, ie. deliver me from my pen, but rather untouchable, like deliver me from my pain. That's pretty cool!

I remember I learned the expression drenched in something from them too. A friend of mine asked me to write his homework, I did it and used that expression i ncontext of being wet. He got a 1 because the teacher accused him of copying it from somewhere online. Good times.

But yeah, part of the reason why translating lyrics to your own, non-English language is hard, because many lyrics are just simply there for being cool.

 

[eochaid]

So basically delivering someone from something is setting them apart.

More like free them from something, ward off or drive away.

 

[Pallbearer]

Also, a midwife delivers us into this world. But that's using a different preposition.

 

[Cobra8472]

The new soilwork leaked.

When The Universe Spoke is an absolutely sublime track.