Excuse the long post.
And drawntoblack, why would you stop reading? I honestly think they know best. Anders said that in the Close-Up magazine interview with him, Björn and Jesper as well, and Jesper did agree.
Why would I stop reading? Because Anders said some things that dont make sense. At all. I especially lol'd hard at that "we could fuck up production, it would be TJR all again" comment. Now, I am one of those rare few people who think that TJR had perfect production for that kind of music. You can hear everything clearly. Guitars have amazing tone. Drums sound real. Whoracle and Colony are pretty much the same. Clayman has totally different production, but it suits the music so well. But how can someone tell me that RTR, STYE, ASOP/SOAPF have better production than that, is beyond me. Does it sound more modern? Yes, but thats all. Can you hear everything clearly? No. Is it better? No sir. Vocals (especially on RTR and STYE) sound too distorted and muddy, it makes Anders sound like a robot. They scooped guitars so much on RTR that they lost almost all definition. I wont even comment on the last two albums, because I already explained my opinions on them.
Come Clarity being the exception. Both production-wise and quality wise. Guitars are upfront again, bass is grindy and loud (you can actually hear what Peter is playing on this one), drums sound awesome, and Anders too (though this one is really subjective, I personally liked cleans a lot). I will never understand why they didnt stick with CC production later on ASOP.
The riffs started to change a lot on Clayman first. I think that there are some songs with dropped tunings on Colony, but its not untill Clayman that they went with the American style of riffs. Minimal melody, mostly open string chugging (prime examples being verses of the Pinball Map and Clayman). Dont get me wrong, I love Clayman, but I'm just saying its where everything started to go downhill. RTR pushed this even further. ASOP/SOAPF represent IMHO the "new" new In Flames. Riffs and melodies sound totally different. They lost their identity. No replay value whatsoever, and those few good ideas are buried low in the mix, under all those useless layers of vocals and samples/keys. So no way in hell can you take any single riff/melody from last 6 albums and stick it on TJR.
Just because Anders spent 15 years in the same band with Jesper, it doesnt mean that he knows better than you, me or anyone else how good guitar player Jesper is. Which is why I disagree with that "I think that they know best" thing that you said. Sure, Jesper's technique is not the best there is. The way he holds his pick is so weird and unusual, especially the way he plucks the strings. But everything sounds good, which is all that matters in the end when it comes to that aspect of guitar playing. And those rare occasions when he plays a melody/solo, its spot on. Unlike Bjorn, no offense to him whatsoever. Have any of you seen IF live? Then you know what I'm talking about. If anything, this can be seen on Used and Abused live. Almost every solo is different, a lot of notes being skipped/changed etc. That Evil in a closet solo is probably the easiest thing ever to play, yet he managed to butcher it completely. He is a decent guitar player and a good composer, but thats it.
We already explained that whole "old IF have too many guitar tracks in order to be played live" thing, but here it is again for you. How is having 5 guitar tracks unlogical, yet having 15 vocal tracks and using them as backing tracks live not? To be completely honest, old IF stuff isnt that hard AT ALL to replicate live. You can have one rhytm guitar and one lead guitar with harmonizer, and voila, almost everything can be done. Do you honestly believe that even new IF songs have just two guitars on studio records? There are at least 4 or 6 just rhytm guitars with overdubs, let alone melodies and harmonies.
