In Flames -Sounds of A Playground Fading (Upcoming 10th album)

I'm actually thinking about getting the deluxe edition- it's only £29.99. I think i'll see where my 'funds' are at closer to release... then i'll probably end up getting the DVD edition (i can't go without that pop-up Jester-beast fold-out packaging!) :D

I'm not going to listen to the title track and A New Dawn again until the album drops... i bought Deliver Us from iTunes and it's always on my iPod, so i'll no doubt listen to it between now and release. I just want to save the other tracks...

My participation in this forum will probably drop until the album hits the shelves and then i'll discuss how awesome it is with you guys :) although i might drop back here when the next studio diary is released!
 
I almost cry after I here A New Dawn.....wow!!! So far so god with this 3 tracks. I want to hear the whole thing!!!

Well man to be honest I let the tear for that acoustic part with violins,this song conquered me,I already listen to it for 46th time :D:D:D
and yes,in my opinion this song is melodic death metal
 
the title should've been "Sounds of a playground fading: Bjorn's Revenge" from the song's we've heard i think that bjorn was waiting to breakout and write all of the guitars himself because jesper was holding his head back like a bully, while bjorn was trying to take swings at song writing ;)

Huh? Jesper holding Björn back?

If anything, it's been Jesper's creativity that's been held back I think. Just listen to his own stuff and you'll find some really great stuff that shows Jesper's "true" style of song writing that reminds you a bit of the old days. Most of the stuff on ASOP were written by Björn if I remember correctly.

Even though A New Dawn is really good compared to most of the new In Flames stuff (it's the best since R2R if you ask me), it still isn't as good as the TJR->Clayman stuff in my opinion. Much of it may be due to the different production sound and Anders vocals, but most of the old stuff has a very different feel to the melodies. It reminds one alot of Swedish folk music in some ways. It's much more inspired and less generic. When listening to the old stuff, it's like taking a journey to your greatest dreams. It has a more fabulous edge than the melodies present in the new songs. However, had this song been in the old Fredman sound, and Anders using his old vocals throughout, it could very well fit in Colony indeed. But it would still be one of the weaker songs I think. As I feel now, the melodies and stuff remind me alot more of Vanishing Light for instance.

What In Flames does these days many times I think is that they come up with a catchy melody, and instead of adding flavour to it, expand it and be creative, they let the main melody remain to be that little part repeated 4 times in a row, and then they tend to place that melody at places where it would be better to have another, new melody instead. Then, they place some crunchy riff at the verses and such. It feels a bit like a copy and paste work. It's very hard to describe what I mean, as English isn't my first language. Also, the song structures are uncreative and lacks alot of inspiration that the old songs had.

I don't want to rant too much, but I definitely don't think Jesper's departure has anything to do with this song being good. I rather think it's been Jesper that hasn't had as much creative "power" in STYE->ASOP as he had in the older records, that the band was kinda split in pieces, and that this song is better than most of the new stuff is more due to Björn growing as a music writer than anything else.

That's what I think.
 
I agree with Dimension91. I remember reading an interview with Jesper online (i think its one of the older ones, somewhere from clayman/r2r), and remember him saying how one of the main reasons for forming Dimension Zero is because he had a lot of riffs written which he couldnt use for In Flames. Now sure, DZ has a lot of thrashy stuff which wouldnt suit IF to begin with, but nonetheless, it shows that IF do care what will they sound like. Its not a wonder that every album is kinda softer and more accessible to the mainstream. Their evolution is pretty much a one-way street, and was kinda predictable. Its not like they are adding black metal screams and blastbeats :)
 
Its not like they are adding black metal screams and blastbeats :)

Just imagine... The Chosen Satanist! :D

Bjorn is a good songwriter, but his style is very different the Jesper's. TJR-Clayman had that Iron Maiden-eskque feeling to them. As Dimension91 said, with a folk flavor in it. Bjorn's melodies seem more hard rock-ish. Just listen to Annihilator's Haunted... that melody that kicks in at half of the song, and later solo. Very simple but so Early In Flames - like. I guess that is Jesper's part.



Melody 4:25
Solo 5:30

I'm slightly worried about the direction IF music will go next. Anders and Engelin = too modern for my taste.
 
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The Chosen Satanist :D That was a good one :)

Bjorn is a really good songwriter, but his stuff doesnt really "click"with me like Jesper's. But I admit, that intro melody from A New Dawn sounds like something straight out of Colony-Clayman. It has that typical IF vibe, and its really catchy :)
 
Björn has written music since TJR, that was his condition for joining the band.
He actually wrote most of Lord Hypnos & Artifacts. Also Food For The Gods in Whoracle, among other songs.

Jesper WAS the main creative writer from Lunar Strain all the way up to ASOP, although ASOP was much more of a group effort. His own words, not mine.

And the situation is that the old albums is getting some huge overpraising.
Epic song structures, everything is the best etc etc. I think the overpraising has to do with nostalgia & exaggeration. And I don't say this to insult the older albums in any way, it's just that people talk of them as the true masterpieces of the universe. And then there's new IF fans that only likes the Old albums who likes jumping on the ''let's throw shit at New IF'' bandwagon.

Just my 2cents. It's just feels like people are saying ''Oh now Jesper has left the band, all post-Clayman albums wasn barely written by him, and he left because the music sucks'', which is not the reason, and there's no truth to it either.

Jesper had DT, Anders had Passenger. Also Jesper & Björn wrote a lot of music for All Ends, Björn's sisters band.
Those 3 side-project just didn't fit the sound of In Flames. Of course they have some kind pattern, formula or template to follow. They can't just go and write Progressive Gothic Metal. DT is nothing like Old In Flames. Even newer In Flames sounds closer to Old In Flames than DT does, because DT is simply very thrashy fast metal while IF has never been that.

And by the way, please do not turn this into a Old vs New flamewar when it's been such a nice vibe on the forum throughout the last weeks =)
 
Since R2R was the first IF album I heard, I'm pretty sure its not the nostalgia factor when it comes to my liking and praise of TJR to Clayman era.
 
First one I heard was STYE, then Come Clarity. and after that I got my hands on Clayman CD. So it's not nostalgia in my case.

TJR, Whoracle, Colony and Clayman ARE masterpieces. Back then I guess they had no option of touring USA or becoming mega popular all over the world. So that was the pure faze, and they came up with something unique. I guess a lot of people really like RTR, STYE, CC, ASOP, LS... but none of those albums will be remembered in 20 or 30 years. Can someone really imagene ASOP gaining cult following like TJR?

I'm not saying Jesper left because the music sucks, 'cause he didn't, and music doesn't suck. All I am saying is (give peace a chance :) ) that Bjorn's stuff is different to Jesper's stuff. Both are good, but I like Jesper's style a bit more.
 
Adding that A New Dawn is seriously my favorite In Flames song at the moment, might just be the hype but I think the song really has everything I love about IF, and that violin parts along with the acoustics really remind me of Old IF.

And I started listening to IF early 2006 around CC release. I do think that all the old fans timeless bashing on new IF has influenced some people to like the Old stuff more actually. Anyways I feel that this is getting out of hand soon, let's just enjoy the music instead...
 
IV (in) flame war! Even the Soviets would be frightened. :)

Yeah, let's just enjoy the pure awesomeness A.K.A. A New Dawn.

Does anybody know from which song is that cool electro part (2nd studio episode mid section)? Also there is that music at the end of studio episodes. My guess: The Attic and The Jester's door.
 
I was actually introduced to IF through Guitar Hero with "Take This Life". After listening to it along with "Trigger" and "My Sweet Shadow" I started working from Lunar Strain to ASOP.
 
Clayman and R2R were the first albums I heard from In Flames, and R2R probably does get a bit of a nostalgia boost from me...

However - this stays on here btw ;) - when i was first introduced to In Flames I was sent OFTW, Moonshield & Jester Script Transfigured. I deleted Moonshield and JST because I thought they were terrible :D I loved OFTW though and was a huge fan of Clayman as an album. I then listened to R2R (after initially hating it, I grew to like it) and then Colony. It was only some time later, maybe a year after R2R's release, that I went back to the older albums and realised I'd been hugely wrong and that they were out of this world.

Then STYE came out and I wondered WTF had happened.
 
For me... I started to listen to IF around 2003 with RTR... still love that album, but when I heard it I was like "well, this is great". After RTR I picked up TJR and my mind was literally blown ;) After that I checked the rest.. and in 2004 STYE came out which was ok IMO. On the other hand CC was awesome, reminded me of the old days in some way, it's my fav of the "new" flames along with RTR. In 2008 i was soooooooooooooo dissapointed with ASOP... It's the only bad album they released in my eyes. So far everything from SOAPF was nice (apart from Deliver Us which is just meh) so I hope they will redeem themselves with that album.
 
the first album that i've listened was COLONY.. a few days before CLAYMAN release... blablablbalablbalablablabla... A New Dawn is epic!!!
 
First song i heard was artifacts of the black rain,then i started to listen all their old stuff,a couple of weeks later i discovered RTR and for a some time i hated it and all later works,but as i "opened" my ears i realized that they are awesome in other way,i listen everything they released and i love everything from them since their demo in 1993 :D :hotjump:
(usput za one koji me ovako razumiju kao a88,dođite u zagreb 26.9 ove godine u boogaloo na koncert,biti ce plamena u publici :D:D:D)