In Flames - Sountrack to Your Escape . . . a five point inspection.

[J.]

I could care less about the review. What's so funny to me is that people take a review personally. Have they not figured out that it is one (1) person's biased opinion? who gives a shit....really?

 

[Nate The Great]

My personal feelings on STYE (after trying to get some real hatred out of you guys):

1) The clean vocals are still there, and they are even more annoying. WHY must he use them???

2) The guitars rarely use actual riffs. They are mostly just there for chord progressions behind the vocals and some chunky nu-metal riffs.

3) The ballads on this album SUCK!!! I could have written those ballads after playing and writing music for 3 months. Seriously . . . who wrote those things?

4) In Flames is now a Swedish version of nu-metal. Apparently the death of nu-metal in the US hasn't caught on in Europe.

5) STYE is worse than R2R. I'll give it 6/10 (for real this time) . . . simply because they occasionally show flashes of real song writing or real riffs . . . occasionally.

 

[Papa Josh]

You're being way too nice, nathan.... :Spin:

I've listened to it once and dread that I have to listen to it again to write my review....

It's bad, folks.... when I say Friden sounds like Marilyn Manson at times, I'm not kidding! And I like Manson!!!!

But this just down right blows....

 

[Dark One]

Am I alone in the universe in liking the new In Flames album so far? I'm actually very surprised that I do, but I do, perhaps because my expectations were SO low based on everything I've been reading.

If you can handle the modern influences, they do not completely permeate the sound IMO. I actually think it sounds fresh compared to anything else they've released. Certainly a far cry from the albums that generated their initial fan base, but also a departure from the R2R sound as well. So help me, I really think 'The Quiet Place' is catchy as hell. And the heavier songs have a cool crunch to them. I've never been a fan of Anders' clean vocals, but I do think he does at least a better job than on past releases, and I'm digging his growling style on this one.

If you're expecting any sort of a return to past styles, obviously you will be disappointed, but I don't believe any long time fan would have that expectation anyway. If you don't like it because you can't handle the modern influences and also just think the songs suck, well.... that seems to be the majority opinion around here, just one that I don't share, even though I "expected to".

I certainly could be wrong (won't be the first or last time), but I also get the feeling that alot of the bashing for the new album has been pre-programmed into many heads. (i.e., I'm licking my chops to put this in the cd player, or download it, bash it and talk about how gay In Flames have become before really giving it a chance.)

Anyway, I'd recommend to people that at least they check it out in some capacity and give it a fair chance before utterly dismissing it.

I'm a fan of the album and I'm not afraid to admit it.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

Jason, you're just far too IF-biased to not like anything they do. Face it, they suck.

 

[Dark One]

Jason, you're just far too IF-biased to not like anything they do. Face it, they suck.

Not true, I USED to be, not anymore. Anders' attitude absolutely sucks. I expected to not like the new album at all, but was extremely surprised by the fact that I did.

BTW, have you heard it yet?

 

[JayKeeley]

I agree with Nate, I think R2R was better than STYE, although his score of 6/10 is still generous. I would give this one 4/10.

Each time I listen to any CD, I take an out of context 'snapshot' of said release (i.e. dismiss all the band's albums that came before it) and judge it on its own merits. I think that is fair. If I do that with STYE, however, I hear an album that doesn't suit my tastes.

Put it this way, if an unknown band released STYE, it would get zero attention from me. On the flipside, if I liked it, I would probably want more albums that sound just like it.

Dark One - just a question, but if you like STYE as you say you do, would you get more albums by other bands that make music similar to this?

 

[J.]

Dark One - what were your thoughts on R2R?

Personally, other than the title track, I thought it stunk like manure.

 

[Dark One]

Each time I listen to any CD, I take an out of context 'snapshot' of the said release (i.e. dismiss all the band's albums that came before it) and judge it on its own merits. I think that is fair. If I do that with STYE, however, I hear an album that doesn't suit my tastes.

Absolutely, and that's the perfect way to look at it.

Dark One - just a question, but if you like STYE as you say you do, would you get more albums by other bands that make music similar to this?

If I heard it and liked it, absolutely. Sometimes a style of music is done poorly, and in such a case I obviously wouldn't have much interest, but if a style is done well (to my ears), I'll always be willing to give it a shot.

I have to admit though, while you can certainly hear modern influences in the new IF album, I don't think it really "sounds" like other bands out there. I hated Figure Number Five by Soilwork and figured the new In Flames would sound similar and I would dismiss it just as quickly. Well it doesn't. I think it's completely different. But of course that doesn't mean it will click with you either. In my case, it just happened to.

 

[Dark One]

Dark One - what were your thoughts on R2R?

Personally, other than the title track, I thought it stunk like manure.

Liked it alot. More when it first came out than now, but I still like it very much. The songs "Transparent" and "Dismiss the Cynic" suck the ball sac of the almighty Satan, but there's plenty of catchy material to be found on that album, which I think stresses catchy choruses and vocal melodies much more than any other IF release.

The title track, "Dark Signs" and "Black & White" flat out rock. "Minus", "Free Fall", "Metaphor" (yes Metaphor) & "Drifter" are all songs that appeal to me as well.

 

[JayKeeley]

Dark One - just a question, but if you like STYE as you say you do, would you get more albums by other bands that make music similar to this?

If I heard it and liked it, absolutely. Sometimes a style of music is done poorly, and in such a case I obviously wouldn't have much interest, but if a style is done well (to my ears), I'll always be willing to give it a shot.

In that case, you should check out THE GREAT DECEIVER !!!1

Just kidding you hardcore boyz.

*Nate the Great has heart attack*

 

[Demonspell]

While there are a few things on RTR that I can almost begin to appreciate, I haven't found any redeeming qualities in Escape...

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

khanate fans: me, NAD, Nate

i can't think of any others offhand. jaykeeley, maybe?

I am a bit of a Khanate fan as well.

 

[Dark One]

While there are a few things on RTR that I can almost begin to appreciate, I haven't found any redeeming qualities in Escape...

Yeah, that certainly seems to be the consensus. If nothing else, I can understand how the sound of the album can be difficult to get into when there are masterpieces of originality like the new Orphaned Land and Negura Bunget out there. I wouldn't necessarily give STYE an overly glowing review, but probably something in the 7.5 to 7.75 range. I still think "The Quiet Place" rules though.

 

[[0hr]Sunlapse]

I think STYE is a solid album.... nothing awesome, but not that bad..... id give it about 7/10 i'd say.... interestingly enough though RTR is actually my 2nd favorite IF album, i dunno, it just really hits me.... thing is though no IF album can come close to Colony, were really on a stride with that one, one of the best riff-fests ever, 10/10.... its in my top 5 albums of all time

 

[[0hr]Sunlapse]

I could care less about the review. What's so funny to me is that people take a review personally. Have they not figured out that it is one (1) person's biased opinion? who gives a shit....really?

i don't really care at all about the negative review, the only thing that pissed me off about it was the blatant calling of me "retarded"....(i do like clayman after all) thats all..... people can bash the album all they want for all i care....

 

[J.]

Fair enough. And I agree that Colony is awesome. Personally I think it's the best Friden-era IF album.

 

[Demonspell]

I agree that this album gives off a feeling of "why bother?" when comapred to the more challenging albums out there, but I think that it would be a bad album for anybody, not just someone with name recognition. And Colony I have mixed feelings on...it has some awesome songs, but also a few hints at their fatal flaws...

 

[J.]

Colony kicks ass. I'm actually listening to it currently. No weak songs on that one; pity Clayman and everything after that turned out to be big-heaps-o'-festering-crap.

....and the one before it.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

I love Colony too. One of the first IF albums to really grab me.

Jason >> No, I haven't heard the new IF. All kidding aside, I do seriously know that I will not like it. If a free CDR or something were to show up at my doorstep, I'd certainly give it a go, but I've spent my last dime on The Anders Show.