Most EPs fall into one of the following two categories:
- those that are released in order to earn some extra cash (if you can recycle some tracks left over from the last studio session, you can keep production costs relatively low) or to have a reason to tour again, but don't stray far from the band's other recordings;
- and those containing material that doesn't quite fit on a regular album, maybe because it's a little experimental or different from what the band usually does. To me, EPs from this category are often more interesting than a full album.
So, last week I bought In Flames latest offering, the "Trigger EP". I snatched a copy of the limited edition in a double digipak, containing an extra DVD with two videos. Put it into your player and push play...
1.) Trigger (single edit)
Well, to me it seems to be exactly the same track as on Reroute To Remain. Dunno what the "single edit" is supposed to be. You already know that one, so skip to the next...
2.) Watch Them Feed
This is an entirely new recording, and hooray! that awful guitar sound present on Reroute To Remain is gone, the overall sound is raw, but way better than on R2R. The track is pretty fast death metal with a modern main riff, a great chorus and even some guitar harmonies in the middle - that's how I like my In Flames tracks! Killer!
3.) Land Of Confusion (Genesis cover)
I had high hopes for this one when I read that In Flames were doing a cover of one of my favourite Genesis tracks. But what can I say - it's almost as bad as their cover of "Everything Counts". The atmosphere of the original isn't preserved at all, which would be cool if it was replaced with something else, but there's just... nothing. A lackluster performance, no new ideas integrated into the song material, Anders sounding bored on the clean parts... it seems to me that some parts of the song come across as more aggressive in the original version with Phil Collins singing! Bummer.
4.) Cloud Connected (Club Connected Remix)
I'm not at all against remixes if they add something to the song, but this one simply preserves the song structure and just adds some extra keyboard beeps and substitutes some drum parts with programming. Boring. The original version even seems more suitable to be played in a club than this "Club Connected Remix".
5.) Moonshield (C64 Karaoke version)
Yeah, this is what all you old school In Flames fans feared it would be. They dared to record their "classic" track with C64 sounds only (well, not real C64 sounds maybe, but something very close in spirit and sound). Now isn't that lack of respect for your own work?! To me, it isn't... actually, this is much more interesting than the previous "remix". I have a feeling that they put that thingie on the record to piss off some of the people still claiming that they've only gone downhill after "The Jester Race" (maybe already after "Subterranean"?) - and I love them for that!
Ah, the two videos (I hear they're also included on the standard version of the EP as CD-ROM video tracks in lower resolution)... they're cool, especially the Cloud Connected video has some nice camera movements and FX. Definitely worth the extra money for the DVD.
So, what kind of EP do we have here? I really can't decide in which of the above categories to put it. On the plus side, there's one new very very good track, a fun remix and two cool videos, but if that is enough for spending your money on it of you're not a hardcore In Flames fan (like me) is debatable -- and that is a little sad, because you're really missing a great new track that is not exactly in the Reroute To Remain vein.
So it definitely has some points that make it new and different from the recent In Flames material (making it a candiate for category two), but they're spoiled a little by the cover version and the unnecessary remix (which would make it fall into the first category). I would recommend to buy the limited edition if you stumble upon it, if only for the high quality videos.
- those that are released in order to earn some extra cash (if you can recycle some tracks left over from the last studio session, you can keep production costs relatively low) or to have a reason to tour again, but don't stray far from the band's other recordings;
- and those containing material that doesn't quite fit on a regular album, maybe because it's a little experimental or different from what the band usually does. To me, EPs from this category are often more interesting than a full album.
So, last week I bought In Flames latest offering, the "Trigger EP". I snatched a copy of the limited edition in a double digipak, containing an extra DVD with two videos. Put it into your player and push play...
1.) Trigger (single edit)
Well, to me it seems to be exactly the same track as on Reroute To Remain. Dunno what the "single edit" is supposed to be. You already know that one, so skip to the next...
2.) Watch Them Feed
This is an entirely new recording, and hooray! that awful guitar sound present on Reroute To Remain is gone, the overall sound is raw, but way better than on R2R. The track is pretty fast death metal with a modern main riff, a great chorus and even some guitar harmonies in the middle - that's how I like my In Flames tracks! Killer!
3.) Land Of Confusion (Genesis cover)
I had high hopes for this one when I read that In Flames were doing a cover of one of my favourite Genesis tracks. But what can I say - it's almost as bad as their cover of "Everything Counts". The atmosphere of the original isn't preserved at all, which would be cool if it was replaced with something else, but there's just... nothing. A lackluster performance, no new ideas integrated into the song material, Anders sounding bored on the clean parts... it seems to me that some parts of the song come across as more aggressive in the original version with Phil Collins singing! Bummer.
4.) Cloud Connected (Club Connected Remix)
I'm not at all against remixes if they add something to the song, but this one simply preserves the song structure and just adds some extra keyboard beeps and substitutes some drum parts with programming. Boring. The original version even seems more suitable to be played in a club than this "Club Connected Remix".
5.) Moonshield (C64 Karaoke version)
Yeah, this is what all you old school In Flames fans feared it would be. They dared to record their "classic" track with C64 sounds only (well, not real C64 sounds maybe, but something very close in spirit and sound). Now isn't that lack of respect for your own work?! To me, it isn't... actually, this is much more interesting than the previous "remix". I have a feeling that they put that thingie on the record to piss off some of the people still claiming that they've only gone downhill after "The Jester Race" (maybe already after "Subterranean"?) - and I love them for that!
Ah, the two videos (I hear they're also included on the standard version of the EP as CD-ROM video tracks in lower resolution)... they're cool, especially the Cloud Connected video has some nice camera movements and FX. Definitely worth the extra money for the DVD.
So, what kind of EP do we have here? I really can't decide in which of the above categories to put it. On the plus side, there's one new very very good track, a fun remix and two cool videos, but if that is enough for spending your money on it of you're not a hardcore In Flames fan (like me) is debatable -- and that is a little sad, because you're really missing a great new track that is not exactly in the Reroute To Remain vein.
So it definitely has some points that make it new and different from the recent In Flames material (making it a candiate for category two), but they're spoiled a little by the cover version and the unnecessary remix (which would make it fall into the first category). I would recommend to buy the limited edition if you stumble upon it, if only for the high quality videos.
