Metaphor

[Gums]

What are your thoughts on the track Metaphor? Adding a Country ballad in a metal album is thinking outside of the box, I'll give them that.
Please discuss this track and the merits of Jesper writing a country album in full. If it came to fruition, would you purchase that album without hearing it in advance? If Jesper asked you to be involved in his country album - would you accept the offer?

 

[Moonshield_]

Beautiful song, lots of childhood memories with this one.

And yes it's very similar to Cotton Eye Joe by the band Rednex but with a very IF signature style of melodies

 

[DE4life]

An interesting snippet below from Bjorn on Metaphor:

Matt: What was the deal with the Violin on "Metaphor" who's idea was it?

Björn: Actually that song started out as a Instrumental first, it was only guitars, I was sitting at home just writing instrumental parts so it was kinda nice as soon as Anders and the other guys heard it, Anders said "Let's do something different with it" Lets put lyrics with this lets put vocals on this, because we've already done acoustics and instrumentals and stuff we started working with that, we kept all the parts and melodies, but instead of having it repeat we wanted to add something different to it and I wasn't in on this decision but I heard it before we accepted it I think it was Dan or Anders idea and it was a really cool Idea, I didn't like it at first but now I like it.

 

[Gums]

It was probably the right decision. Although its kinda funny that he wasn't involved in that. Wtf? What was he doing? Using some of the company-allocated Annual Leave time and on a family road trip?

 

[DE4life]

I know by the time they got to Come Clarity there was a lot of dissension in the band, to the point where the instruments were recorded completely separately and then sent to Anders to solely put the vocals down, so maybe what happened with Metaphor played a part in that. Something similar also happened in the Siren Charms sessions. I can't remember which song it was, but I can remember Bjorn saying in some interview that he and Peter listened to a demo of one of the songs whilst they were driving and they were both confused because Anders and the producer had changed a lot of it without telling anybody else. Granted most of Siren Charms is drivel instrumentally anyway, so I can't imagine it would have made much difference to the quality of the output regardless. Nowadays Bjorn seems to have just accepted that it is what it is, to the point where he allowed Benson's cronies to write portions of Battles. Who knows with ITM and Foregone.

 

[Gums]

While they were driving LOL. What a mess.
@Xpyro125 What are your thoughts on Metaphor?

 

[Xpyro125]

I know by the time they got to Come Clarity there was a lot of dissension in the band, to the point where the instruments were recorded completely separately and then sent to Anders to solely put the vocals down, so maybe what happened with Metaphor played a part in that. Something similar also happened in the Siren Charms sessions. I can't remember which song it was, but I can remember Bjorn saying in some interview that he and Peter listened to a demo of one of the songs whilst they were driving and they were both confused because Anders and the producer had changed a lot of it without telling anybody else. Granted most of Siren Charms is drivel instrumentally anyway, so I can't imagine it would have made much difference to the quality of the output regardless. Nowadays Bjorn seems to have just accepted that it is what it is, to the point where he allowed Benson's cronies to write portions of Battles. Who knows with ITM and Foregone.

It was When the World Explodes, I distinctly remember Björn saying that there weren’t originally female vocals on it and that Anders surprised them with Emilia’s contributions.

While they were driving LOL. What a mess.
@Xpyro125 What are your thoughts on Metaphor?

I quite like Metaphor, it’s one of the few songs IF’s done with a wonderful sense of blues music that I wish they’d do more. Speaking on the country sound there, I definitely feel that the violins and backing acoustic guitars in particular give it a bluegrass touch as well. Reroute’s production works really well with it, though I definitely think that that’s a big make or break for it.

Personally, I find Black and White to be a rather boring song and closer especially, and I wish that Metaphor would’ve been the closing track instead. I place a great deal of important on opening and closing tracks, as they’re the first and final impressions of an album, and Black and White doesn’t make me want to relisten to the album whereas Metaphor gives me quite a bit to think about. Don’t hear the female vocals in Metaphor whatsoever, but it’s a really nice song regardless.

 

[Xpyro125]

Please discuss this track and the merits of Jesper writing a country album in full. If it came to fruition, would you purchase that album without hearing it in advance? If Jesper asked you to be involved in his country album - would you accept the offer?

After all the bullshit with Cyhra’s history, that would be a very difficult call to make. I trust Jesper, he’s my favorite guitarist, but I’d need to know that he’s the main writer and not just the bassist or something. If those are checked off, then fuck it, absolutely.

 

[The Grayfox]

I would probably actually enjoy Metaphor if it had stayed an instrumental. That song, and RTR in general, can get fucked.

 

[Xpyro125]

For me, my enjoyment of IF albums comes in waves— Reroute is the most flawed and inconsistent album of the middle era quality-wise, but I still enjoy it and think it’s good. It’s something that I’m starting to become unable to say about I, the Mask, but something I can say about SC if I take it for its own merits… At least not as a metal album, not as an In Flames album, and not comparing it to everything else that came before it.

I have a ton of nostalgia for nu metal and 90s-2000s metalcore, which Reroute falls under somewhere. I do think it’s an album that very much struggles though, particularly with the production, the laziness on guitars (They still did a few sections with harmonized guitars, but that makes the issue worse for me), and the vocals. Unlike STYE, where the production somehow makes all of its elements work surprisingly well (And they make that kind of production work), I don’t think that’s the case for Reroute. It has its great songs, but there’s also Drifter and Black & White. At least Daniel and Peter are quite possibly at their best on the album.

 

[DE4life]

Personally I like Reroute. It's different from what came before it, but still a solid album. I'd rate most of the songs from good to great, with only Drifter and Dawn of a New Day being in the "OK" category. They were obviously trying to shift to something simpler and more commercial, and figuring out how to push Anders vocals further forward whilst giving less prominence to the guitars, and in this respect they did a good job - irrespective of how you feel about the decision to do so. It's the first album that moves away from being almost totally guitar driven to being a mixture of guitar and vocal driven (with vocals especially taking on more importance in the pre-chorus and chorus sections). I find the title track to be really underrated in the IF back catalog, and Minus would be a 10/10 if not for the production dragging it down.

Generally, production is what lets Reroute down, in a big way. Even the band, for once, admitted that Reroute's production sucks - and that was as early as 2004, as there was an interview during STYE period when Anders straight up admits Reroute production is shit. That muddy mix really nerfs the guitars, softens the drums, washes out the bass and even the vocals have a robotic, muffled sound which takes away any power. Even worse that it came right after Clayman, as well, which had stellar production values.

 

[Gums]

No way man. They definitely did not 'do a good job'. They made an album that's a significant step down from the previous albums. The production is absolutely awful. Wow - they made the vocals louder.. good job! At the expense of the album sounding like total crap. And those choruses are a total joke. They moved his vocals ahead in the mix.. and his vocals are awful! They sound like someone who has never sang before, and the choruses sound like nursery rhymes. One of the most pathetic displays of metal choruses. And they repeat it with these songs over and over again, with super short songs with no music parts, nothing progressive or adding a little bit of meat to the song.
Minus, 10/10... riiiiiight. What the fuck. "I leave you negative behind". This is basic music, that sounds terrible. Awesome horrible effort all around on this album.

 

[DE4life]

I don't think they were aiming for the same thing on Reroute as they were with previous albums, though, so saying it's a step down is arguably subjective. Previous albums were written almost entirely around the guitar melodies, as opposed to something more commercial and groove-orientated, so whilst it's a step down for people who preferred the classic albums (myself included, for the record) it may not have been for people who prefer a simpler sound with greater emphasis on vocals. I think it's fair to argue that songs like Cloud Connected and Trigger are better crowd-pleasers than most of the songs on previous albums (save for something like OFTW). They have repeatedly said their aim was to produce music that translates better live - and when you see this in the reaction to songs like Cloud Connected, Trigger, and later on stuff like TQP, MSS, Take This Life, and so on... I don't think it's unfair to say they did a good job of that in that period, whether it was a step down from the perspective of musical integrity or whatever. I know at the time I was pissed off about the simplification of the music, but nowadays I understand why they did it. It's just annoying that they would never be honest about it in interviews, and quickly omitted almost all of the older songs from their live sets. They didn't need to do that - there were still songs from the older back catalogue that worked fine live. It's a shame they didn't create a more balanced mix in the 2000s - instead they largely shunned their older material and then had the temerity to complain that nobody reacted when they played an older song occasionally later on. Perhaps if Stand Ablaze had been played on and off over the past couple of decades more people would have reacted when it was played recently. Instead people pretty much only know Graveland and The Hive, because even when they do play older songs they just play the same ones over and over again.

 

[Gums]

I don't think they were aiming for the same thing on Reroute as they were with previous albums, though, so saying it's a step down is arguably subjective.

I would argue it's not subjective.

it may not have been for people who prefer a simpler sound with greater emphasis on vocals.

I don't believe these people exist. If they do, they are lame people.

They have repeatedly said their aim was to produce music that translates better live - and when you see this in the reaction to songs like Cloud Connected, Trigger, and later on stuff like TQP, MSS, Take This Life, and so on... I don't think it's unfair to say they did a good job of that in that period,

Nope. Crowds went crazy at older shows. I was there.

whether it was a step down from the perspective of musical integrity or whatever.

Effort, you mean.

It's just annoying that they would never be honest about it in interviews,

Pathetic, yes

 

[Gums]

We shouldn't give them any credit for this. They were pioneers of a genre, and yet they chose to abandon that to focus on vocals of a guy who didn't even know how to sing. There is no "doing a good job" here. It's absolutely ridiculous no matter how you spin it. They did it because of lack of effort, and trying to appeal to a more basic audience. Very weak

 

[DE4life]

What are your thoughts on STYE and Come Clarity?

 

[Xpyro125]

Both objectively and subjectively I think Reroute is a step down, but I would still say that it’s a good album. And there are definitely people who like or possibly even prefer the vocals of Reroute compared to those of previous albums— I’m not one of those people, though I do believe that metalcore fans in that time period, especially if first discovering the band, 100% did enjoy Anders’ vocals. I’m also fine with the lyrics— It’s just hard to hate this when I’ve had to feel the downward spiral of Cyhra’s lyrics. Songs like Transparent and Metaphor have Shakespearean penmanship compared to something like Bye Bye Forever or The Voice You Need To Hear.

That being said, I think Come Clarity would go on to do both the clean and harsh vocal styles of Reroute infinitely better, and the entire metalcore feel is done better on that album too (Though it feels intentionally metalcore on CC compared to simply being on Reroute). That being said, the cheapening out on harmonized leads in Reroute and saying that they wouldn’t be good for live play is something I can’t respect and find lazy, mainly because they actually still did some harmonized leads. I can appreciate the desire to make songs that would work well live, and I’m glad it’s not NHIH-levels of awful, but even moreso than just trying to appeal to a basic audience, it was laziness at the time. I do think there is still a lot to enjoy on Reroute and a lot to get out of it though, it’s just horribly, horribly flawed.

 

[Xpyro125]

I’m also fine with the lyrics— It’s just hard to hate this when I’ve had to feel the downward spiral of Cyhra’s lyrics. Songs like Transparent and Metaphor have Shakespearean penmanship compared to something like Bye Bye Forever or The Voice You Need To Hear.m

To clarify my stance here, let’s compare. Transparent first.

Secrets left above the grave
It's not for one to keep
You're all so self destructive
Spend more time with the broken
You know you lost when you feel transparent

Now Cyhra, with Bye Bye Forever:

I don‘t wanna bleed
Falling through this shadow day
As I fake another heartbeat
But there are moments when I‘m stronger
I give in
You win
Bye Bye Forever

Let’s do Dark Signs next.

We're out of focus
We've lost control
(Are you afraid?)
I blame our ego
And you call me names
(Do you want to be saved?)

And then Cyhra, with Dreams Gone Wrong.

Is this fear that I hear
Am I lost
Is this real
Nightmares belong where dreams gone wrong
We are dead
Or alive
Where’s the truth I can’t hide
Nightmares belong where dreams gone wrong

I think that In Flames’ lyrics, while starting to get dumbed down as time went on from Whoracle-ASOP (Come Clarity being a personal exception), they’re at the very least still interesting and not generic, particularly with some variety in approach. Reroute’s lyrics, while not the best executed, are really fascinating to dissect, particularly with the “fourteen songs of conscious insanity” gimmick leading to speculation that the lyrics could be about a number of mental illnesses and disorders, with some people believing that Metaphor, for example, deals with Borderline Personality Disorder. I would’ve said that I think each track has a different disorder it tackles, but I can’t really think of what disorder the title track or Dawn of a New Day would be about, so I don’t think that theory would actually hold much water. But whether it would or it wouldn’t, it is still fascinating, and I do think it’s good, even if it is rather flawed in execution.

I genuinely like Anders as a lyricist up until he started fucking his lines on Siren Charms. Jake E, meanwhile… His batting average at least beats Battles Anders. What an achievement. If you really want an example of nursery rhyme shit, DE4life and I have done our fair share of bitching about that exact sentiment with Cyhra.

 

[DE4life]

Both objectively and subjectively I think Reroute is a step down, but I would still say that it’s a good album. And there are definitely people who like or possibly even prefer the vocals of Reroute compared to those of previous albums— I’m not one of those people, though I do believe that metalcore fans in that time period, especially if first discovering the band, 100% did enjoy Anders’ vocals. I’m also fine with the lyrics— It’s just hard to hate this when I’ve had to feel the downward spiral of Cyhra’s lyrics. Songs like Transparent and Metaphor have Shakespearean penmanship compared to something like Bye Bye Forever or The Voice You Need To Hear.

That being said, I think Come Clarity would go on to do both the clean and harsh vocal styles of Reroute infinitely better, and the entire metalcore feel is done better on that album too (Though it feels intentionally metalcore on CC compared to simply being on Reroute). That being said, the cheapening out on harmonized leads in Reroute and saying that they wouldn’t be good for live play is something I can’t respect and find lazy, mainly because they actually still did some harmonized leads. I can appreciate the desire to make songs that would work well live, and I’m glad it’s not NHIH-levels of awful, but even moreso than just trying to appeal to a basic audience, it was laziness at the time. I do think there is still a lot to enjoy on Reroute and a lot to get out of it though, it’s just horribly, horribly flawed.

I'm not going to sit here and say the vocals on Reroute are objectively good, because we know Anders can't sing, and even the growls are overly processed - probably because they were pretty weak in studio. We know Anders was struggling with his voice at the time. Subjectively though they work okay for me on the album itself - might be because I'm just used to them, but regardless.

Lyrically Reroute isn't as good as what came before it, but it should also be remembered that it's only the second album where Anders wrote all of the lyrics by himself. Sundin was heavily involved in the lyrics of TJR and Whoracle, whilst he also had a hand in Colony's lyrics. Reroute isn't on the same level as Clayman lyrically, but it isn't a million miles away either. There's still good use of metaphor and vocabulary. Yeah there are some lines that are weak, but so there is on most albums. In general they're pretty good for the genre.

We know that Bjorn and Jesper were tired of creating the amount of melodies that were present on pre-Reroute albums. He;ll, we probably would have gotten a Reroute-style album two years earlier if it wasn't for Nordstrom pushing them to do better. We basically have him to thank for Clayman even existing. The band have admitted to being lazy, so that's a fair criticism because they themselves have said as much. With that said, would I class Reroute as lazy? Not necessarily. There are still a lot of nice melodies across the album, they're just often buried beneath the shitty mix. I think they purposefully dialled down the amount of guitar melodies to make something simpler, but that isn't just laziness, it's something they were purposefully trying to do. Shifting a lot of the focus to Anders' vocals is a questionable decision, considering his inability to sing, but if they weren't going to get a new vocalist then it was inevitable.

If you really want to talk about laziness in writing, then STYE is the real target. Even Anders said he was baffled by the lack of guitar melodies on that one. Reroute may be the foundation, but STYE is where In Flames hugely pivoted away from a unique sound into something far more generic and uninspired. They course corrected somewhat on Come Clarity, although why they did so in such a dramatic manner is up for debate. The band rarely play anything from STYE in their sets nowadays - and haven't really for a decade or more - so it doesn't seem to be an album that they, in retrospect, have much love for.

I've always believed the primary reason for the change in sound wasn't laziness, but rather the pursuit of commercial success. They saw that American metal bands like Slipknot were pulling in more fans and dollars despite doing far less instrumentally. They decided to take that road as well, and hey, it worked. The proof is in the pudding. In Flames' popularity quickly surpassed their peers during that time, peaking with Come Clarity in 2006. Say what you want about Anders vocals, the simplification of the music, the production or anything else - but if their goal was to become more popular then mission accomplished. The fact it coincided with Bjorn and Jesper not having to put so much effort in was just a nice bonus for them.

 

[Xpyro125]

I'm not going to sit here and say the vocals on Reroute are objectively good, because we know Anders can't sing, and even the growls are overly processed - probably because they were pretty weak in studio. We know Anders was struggling with his voice at the time. Subjectively though they work okay for me on the album itself - might be because I'm just used to them, but regardless.

Hey, I’ll gladly take Reroute’s vocals over anything from Siren Charms-onward, no doubt about that. I don’t hate them, I love how well he’s able to convey emotion with his vocals (Oh, hi, Foregone), but the worst instances (Drifter, B&W, Egonomic, DoaND, and System— Though I think they 100% work there) are objectively bad to me. Still, songs like Trigger, Cloud Connected, Transparent, Free Fall, Metaphor, and Watch Them Feed all have fantastic vocals comparatively speaking. I’d still gladly take System over Siren Charms, for instance.

Lyrically Reroute isn't as good as what came before it, but it should also be remembered that it's only the second album where Anders wrote all of the lyrics by himself. Sundin was heavily involved in the lyrics of TJR and Whoracle, whilst he also had a hand in Colony's lyrics. Reroute isn't on the same level as Clayman lyrically, but it isn't a million miles away either. There's still good use of metaphor and vocabulary. Yeah there are some lines that are weak, but so there is on most albums. In general they're pretty good for the genre.

For me, it’s just a few lines here and there being off and disconnected, particularly in subject matter, that do it, but I do otherwise like Reroute lyrically. I’d rather have the flaws of Reroute’s lyrics than the forced emo edginess of ASOP’s lyrics— That shit, along with the guitar tone, fucking sinks ASOP for me, as I’ve stated previously.

We know that Bjorn and Jesper were tired of creating the amount of melodies that were present on pre-Reroute albums. He;ll, we probably would have gotten a Reroute-style album two years earlier if it wasn't for Nordstrom pushing them to do better. We basically have him to thank for Clayman even existing. The band have admitted to being lazy, so that's a fair criticism because they themselves have said as much. With that said, would I class Reroute as lazy? Not necessarily. There are still a lot of nice melodies across the album, they're just often buried beneath the shitty mix. I think they purposefully dialled down the amount of guitar melodies to make something simpler, but that isn't just laziness, it's something they were purposefully trying to do. Shifting a lot of the focus to Anders' vocals is a questionable decision, considering his inability to sing, but if they weren't going to get a new vocalist then it was inevitable.

It’s still fascinating to know from Nordstrom that the band would’ve dropped the lead harmonies after Whoracle if he hadn’t pushed them so hard. Sure, they felt like he was an asshole, but he had high standards, and In Flames would probably have just ended up as an underground name aside from being a pioneer of MDM and influencing metalcore with The Jester Race. Clayman certainly wouldn’t have been remembered as fondly as it was.

I can’t comment on what direction the band would’ve gone in if they had it their way, but I don’t think it would’ve been something more accessible or alt metal/metalcore. Clayman definitely has instances of that, like some minor chugging in Pinball Map, but Colony doesn’t, so I really do think that there was a bit of laziness there. After all, Whoracle’s recording sessions were wrought with drunkenness and the band playing Tekken 3 incessantly, and the writing process was seemingly rather rushed— They had to cobble Episode 666’s demo for a compilation album in late ‘96, which released in March of ‘97 a little over a half a year before Whoracle’s released. Thankfully, that album turned out to be a masterpiece. Just a shame Siren Charms couldn’t follow suit.

If you really want to talk about laziness in writing, then STYE is the real target. Even Anders said he was baffled by the lack of guitar melodies on that one. Reroute may be the foundation, but STYE is where In Flames hugely pivoted away from a unique sound into something far more generic and uninspired. They course corrected somewhat on Come Clarity, although why they did so in such a dramatic manner is up for debate. The band rarely play anything from STYE in their sets nowadays - and haven't really for a decade or more - so it doesn't seem to be an album that they, in retrospect, have much love for.

Yeah, guilty, we (and Anders) can definitely agree there. Daniel Bergstrand fucking saved them and the album with its production because it absolutely would not have worked without that sound— And I guess in a way, that style of production wouldn’t have worked with material like Reroute. As someone who loves nu metal, STYE is nothing short of a miracle, but I can agree with the band in wishing it turned out better than it did.

I've always believed the primary reason for the change in sound wasn't laziness, but rather the pursuit of commercial success. They saw that American metal bands like Slipknot were pulling in more fans and dollars despite doing far less instrumentally. They decided to take that road as well, and hey, it worked. The proof is in the pudding. In Flames' popularity quickly surpassed their peers during that time, peaking with Come Clarity in 2006. Say what you want about Anders vocals, the simplification of the music, the production or anything else - but if their goal was to become more popular then mission accomplished. The fact it coincided with Bjorn and Jesper not having to put so much effort in was just a nice bonus for them.

I definitely think that was 100% the case by the time STYE came around, but I’m not so sure about back in Reroute’s time. I could be wrong though, I wasn’t there, and I guess in fairness, Slipknot and other big bands at the time got that much mainstream success back around 1999-2001, so the timeline makes sense.

I definitely think there was a huge injection of passion and fire for the guys for Come Clarity. I can’t speak on Björn or Jesper, but Anders had his daughter then, and it shows in how much purpose is on display in the lyric writing. I do know that melodic metalcore (Or what I call second wave metalcore) got huge around the time between Clayman and STYE, but it took towards the latter for it to his its peak in popularity, and I don’t think most of those bands and albums were as popular in Sweden towards the former’s time. STYE was a miracle, but Come Clarity was a perfect storm, and the sound worked absolutely perfectly for the band. I just wish that that apark didn’t fucking evaporate by 2008, since I could absolutely see a timeline where ASOP was even better with its injection of melody and, you know, actually good lyrics. There was passion there, and Björn and Jesper could’ve compromised, we could’ve seen CC’s harder edge metalcore infused with MDM stylistics and a ton of melody. It would’ve been a really cool way to satisfy both the old fans and the news fans— And it sort of does, but then you have the people, like myself, who just really don’t like it. It’s a product of turmoil, and it unfortunately shows. I think the softening of the sound was the result of the way metalcore was shifting into the MySpace metalcore era (Which they did technically get into with Abnegation’s demo being shared on MySpace), and if anything, I think we were lucky to have CC be as raw and aggressive as it was since that sound was well on its way out by STYE’s time. It’s all incredibly fascinating, if nothing else.