New album Foregone out February 2023

[TheJestersDoor]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVVlHurFuQT/?utm_medium=copy_link

Something is being teased, Anders and Bjorn have been cryptic on Insta for a while. Providing they haven't been mixed and mastered by Howard Benson again I might look forward to new music

 

[ThePhobiac]

"If Anything Suspicious"

I think Bjorn only started writing new material recently, so I'd be surprised if there's something far along enough to start teasing.

My guess is that it's either a one-off song, a collaboration, or something from Anders' Clayman Limited merch label.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

Very true and I thought that too, only things that make me think otherwise is for a few weeks now In Flames' social medias have been responding to comments about a new album with "SOON" and then on that very post with "in the near future" so it's very possible, we'll have to wait and see.

Equally it could just be a new march line or side project or something meaningless, but it's on their Facebook now too. If we don't hear anything more by next Friday I'll be surprised

 

[TheJestersDoor]

https://instagram.com/ifanythingsuspicious?utm_medium=copy_link

 

[ThePhobiac]

Oh shit, could that be Anders' electronic music??? Pretty sure he was in Niels Nielsen's studio recently.

Consider me interested...

 

[DE4life]

They're reissuing their older albums, so a great time for Slave to pick up that copy of Lunar Strain he's always wanted.



I remember when STYE came out Dial-595 was one of my favourites on the album. It faded really fast for me though, and nowadays is probably one of my least listened songs from their back catalogue. I think it's just missing something extra to put it over the top. It's actually one of the few songs on STYE to have something resembling a solo, though, which is nice.

Best part about this song is how the band unintentionally (?) trolled some Indian guy who picked up when fans took in Flames up on their suggestion to dial 595-Escape.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

I've already picked up a copy of Used and Abused reissue cd as I don't have it, I'll be picking up Lunar Strain and Tokyo Showdown to add to the collection too

 

[DE4life]

I have my original copy of Used and Abused DVD/CD somewhere. It's definitely the best way to experience STYE. Pretty much all the songs sound way better live than they do on the studio album.

 

[Jester Slave]

I'd actually consider buying some of their stuff if they re-released it as a paperback. CDs are fugly and fragile. Lunar Strain would burn better in the fire as well.

 

[DE4life]

In terms of IF CDs I have TJR, Whoracle, Colony, Clayman, Reroute and Come Clarity. I attended a signing in 2006 and got TJR, Clayman and Come Clarity signed. The only other album I'd be interested in owning physically is SOAPF, but not to the point where I'd seek it out to purchase. Even having it signed now would be pointless without Niklas, Peter or Daniel around.

 

[eochaid]

I have everything, singles and EPs included, till soapf. Then came sc and I stopped being interested in buying their stuff.

But I would like to have some of the old stuff in vinyl. Maybe one day. Though I'm not in the mood to give them my money right now.

 

[ThePhobiac]

The music Anders has been posting about on his IG account sounds right up my alley. Hopefully we'll hear more about it this week. As a huge fan of Mitochondrial Sun, I'm definitely up for more electronic music from the Gothenburg guys.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVnlaajolML/?utm_medium=copy_link

This is not a joke, Daniel, Niclas, Peter, Mikael and Jesper are working on something, my hype levels cannot be contained

 

[DE4life]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVnlaajolML/?utm_medium=copy_link

This is not a joke, Daniel, Niclas, Peter, Mikael and Jesper are working on something, my hype levels cannot be contained

Yeah this is pretty awesome news. I wonder if The Halo Effect is the band name, an album name or a song name? Either way it's incredible that Jesper, Peter and Daniel will be in the same band - especially with Stanne and Engelin. It does raise some interesting questions though.

- What kind of project is this? A one off collab of some kind or a full on project? I'm assuming the latter as I've read they are signing with Nuclear Blast and there will be an announcent next week. We know it won't be a full time band for these guys as Jesper and Peter in particular aren't interested in that kind of thing anymore. Plus Stanne is still very much a part of DT. As a result I'm guessing they won't be touring much and will mostly be a studio band that plays a few shows here and there if the members are free.

- What does this mean for Jesper and Cyhra? I've speculated for a while that Jesper has detached himself from Cyhra and isn't really involved anymore, but I wonder what Jake and the other Cyhra guys make of this announcement. Jesper struggles to find time for Cyhra and now he's in a new project?

- Speaking of Jesper, I wonder how involved he'll be? If there's no pressure on him to tour then he could be quite productive on this (hopefully) and being involved with people who he's known and been friends with for a really long time may motivate him a lot.

- To me this potentially points to Engelin being done with In Flames. There have been rumours for a while that this is the case, and I'm not sure how Anders would view a current band mate being involved in a fairly high profile project with Jesper.

- The other big question is what kind of music will this be? I'd love for it to be some kind of 90s old school melodeath revival, but I'm not sure how interested in that style of music the members of this project are. Jesper and Engelin in particular haven't really done any melodeath stuff for a long time. Stanne still has the ability for it, and the latest DT stuff still has a lot of melodeath elements. It'll be interesting to see whether this is more of a 'modern metal' type project or more old school in approach.

 

[ciko_gfb]

Holy fucking shit.

With this kinda news, I had to get out of my cave. I was shocked when I saw the news.

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/former-in-flames-members-launch-the-halo-effect/

This band is a straight fucking diss to Anders / Björn / In Flames, mainly Anders I think. I was suspecting that Niclas was out of IF but with him joining this "I hate Anders Friden" project, now I'm pretty sure.

I'm hoping for good songs though I never liked Stanne's vocals.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was actually the reason Niclas left In Flames - whether that was a jump or a push is up for debate.

Hey at least it means we'll be getting 2 new In Flames albums heh.....

 

[DE4life]

Holy fucking shit.

With this kinda news, I had to get out of my cave. I was shocked when I saw the news.

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/former-in-flames-members-launch-the-halo-effect/

This band is a straight fucking diss to Anders / Björn / In Flames, mainly Anders I think. I was suspecting that Niclas was out of IF but with him joining this "I hate Anders Friden" project, now I'm pretty sure.

I'm hoping for good songs though I never liked Stanne's vocals.

I dunno, I don't think it's necessarily a direct diss to Anders & Bjorn, but all of the ex-IF members here either left the band because they disagreed with the direction of the band or didn't want to do the full on touring schedule anymore. A project like this gives them more creative freedom and less pressure to tour.

There are some interesting narratives at play here, though, for sure. I think Peter's comments in his recent interview are very telling:

During a January 2021 appearance on the "Vox&Hops" podcast, Iwers was asked if he ever misses being on the road. The bassist replied: "Yeah, absolutely. Well, 'miss' is kind of the wrong word. I loved being on the road for most of the years that I was with [IN FLAMES], and I miss the good times. I have no regrets as far as leaving, but, of course, sometimes I really miss just being free and out and playing shows and traveling to new places every day. But I have plans. Maybe this will happen again in the future — not with IN FLAMES, though, but, yeah, we'll see."

"I love being on the road for most of the years I was with In Flames", "I miss the good times" and specifically saying if something does happen in the future it won't be with In Flames suggests something went on there.

We all know Jesper's view on things, and the Engelin situation is really weird. Again it seems like something went on that we don't know about. If I had to guess I'd say most of it does probably centre around Anders, as Bjorn seems to be a bit more chill and we know he's still on good terms with Jesper, whereas Anders is not.

Honestly, I would have loved for Bjorn to be in this project instead of Engelin. No disrespect to Niklas but Jesper, Bjorn, Peter and Daniel in the same band with Stanne on vocals? To a fan of both IF & DT in the 90s/00s that is practically a wet dream.

 

[ciko_gfb]

I dunno, I don't think it's necessarily a direct diss to Anders & Bjorn, but all of the ex-IF members here either left the band because they disagreed with the direction of the band or didn't want to do the full on touring schedule anymore. A project like this gives them more creative freedom and less pressure to tour.

There are some interesting narratives at play here, though, for sure. I think Peter's comments in his recent interview are very telling:

During a January 2021 appearance on the "Vox&Hops" podcast, Iwers was asked if he ever misses being on the road. The bassist replied: "Yeah, absolutely. Well, 'miss' is kind of the wrong word. I loved being on the road for most of the years that I was with [IN FLAMES], and I miss the good times. I have no regrets as far as leaving, but, of course, sometimes I really miss just being free and out and playing shows and traveling to new places every day. But I have plans. Maybe this will happen again in the future — not with IN FLAMES, though, but, yeah, we'll see."

"I love being on the road for most of the years I was with In Flames", "I miss the good times" and specifically saying if something does happen in the future it won't be with In Flames suggests something went on there.

We all know Jesper's view on things, and the Engelin situation is really weird. Again it seems like something went on that we don't know about. If I had to guess I'd say most of it does probably centre around Anders, as Bjorn seems to be a bit more chill and we know he's still on good terms with Jesper, whereas Anders is not.

Honestly, I would have loved for Bjorn to be in this project instead of Engelin. No disrespect to Niklas but Jesper, Bjorn, Peter and Daniel in the same band with Stanne on vocals? To a fan of both IF & DT in the 90s/00s that is practically a wet dream.

Well, as far as we know, Jesper and Anders is not on good term. I know that Peter is not on good term with Anders because on one of his Facebook live chats, he said that he didn't talk with Anders. I don't think Daniel has a problem with Anders cause as far as I remember, Anders was sad about him leaving the band.

As for the Niclas, he just left the band? I remember he was out of the tour because of medical issues but he didn't returned since.

I mean if you're gonna put a band like this, of course you wont getting Björn as a guitarist for obvious reasons. So the best choice for being "former In Flames members" is Niclas and we know that Niclas in on good terms with Peter, Jesper and Daniel.

I agree with you on "A project like this gives them more creative freedom and less pressure to tour. " thing 100%. I'm sure Stanne cant tour with this project cause he's basically DT. But you have to remember that this band is the closest thing to Whoracle - ASOP era with the only changing member is vocals. It's like, "we couldn't do what we wanted back then because of you so we form a better In Flames without you in it"

 

[DE4life]

Well, as far as we know, Jesper and Anders is not on good term. I know that Peter is not on good term with Anders because on one of his Facebook live chats, he said that he didn't talk with Anders. I don't think Daniel has a problem with Anders cause as far as I remember, Anders was sad about him leaving the band.

As for the Niclas, he just left the band? I remember he was out of the tour because of medical issues but he didn't returned since.

I mean if you're gonna put a band like this, of course you wont getting Björn as a guitarist for obvious reasons. So the best choice for being "former In Flames members" is Niclas and we know that Niclas in on good terms with Peter, Jesper and Daniel.

I agree with you on "A project like this gives them more creative freedom and less pressure to tour. " thing 100%. I'm sure Stanne cant tour with this project cause he's basically DT. But you have to remember that this band is the closest thing to Whoracle - ASOP era with the only changing member is vocals. It's like, "we couldn't do what we wanted back then because of you so we form a better In Flames without you in it"

I'd either forgotten or didn't know about the Peter/Anders heat, but it doesn't surprise me. Kind of sad though. Is Anders really that much of a dick these days?

Niclas technically still hasn't been announced as leaving IF, but literally everything points to him being out except an official announcement. Him being part of this project makes it fairly clear that he is done with IF, though. I actually didn't realise it had been two and a half years since he'd last appeared with IF. Obviously you have to take the pandemic into account with that, but even so, I don't think he's returning.

With all of that said I still don't think this band was formed to say 'fuck you Anders'. I don't think the members are that childish. It's probably just an idea one of them had that seemed really cool, and everyone was on board. These guys have all known each other for decades and other than Stanne most of them are not touring regularly, so it makes sense for them to come together for a project, especially if they all have a similar vision of something they'd like to do.

At the very least it's unlikely there's bad blood between Anders and Mikael/Daniel, so those two won't have joined the project to give the middle finger to Fríden. I think it's just a case of these guys had a cool idea, they're long-time friends and 4/5 were free to give it a shot - with Stanne also jumping on board, likely due to the friendship between these guys.

And yes I know it isn't realistic for Bjorn to be in the band, I'm just saying it would have been really cool hypothetically. Niclas is fine but I've never been a big fan of Engel and he never really contributed to anything creatively to In Flames, so... meh. He's good at what he does but he's the least exciting part of the band for me.

 

[eochaid]

I've just read it! Holy fuck! I still don't know how to react to this.