New album Foregone out February 2023

Also, that autotune, jesus christ. It's more painful for me to listen to now than it was when ITM was released, that's for sure. It would be more tolerable if the vocals weren't so high in the mix, but the vocals are really in your face and make it impossible to ignore.
 
I'm mostly talking melodically. I find the verses and the chorus to be in a similar, moody vein, while the pre-chorus is more "hopeful" sounding. I may be mistaken, but I think the difference is that the verses and chorus are minor-key and the pre-chorus is major-key.

Drum pattern differences between choruses and the rest of the song seems pretty typical, imo.

Not that I think any of this is a huge issue. It's one of my favorite songs on ITM.
 
Chorus breaks it from me. Not only is it shit, but drums and all seem out of place. Really hate that chorus. Without it, would be the best song of the album.

Come to think of it, half of ITM is good, half is beyond the pale. The good half has songs that are very close to being great, but there is always some random generic or bad part that just ruins the experience.

As for Broderick writing solos, I'm not too excited. The guy has a great technique, but his playing and songwriting is as souless as it comes.
 
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Screenshot_2023-01-24-23-15-31-54_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg

I was searching for guest appearances in solos and I found this about Colony. I don't remember the writing credits being that detailed.

And yes, I was searching for the guests because they have, in my opinion, the best solos so far. Marcello on Coerced Cohexistence and Amott on Suburban Me do a great job.

My favourite from Bjorn? OFTW. He's not a great solo player but this one is, in my opinion, pretty well developed and a nice melody to it.
 
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The same problem THE has now. No real solo guitar players in the band.

IF solos (guests excluded) work best when they have a nice melody to develop and harmonize. Slow to mid tempo, nothing fancy or hard.
 
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Okay, I also did the ranking thing and the top 30 was way weirder than I expected lol


The bottom 30 contains, unsurprisingly, almost the entirety of Battles.


Highest place per album:


Albums ranked by average place:

This is a really fun idea, I've given it a go too!

Highest and lowest place per album:
Lunar Strain - 36 (Everlost Pt II) / 149 (Starforsaken)
Subterranean - 29 (Stand Ablaze) / 112 (Subterranean)
The Jester Race - 1 (December Flower) / 100 (Dead God In Me)
Whoracle - 2 (Jotun) / 74 (Dialogue With The Stars)
Colony - 6 (Resin) / 94 (Man Made God)
Clayman - 5 (Bullet Ride) / 98 (Another Day In Quicksand)
Reroute to Remain - 27 (Metaphor) / 146 (Egonomic)
Soundtrack to Your Escape - 33 (My Sweet Shadow) / 143 (Superhero of the Computer Rage)
Come Clarity - 19 (Crawl Through Knives) / 148 (Scream)
A Sense of Purpose - 101 (March to the Shore) / 153 (The Mirror's Truth)
Sounds of a Playground Fading - 31 (A New Dawn) / 145 (The Jester's Door)
Siren Charms - 84 (When the World Explodes) / 160 (Through Oblivion)
Battles - 109 (Drained) / 171 (Before I Fall)
I, the Mask - 18 (Deep Inside) / 170 (Call My Name)
Foregone(so far) - 51 (Foregone Pt I) / 68 (Foregone Pt II)

Average place per album:

Lunar Strain - 109
Subterranean - 73
The Jester Race - 38
Whoracle - 30
Colony - 43
Clayman - 35
Reroute to Remain - 85
Soundtrack to Your Escape - 80
Come Clarity - 77
A Sense of Purpose - 108
Sounds of a Playground Fading - 74
Siren Charms - 133
Battles - 141
I, the Mask - 108
Foregone (so far) - 58

That would mean a best-to-worst album ranking of:

Whoracle
Clayman
The Jester Race
Colony
Foregone (please, please let the rest of it be good)
Subterranean
Sounds of a Playground Fading
Come Clarity
Soundtrack to Your Escape
Reroute to Remain
I, the Mask
A Sense of Purpose
Lunar Strain
Siren Charms
Battles

If asked, I'd always have put TJR first, and I'd have put Reroute ahead of Soundtrack, but maybe it's just that the high points on those albums distort the perception of the whole. Dead God in Me being down at 100 is probably holding TJR back, but maybe Whoracle is more consistent?
 
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Ok hear me out but Siren Charms actually has some really good guitar work on it. Simple, yes, but good. Listen to the instrumental of Dead Eyes, it's unironically one of my favorite songs that way. The vocals are... Hit and miss but my soft spot for that album makes me biased. I love the harmonised main riff, and the synth break in the middle of the song is great instead of a solo. Imagine Dead Eyes with SOAPF production and vocals, it would hit harder and be actually very, VERY good. That being said WEWO is still the best song on the album bar bonus tracks.

Also while we're on the topic of solos post SOAPF, Paralyzed has an underrated solo. It's simple, but it fits the song really well. Also Become The Sky has a great solo. How that song didnt make the album is beyond me as it's the best song from SC/Battles/ITM by far
 
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Well, firstly if you could give him a shout out from his bros in the Ultimatemetal crew that would be much obliged :cool:

Most of my questions would probably be considered rude :D obviously anything THE related is off the table.

To be honest I've always wondered if there was an inspiration behind The Attic, or whether it was just some random concept he came up with. Compared to practically anything else the band has done it stands out as being really different.

Meanwhile Ciko will probably ask you to get Anders' mobile number for him. Don't do it under any circumstances.
 
If there has been any difference in the creative, post writing and writing process for this album when compared to the previous ones. If there had been more involvement from the other members of the band.
 
Has Niclas officially quit the band or is he just on extended leave?

Also, ask him how much money we would need to raise over here for him to fire Howard Benson

I've got to say I cracked up at the thought of Anders suddenly getting asked this question in between of "normal" ones. :rofl:

On a more serious note, I think DE's question about 'The Attic' would be a good one.
 
An interview with Anders? Where is it and how can I join??

Jokes aside I have a few question for him.

IF Related:
- Foregone will be their 14th album now. Does the writing process getting harder for him creativity wise or became easier with years?

Non-IF Related:
- He done IF stuff like 25 years or something but he also did other stuff like If Anything Suspicious or collaborations with people from other genres. For example he done a song with The Bloody Beetroots which was an electronic music type (song called "Irreversible") or he done a song with Martin Rubashov which again, was completely different from IF (song called "Black Elk"). What does he thinks about this collaborations? And generally people who listens metal are not so open with other genres, whats his take on this matter?

Here's my final question:
With Covid production of vinyls slowed down and I can't find their old albums vinyl version. Will they done something like they did a few years ago, a vinyl collection of all of their albums cause I want it so bad damn. :D
 
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Please don't ask these questions if you want anything but the most boring answers ever.
If there has been any difference in the creative, post writing and writing process for this album when compared to the previous ones. If there had been more involvement from the other members of the band.
IF Related:
- Foregone will be their 14th album now. Does the writing process getting harder for him creativity wise or became easier with years?
It's... you know we are... we've been doing this for a very long time. It's... sure, it has changed, you know, we've all gotten better as musicians, and you know... we used to... we used to write songs as a trio, but it's been what, nearly two decades? Yeah, nearly, so it's me and Björn, we have our rhythm mapped out already, we both know what to do, we play off of eachother, it just works you know. I mean, sure... every record's writing process is different, but at the same time, they really aren't, you know what I mean? We try to push ourselves as musician, we play what we like, we write music, you know, we write music we really enjoy. We don't write singles, we are not that kind of band, we never were. And there were, well still is this terrible Covid around, you can definitely feel its impact, but you know, at the end of the day, it's really whatever we enjoy most at that moment.

And yeah, there are the others as well, of couse. Chris, you know, ugh, Chris really brought his experience, he made some killer solos, we were like "wow", we really can't wait to perform them all live. Tanner absolutely kills on the drums, and Bryce bring such a nice groove... you know, such a nice groove to it all, I can't wait for you to hear as it all comes together!

Has Niclas officially quit the band or is he just on extended leave?
He either won't answer this or gives you some understandable PR bullshit. Chris is a full time member now + Niclas' leave seemed a bit iffy, so there is no way there's currently any chance of him returning. So at best it's a nothing question, at worst we needlessly piss Anders off. I mean, if you want the latter, you might as well ask about whether he is still in contact with the OG group.
 
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Then ask him @Jester Slave suggestions. But, wait! He didn't suggest shit.

Dude. At this point answers to every question are going to be boring. Unless they ask him about THE which I don't recommend.

So, what do you expect them to ask him what he eats for breakfast? How is sex with his wife? If he's willing to write another song to his children?

You have just made the kind of reply that is negative and non constructive since you did not add shit. So, please, for the next reply, try to be creative.

At least, @ciko_gfb made an effort. You just made a long post to say no.
 
I didn't mean to hurt anyone's feeling, but these questions I quoted seem very lose-lose to me. We lose a "question slot" and get a generic answer, which you won't be satisfied it. He talked about making records and corona ad nauseum, and there is veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery little chance that he will say anything more. I bet if you were to wake him up in the middle of the night, he could recite this shit about him and Björn doing this forever, not writing singles, always making the best record, etc.

The Niclas answer is 50-50, as it's definitely something we haven't really seen them answer before, but what are the chances he will actually say anything? Either there is some animosity, or there isn't, but then he won't just throw Chris under the bus by saying yeah sure Niclas will come back.

And I have questions, but as I said, I was trying to be constructive on your behalf. If I insterted my questions instead of yours, that would've come across quite egotistical. I don't mind you asking, I'd just hate to see it being wasted. And by wasted I don't mean asking something which I have no interest in (ie. what's his favorite color), but rather something redundant which he already answered countless times before, and he pretty much said the exact same thing verbatim.
 
Meanwhile Ciko's pal SunofMyth asks "Hi Anders can you please explain the difference between this album and the last album in terms of music theory? Thx"

Anders: no
 
On the topic of "what probably should not be asked", here are the questions that were already asked by Czech 'Metalshop' in late November. (I couldn't be bothered to type out the answers.)

  1. Let's talk about your new album which comes out on February the 10th the next year. What was your mindset going into this? What were you trying to achieve?

  2. This is your 14th studio album, how easy or difficult it is to always come up with something fresh and different? Is it getting more difficult with time?

  3. In the press release you said ”...this is the new era of In Flames”. So what makes you say that?

  4. Would you say the album has been heavily influenced on the things that have been happening in the world the last couple of years?

  5. Currently you are on tour with ATG, Imminence and Orbit Culture, why pick these particular bands?

  6. Are you sad when fans don't get where you are going with your new music and want you to play still the same thing over and over again – or after all these years, you just don't care anymore?

  7. Will Ramos of Lorna Shore named IF as his all-time fave band and was so happy to meet and play with you. Did you ever have that similar moment when you met your hero and who was that?

  8. Which is your favorite tattoo on your body? Could you tell us its meaning?
  9. What would you do if you couldn't be a musician? What are the other things that you really like to do besides playing music?
  10. What comes to mind when you hear ”Czech Republic”? Are there any particular ”Czech stories” that you could share with us?