New album Foregone out February 2023

[eochaid]

I'm okay with radio songs when they're well done. In this regard, WWR is not specially good or bad. And it's a catchy song to listen to while driving or working.

I don't find it specifically offensive.

The lyrics are shit.

The intro riffs are nice.

Ropes, Where the Dead Ships Dwell, Alias, are examples of radio friendly songs that work nice. The problem with this one is laziness and excess of autotunes. Otherwise it would be just another IF song.

 

[Ilias7]

I agree with eochaid. WWR is quite good musically, it has a nice build up and a catchy chorus. But the shit lyrics prevent me from enjoying it. References to older songs is not cool, just cringe and uninspired.
One of the three songs I skip on ITM ( but better than House and In This Life).

 

[TheJestersDoor]

How has this album still not leaked

 

[galvanized]

I disagree that the lyrics are shit. I thought Anders did a pretty good job of weaving the different titles together into a coherent song. It is obvious to a fan but nobody else would notice. My favorite line:

Calling our gathered masses, from the colony to the hive, come to realize not an ordinary story…

Honestly, I kind of doubt that Anders wrote this. The English is perfect. The weaving together of the words is flawless, and there are no awkward phrases. It’s probably ghostwritten, but whatever.

The verse guitar and the lyrics are the only things decent to me.

What is more cringe? Name dropping some random dude from the 80s named Joey that nobody knows a fuck about? Or referencing your own cult hits from the classic days?

 

[DE4life]

The Joey line is without question the cringiest thing they've ever done as a band. Worse than Truth/House, even. It's so contrived and dumb.

I don't find WWR lyrics cringy, just weird to have them on a typical Benson track. Would have been cooler if they were on a song that sounded like Foregone 1/2, or even something like ITM or IAA.

 

[eochaid]

It's the same. It just matters how it's written. Nothing wrong with naming their classics or naming a random dude.

It's just weird that they chose a rock song for doing this.

And, dude, this is shit

"We have come so far
Crawled through knives and artifacts
We had a purpose and a reason
Behind space and time
Ignore the fixed ideals
Serve your restless soul
Dedicated to all that's sacred
Measuring noise and sound".

There's no way that we'll only measure the quality of the lyrics by how perfect is the use of the English.

And it doesn't matter that someone that doesn't know the band will not notice the references as references because this song is clearly targeted to fans.

 

[DE4life]

Well, compared to this:

"What we had, we threw away...
We were close to Heaven,
But we ended up in Hell.

Just cause the hurt doesn't show...
Threes no way to recover!
You broke my heart in two!

I had a dream of growing old...
I saw us driving to the end of the road...

We had this world of make believe
I thought I saw the fire in your eyes

You ripped the heart out of my will to survive,
You killed the part of me that kept us alive!

I'm drained and out of place!
I was shooting straight, but you stole my aim!
Could have walked for miles!
We were supposed to be the end of the line..."

WWR lyrics are fucking top tier poetry seriously, Drained lyrics are like something I'd have written when I was 13. They're so bad.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

The cringiest line is still "but think as I rape your mother"

 

[eochaid]

We all know that Anders is not going the biggest effort when it comes to writing lyrics.

 

[galvanized]

I don't find WWR lyrics cringy, just weird to have them on a typical Benson track. Would have been cooler if they were on a song that sounded like Foregone 1/2, or even something like ITM or IAA.

Exactly. It’s like they shit on their legacy with the music. They didn’t take it seriously or handle it with care. It was probably some bullshit that Benson came up with and Anders and Bjorn said yes because they were out of ideas. The entire middle section of ITM is a drag. Tracks 1,11,12 I WANT to listen to. Tracks 2,3,4 I WILL listen to if they play. Once track 5 hits, I’m skipping all the way to 11.

 

[ThePhobiac]

To me We Will Remember sounds exactly like the kind of fake stuff that would pop up on mainstream hard rock radio that would make me instantly change the station. Starset, Sixx AM, Three Days Grace, etc. I cannot stand that processed style of music and more than half of Battles and a solid third of I, the Mask are that -- We Will Remember is the biggest offender of them all, imo. The only thing I enjoy about it is that I tend to imagine Bjorn going apeshit during the last chorus for some reason.

The chorus of Cynosure is 100% that style to me, as well. But I'll wait to hear the final track.

 

[ThePhobiac]

The new snippet they posted on social media today is a good example of what I'm talking about. Very Here Until Forever vibes.

 

[eochaid]

How is that different from WTDSD or Deliver Us?

 

[ThePhobiac]

Well, WTDSD and Deliver Us are my least favorite tracks on SOAPF.

Mainly because I find the vocal melodies aren't all over the place and fit the instrumentation better, and in a way where I can think "this is In Flames" rather than "this sounds like a completely different band".

Here Until Forever sounds like Bring Me The Horizon. We Will Remember sounds like Starset/From Ashes To New/Architects/etc. I'm not sure what Deliver Us or WTDSD sound like.

 

[eochaid]

That's the feeling that I have had with most of the IF songs since SC. That all of the songs belong to any other band. But I understand what you mean. You don't like that kind of songs. I can get why. I don't have a problem with them. It's not their best but it's, for me, listenable.

 

[DE4life]

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=684832343438141

Apparently this is a snippet from Pure Light of Mind.

 

[DE4life]

Exactly. It’s like they shit on their legacy with the music. They didn’t take it seriously or handle it with care. It was probably some bullshit that Benson came up with and Anders and Bjorn said yes because they were out of ideas. The entire middle section of ITM is a drag. Tracks 1,11,12 I WANT to listen to. Tracks 2,3,4 I WILL listen to if they play. Once track 5 hits, I’m skipping all the way to 11.

I don't really listen to ITM songs these days, not on purpose anyway. But whether I'd listen to a song if it came on a random playlist...

Voices - Y
I, the Mask - Y
Call My Name - N
I Am Above - Y
Follow Me - N
House - N
We Will Remember - N
In This Life - N
Burn - Y
Deep Inside - Y
All the Pain - Y
Stay With Me - Y

So yeah, I pretty much agree for the most part. But I think Burn is decent and Deep Inside is good too. There's a pretty big chunk between 3-8 (excluding 4) where I'm not interested at all though.

Still a thousand times better than SC or Battles though. SC would have like, 2 or 3 songs max and Battles 1 or 2.

 

[eochaid]

https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/in-flames-foregone-album-review

At last, a positive review that feels balanced.

 

[Jester Slave]

https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/in-flames-foregone-album-review

At last, a positive review that feels balanced.

I literally just scrolled down to see if there's a score, then my eye caught this: "It’s not all perfect, however. Cynosure is pure filler". Even after that 1 minute, midi quality snippet, Cynosure is going to be anything but a filler. Some people will love it, some will hate it.

 

[DE4life]

Reads as laughably over the top to me. "A stalking, snaking guitar line gives way to a bright, euphoric and instantly hummable chorus", "Anders saves it from the skip button with a swaggering, chest-beating performance.", "The riffs on The Great Deceiver are sharper than the tip of a samurai sword, and on Forgone Pt. 1 both Chris and Björn Gelotte brilliantly duck, weave, pound and thrash along in awesome style.", "definitely In Flames’ strongest album since 2008’s A Sense Of Purpose, maybe even since 2006’s much-loved Come Clarity. "

lad earned his money from the label with this one.