New album Foregone out February 2023

[DE4life]

I feel called out, bro . I can't help it, though, I love dem growlz.

Bro it's fine, his low growls are solid it's just funny when people relate it back to da rootz, when traditionally Anders hasn't really ever growled like that. Closest you'd get is TJR/Whoracle, but even then it's more of a half-scream with no real technique behind it.

 

[Moonshield_]

I now enjoy a lot more the whole new album

Addicted to In the Dark in particular.

There’s just verses on Bleeding out (make me think of Muse) and Cynosure, plus chorus on End the Transmission that I find to be a bit boring (because I’m really not used to this kind of music since I mostly listen to black,death,thrash metal).

I can now safely say it’s better than ITM because no songs on Foregone are as weak as House or We Will Remember (strangely enough I really like In this Life and All the Pain) and unfortunately I’ve never managed to get into Burn and Deep Inside (too happy choruses on these ones) in spite of their relative heaviness.

Since it can’t be guitar driven anymore, I want my In Flames to be at least melancholic+catchy and I think it’s rather the case here.

PS: Foregone really looks like a masterpiece compared to Battles. The global atmosphere is much better this time despite the Benson apects of the album.

Ranking :

In the Dark
State of Slow Decay
Foregone pt1
A Dialogue in B Flat Minor
Meet your Maker
The Great Deceiver
Foregone pt 2
Pure Light of Mind
Bleeding Out
Cynosure
End the Transmission

To sum up : cool growls + catchy choruses + good atmosphere + great production + beautiful artwork = pleasant album

 

[galvanized]

I now enjoy a lot more the whole new album

Addicted to In the Dark in particular.

There’s just verses on Bleeding out (make me think of Muse) and Cynosure, plus chorus on End the Transmission that I find to be a bit boring (because I’m really not used to this kind of music since I mostly listen to black,death,thrash metal).

I can now safely say it’s better than ITM because no songs on Foregone are as weak as House or We Will Remember (strangely enough I really like In this Life and All the Pain) and unfortunately I’ve never managed to get into Burn and Deep Inside (too happy choruses on these ones) in spite of their relative heaviness.

Since it can’t be guitar driven anymore, I want my In Flames to be at least melancholic+catchy and I think it’s rather the case here.

PS: Foregone really looks like a masterpiece compared to Battles. The global atmosphere is much better this time despite the Benson apects of the album.

Ranking :

In the Dark
State of Slow Decay
Foregone pt1
A Dialogue in B Flat Minor
Meet your Maker
The Great Deceiver
Foregone pt 2
Pure Light of Mind
Bleeding Out
Cynosure
End the Transmission

To sum up : cool growls + catchy choruses + good atmosphere + great production + beautiful artwork = pleasant album

Nice, man. In the Dark is growing on me as well.

This album is better than Battles. ITM, not sure yet. On those albums I could literally throw away many/most of the tracks without much thought. On this album most songs have at least some redeeming quality, so it’s harder for me to ignore the stuff I don’t like. But maybe that will fade with time. Dunno.

 

[Gums]

PS: Foregone really looks like a masterpiece compared to Battles.

Come on now. I reported this post to the moderator. The comment should be burned, and holy water sprinkled on it.

I was actually excited about this album after reading some things in advance. Turns out I got conned worse than the time my grandparents sent a guy $6000 when he pretended to be my brother on the phone!

Man, I let myself get optimistic. I thought that it's not outside the realm of possibility that Bjorn and Anders would have a lightbulb moment one day. The optimist in me had this spark of hope. They'd finally realize that their last several outputs were morbid abominations. They would then put forth the effort required to turn things around. I don't know.. it just seemed like something that could happen one day. The story fit, in my mind. They had a Covid break to think clearly. I also saw them live recently, and they played really well. The song selection seemed to indicate that they have somewhat of an awareness of what is worth playing and what isn't. So even though the Clayman remake made me physically fucking sick, I decided to give this one a chance.

Fuck me!!! I listed to this entire album! I looked like the guy in the background of this forum, I was fucking covered in barf, I looked like I had Bjorn's Beard but made of PUKE. Fuck!!!

PS. Bjorn and Anders are still 2 of my heroes for what they brought to my youth. But this shit sucks

 

[ThePhobiac]

Speaking of the Clayman re-recordings, I think they prove my longstanding belief that the Studio Fredman production saved that album and is largely responsible for its positive reputation. Disregard the changes they made to the songs (synths, Anders' singing) --- musically, they sound like the band's recent material. I'm pretty sure that if Bergstrand had produced Clayman, that album, not Reroute, would have been the one that caused that fanbase split that persists to this day.

 

[Ilias7]

What I like in music is when I listen to a song again and every time I discover something I didn't notice before. A nice melody underneath, a cool riff, a drum pattern, a change of tone, you get the idea. It is my indicator of how much depth a song has. Foregone is such a case, while Battles and most of ITM were not. With a couple of listenings you could get pretty much the whole picture. I do believe there has been actual thought and work in the process of composing this album.

 

[Gums]

Speaking of the Clayman re-recordings, I think they prove my longstanding belief that the Studio Fredman production saved that album and is largely responsible for its positive reputation. Disregard the changes they made to the songs (synths, Anders' singing) --- musically, they sound like the band's recent material. I'm pretty sure that if Bergstrand had produced Clayman, that album, not Reroute, would have been the one that caused that fanbase split that persists to this day.

I partially agree with that. However there were also elements of their music that went missing after Clayman, which appealed to those of us on the early In Flames side of the fence. Examples
- Suburban Me solo
- Another day in quicksand ending
- Songs without these singing choruses
The production change was hard to stomach, but it was also hard to say goodbye to truly awesome, non Bjorn, metal solos, songs becoming short and more predictable, and these clean choruses which sounded like crap to me.

 

[ThePhobiac]

There were things that were lost, definitely. They're twenty-some years overdue for a guest solo, too. And yeah, if you don't like the clean choruses, I imagine R2R would be a hard stop for you no matter who's producing. But I always felt the sung choruses were pretty subtle until Come Clarity, when they became a lot more prominent in the mix.

Just going off the sound (namely the bending), I've always thought Bjorn did the majority of the solos on Colony and Clayman -- they're way wankier than what was on The Jester Race and Whoracle. Clayman might as well be called Bjorn Gets To Play Lead: The Album.

 

[galvanized]

Let them get dreads, they said.
Let them cut their hair, they said.
See what happened?

In the end, hair = metal

 

[galvanized]

I partially agree with that. However there were also elements of their music that went missing after Clayman, which appealed to those of us on the early In Flames side of the fence. Examples
- Suburban Me solo
- Another day in quicksand ending
- Songs without these singing choruses
The production change was hard to stomach, but it was also hard to say goodbye to truly awesome, non Bjorn, metal solos, songs becoming short and more predictable, and these clean choruses which sounded like crap to me.

I also agree. The songs on Clayman don’t compare to the three earlier albums. They sound good because of Nordstrom. Several are catchy. But overall in terms of song writing, composition, raw musical ideas, it’s a step down. They were already running out of ideas at that point.

 

[Gums]

There were things that were lost, definitely. They're twenty-some years overdue for a guest solo, too. And yeah, if you don't like the clean choruses, I imagine R2R would be a hard stop for you no matter who's producing. But I always felt the sung choruses were pretty subtle until Come Clarity, when they became a lot more prominent in the mix.

Depends on your definition of subtle. Compared to this latest travesty of an album, where the vocals are so over the top its comedic, then yes, the cleans were subtle. But when you compare to the previous albums, where cleans were using sparingly and more as accents, RTR's cleans are not at all subtle - they are on every song, at the same point (in the chorus) and sung by a guy who can't sing, and half of them sound like nursery rhymes. It was jarring and weird.

 

[ThePhobiac]

By subtle I meant how prominent they are in the mix -- I find a lot of Reroute's clean-sung choruses aren't that different from the chorus of Pinball Map, and they're pretty quiet overall. You have exceptions like the Cloud Connected verses, but I don't see them as too much different from the Only For the Weak verses (maybe it's the fact that he's singing in a higher register that makes them seem jarring?).

But that's mostly subjective. When I got into the band with R2R, I didn't hear much difference in the cleans when I listened to Clayman, but that's just my experience.

 

[eochaid]

New Speaking of the Clayman re-recordings, I think they prove my longstanding belief that the Studio Fredman production saved that album

To me they prove that anyone can ruin a decent song. The same that happens with the cover EP.

 

[eochaid]

Just going off the sound (namely the bending), I've always thought Bjorn did the majority of the solos on Colony and Clayman -- they're way wankier than what was on The Jester Race and Whoracle. Clayman might as well be called Bjorn Gets To Play Lead: The Album.

As far as I know, with two exceptions, Bjorn did all of the solos till this album. In fact, they hired him with the condition of doing the solos.

 

[Pallbearer]

Gave it a spin, the ''metal'' side is definitely an improvement over the last couple albums at least. Really like Anders utilizing his death growls continuously on the album.
However like the last 2 albums, the overprocessed cleans turn me completely off of basically every song they feature. They are to ''catchy'' sounding and poppy. SOAPF is probably my favorite album when it comes to Anders cleans. A prime example being Where the Dead Ships Dwell. One of my alltime favorite choruses from IF/Anders, and it's purely because of the vocals. They are unique sounding.
I get people like the catchy and poppy choruses, especially people who aren't into the more heavy stuff, for them it can probably be a good bridge dynamically with the heavier sounding verses on the album. But for me it's just fucking boring honestly. It's way to much "anthem" sounding. And even in the verses with clean vocals, like Pure Light of Mind, they have this processed effect which ruins it completely. There is plenty of other songs where he can do the calm cleans in a good way imo, like The Chosen Pessimist, Come Clarity, Dawn of A New Day & Metaphor. Those still sound unique and hard to copy (whether you like it or not), recent couple albums the cleans has lost the Anders touch imo.

I'm sure people a lot of people will love the album though, especially people who love more catchier/poppier sounding clean vocals. That's completely fine, it's just not for me. Rhythm guitars are the biggest step-up imo. I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout most of the album. Drums also really nice.

Pros:
Production is much better than Battles & I, The Mask. Much more crispy, crunchy and clear sounding guitars and drums, without sounding overproduced.
Instrumentally it sounds better than in many years
Anders harsh vocals sound great, especially the increased utilization of death growls

Cons:
The overprocessed poppy sounding vocals completely drags the album down. And the cadence/melodies sometimes just sounds so fucking weird and off to me. And every song doesn't need to go for a catchy chorus with the same formula either..

Sadly, like last couple albums, won't probably be spinning this one much. Maybe it can grow on me a bit like other albums have, we'll see. But I just know the overly poppy sounding vocals does not scream high replay value to my ears.

But then again, I don't really listen to that much IF anymore anyways. But I will say, they sounded fucking great live when I saw them in December. So I will probably catch them live more times for sure.

I have come down with something and have no energy to write a proper review, but I find myself agreeing with most content of this post.

I don't think it's a bad album, but it could've been (even quite a bit) better. My suggestions:

-stop processing Anders's vocals so damn much. I don't object to him singing clean (if I did i probably would never become a fan in the first place, as Reroute was my first album) but for instance "Pure Light of Mind" is a perfect example of how to overdo it.

-get someone to help with composing. Björn got the best out of himself when he was working together with Jesper. He even said in one CC era interview that neither of them usually complete a song totally on their own - if he gets stuck Jesper helps out and vice versa. Björn did a good job on SOAPF where he really wanted to prove himself, but hasn't exactly been able to... how do you say it, "replicate the feat"? after that.

-hire a Swedish producer. I'm sure Benson is a nice guy to BBQ and have some beers with, and good at producing American pop metal, but In Flames isn't American pop metal, or at least I don't think it should be.

btw, Cynosure's chorus reminds me of a Bad Religion song, can't remember which one though. I'm not suggesting they copied it, just wasn't expecting an association like this.

 

[DE4life]

Jeez, I think you guys have been reading too many of the early forum topics on here Clayman is fantastic. Practically any legendary song would sound like shit if put through the Clayman 2020 filter. There's not a single song on Clayman I'd rate lower than 8 and most are 9 or 10. If good production mattered that much I'd be giving Foregone the same marks, rather than mostly 5 and 6's, so I think some of these takes are pretty exaggerated.

IF major dip in quality is from SC onwards. Pretty much everything before that is solid in terms of ideas, even if the execution is sometimes off (ASOP).

 

[The Grayfox]

I went through some old posts and found some entertaining stuff.

Pitiless Wanderer: [2008] "the best show was probably when they headlined at the new england metalfest like 5 years ago. awesome performance and the crowd went crazy. it was also the last show before anders started acting and dressing and singing like a wuss."

IntoPhagist: [2008] " Anders has a funny voice"

Clay-Man: [2009] "Wow new fans are assholes" - what happened to this dude?

Requiem960: [2008] in response to Clayman "Jeeze, this is their worst album. There are four songs I like on this disc. I can't vote in this poll!"

DE4Life: [2008] in response to Requiem960 "DIE."

AntiWiggin: [2008] also in response to Requiem960 "WTF"

The Grayfox: [2008] in response to The Jester Race "The title track, in my opinion, is not only the best song on the album, but the best song In Flames has ever made." — still true today.

The Grayfox: [2004] "Their setlists have been shitty for the past few years now" — that aged badly. I’d kill for a set from 2002-2004 now.

DiscipleOfTruMetal: [2004] "How could anybody still listen to this band? honestly..how could anybody listen to their "music", and still be content with themselves... i don't care if you flame me..I just want to see if you guys can answer this? is it the awesome guitar playing?(hahaha..thats a laugh) or the amazing Jonathan david inspired vocals? hmm.."

SpiritCrusherX: [2004] What the hell is going on? In Flames needs to hurry up and release the new album so that we can listen to it, make fun of it, and move on. But at least the making fun of it will make this board more active — some things never change

 

[DE4life]

Feels like that was an appropriate response from myself personally

In regards to what happened to Clay-Man, idk. Dude posted in the ITM thread but had been getting a lot less active over the years, and hasn't logged in on UM in 3 years now, so probably not coming back. I can only hope he isn't in jail, but can't rule it out.

 

[The Grayfox]

Looking through those old posts reminded me of so many people who used to be here who were also over at Everdying, Jesterhead and also the original IF forum here. How many of them still lurk around? Who knows?

 

[DE4life]

It's noticeable how many people stopped posting here after 2014 - I think Siren Charms killed what was left of most old schoolers hopes.