The Grayfox
Nija
I didn’t realize that. I was at one of those 8 times. History was made!
New album Foregone out February 2023
- Thread starter TheJestersDoor
- Start date
Jester Slave
Narcissist
Yes, very Minus-y, or as the younglings would say: Minussy. It's baffling how certain songs not only did not become staples, but did not get their proper share of setlists when they had been just released. And we can't even blame it on Anders' voice, because back then he used to sing similar songs, and his new vocal capabilities makes a record like R2R a prime material to sing again, because he can just switch out the lunatic screams to death(tm) growls(tm).
It's true that Clayman is probably the most artistically interesting record they've put out. I complain about the vibe of that record, yet each song is like a different work of art. You could find a bunch of samey songs on the following records. They wouldn't be able to keep up with their release schedule of a new album every 2 years if they aimed for this level. You can't just churn these out, nor do I think every single record should be this compact. There are bands who try to make most of their records into some sort of concept album, and it's just fucking tiring after a while; just record 10 or so songs which you think are cool and save these grand concepts for when you really feel like you either struck gold or have something to say.
Why does Anders sound like a Puerto Rican from New York City?
Preparing for next album collab with Bad Bunny
Well, it's 8 times as per setlist.fm anyway. Not every show is catalogued there, but a pretty huge amount post-Reroute are, so I think it's quite safe to say it isn't much more than 8 times. And yeah you may have been there for Minus, but were you there during Bottled's limited 40 show run like this cool muthafucka?
... 
Clayman was definitely an apex insofar as the focus being on the guitars was concerned. After that album it became more about the whole, inclusive of vocals, for better or worse. The guitars on Clayman really do carry a massive bulk of the weight, even having intricate melodies in the chorus on most songs. On tracks like Clayman the vocal rhythm itself is already being played by the guitar in the chorus. Also, for the record, Clayman is one of the most stunning melodic tracks they have ever written. Almost the entire song is just one great melody after another. OFTW, Swim and Suburban Me are the other songs primarily in that bracket. Suburban Me in particular is just incredible. The guitar work in the chorus especially is just out of this world. I should also note that Daniel is awesome on that album as well, the drums really add a lot of punch to everything. The bass is also noticeable in how it drives the rhythm, especially in the sections where the guitars briefly fade out.
Clayman is that candy that is overloaded with sugar. You know it's bad for you in that it makes everything else taste kind of bland, but it hits your senses in a way that always has you coming back for more.
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Xpyro125
Active Member
- Dec 1, 2021
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I think All For Me is a fantastic song that’s very nearly ruined (If not ruined) by that absolutely abhorrent bridge. Anders’ vocals are so fucking atrocious there, and on an album with as much care as SOAPF, it seriously baffles me how that part made it through quality control. That just sucks especially because it’s such a fantastic song otherwise from the instrumentation to the specific raspy, straining sound of the vocals.
Fucking Bottled was played 40 times? That’s a goddamn travesty.
I do have to ask how well they performed Scream, because it feels like a song that was made for live performances. I think if done right, it could be an absolute killer live.
Not having listened to the instrumental versions of both albums, I tend to not agree in the comparisons between Clayman and CC. Yes, Clayman is more varied but the guitar work in CC is superb. It's the strong point of the album and it makes it the one with more energy in their discography. With lots of layers to discover in every listening and, in my opinion, the best choruses, when it comes to the guitar work, that they've ever done.
As for R2R sound, it's moody and it lacks some punch but, with the perspective that time gives, I think that it works. We still can listen to it and think that the album has just been released.
As for R2R sound, it's moody and it lacks some punch but, with the perspective that time gives, I think that it works. We still can listen to it and think that the album has just been released.
I have never liked All For Me, I've tried but I just can't get into it. The main riff reminds me of Bottled, and a lot of the song is just too slow and plodding for me to listen to. It's just my personal taste, but it's not a song that interests me at all. There are some nice instrumental elements at certain points. The intro is nice and I like the section about 3/4 into the song, but it's not enough for me to listen to the entire thing. It's cool if people do like it, and as far as I can tell many do, it's just not for me.
And yes, Bottled has been played at least 40 times, although mostly in 2007. I think the last time it was played was 2009 - according to setlist.fm anyway.
Scream sounded okay live from what I remember. There's nothing inherently wrong with the song from an instrumental perspective, it's just that stupid chorus that ruins it.
Simply put, it's just not logical to try and compare the post-Clayman albums to what came before it. From Reroute onwards the band are trying to achieve a different sound, and it's clearly a purposeful transition. One can say that they prefer Clayman's ultra-melodic atmosphere, but to say it's objectively better than the albums that came after it would only make sense if the band were attempting to achieve the same sound afterwards, and it's obvious they weren't. The guitars in Clayman are the driving force for all melody, whereas afterwards they are positioned primarily to provide rhythm with the occasional lead and solo, with the vocals taking on the role of providing melody in the chorus and many of the verses.
Production aside, I like what they did with Reroute. Nowadays I don't mind STYE. CC and SOAPF are two of my favourite modern IF albums. I don't judge them against the 1996-2000 albums because they are purposefully created to achieve something different to what was output during the TJR-Clayman period. It's quite fine to subjectively say 'I prefer x album over x album', but objectively you are comparing albums that aren't aiming to achieve the same thing. The guitar melodies on Clayman are incomparable to anything that came after it, I'm quite happy to say that objectively. Whether that makes the music better, however, depends on what you are listening for. If your preference is dat catchy chorus sung by Anders then Clayman is objectively not their best album for this. You'd be better off with Reroute, CC or SOAPF.
Oh, and also, on the 'old songs have too many guitar layers to play live' excuse...
Firstly, no. We have audio evidence that these songs sound quite fine live, in fact typically they sound great with the tweaks that are made. Faster, a bit heavier, and more energy. This is not a problem and I cannot imagine any person hearing those songs live would be disappointed because they don't have ten guitar layers as per the album.
Secondly, the stock response to this is 'well, even if you think those songs sound good live, the band might not be satisfied with how they sound'.
Lol, just fuck off with that. For this to be remotely valid as a reason we would have to believe the band are perfectionists when it comes to live performance. There is a myriad of evidence supporting the notion that this is absolutely not the case. Anders' clean vocals never come close to sounding as good as they are in the studio, and he's openly admitted he can't pull them off live and doesn't care because it's all about having emotion in the voice. Not the stance of somebody who is a perfectionist. In terms of guitars, Bjorn especially can be very sloppy live. He regularly changes parts of songs that are too difficult or precise, often butchering or significantly decreasing the quality of solos - especially OFTW. Now, that doesn't necessarily have a major impact when you are watching them live, but again, nothing to suggest Bjorn is anything close to a perfectionist when it comes to ensuring the album sound is perfectly captured on stage.
So no, I don't believe that excuse either. And the thing is, it's fine. I've never demanded they play older songs. It'd be nice, but if they don't want to then it's their right. I choose whether I give my money to them for a show or not. If they are playing mostly new stuff and I pay to go and see them, that's my decision. There's no reason for me to be disappointed or angry with them. I know what I'm paying to see.
I just wish they hadn't been so dishonest and, as Slave alluded to, condescending with their reasons as to why they don't play the older songs. From 'the crowd doesn't move' to 'too many guitar layers, the songs weren't meant to be played live' - it's just bullshit. IF were a live band from 1996 onwards, as soon as the core of the band was formed on TJR they toured regularly. They were able to adapt every song from TJR and Whoracle to be played live without a problem back then. Just be honest and admit you don't really want to play that stuff live - whether it's because they don't want to personally, or because they think shows with newer songs will sell more tickets, it's fine either way. I would respect that honesty far more than what has, at times, been gaslighting of the fans of the older works.
Firstly, no. We have audio evidence that these songs sound quite fine live, in fact typically they sound great with the tweaks that are made. Faster, a bit heavier, and more energy. This is not a problem and I cannot imagine any person hearing those songs live would be disappointed because they don't have ten guitar layers as per the album.
Secondly, the stock response to this is 'well, even if you think those songs sound good live, the band might not be satisfied with how they sound'.
Lol, just fuck off with that. For this to be remotely valid as a reason we would have to believe the band are perfectionists when it comes to live performance. There is a myriad of evidence supporting the notion that this is absolutely not the case. Anders' clean vocals never come close to sounding as good as they are in the studio, and he's openly admitted he can't pull them off live and doesn't care because it's all about having emotion in the voice. Not the stance of somebody who is a perfectionist. In terms of guitars, Bjorn especially can be very sloppy live. He regularly changes parts of songs that are too difficult or precise, often butchering or significantly decreasing the quality of solos - especially OFTW. Now, that doesn't necessarily have a major impact when you are watching them live, but again, nothing to suggest Bjorn is anything close to a perfectionist when it comes to ensuring the album sound is perfectly captured on stage.
So no, I don't believe that excuse either. And the thing is, it's fine. I've never demanded they play older songs. It'd be nice, but if they don't want to then it's their right. I choose whether I give my money to them for a show or not. If they are playing mostly new stuff and I pay to go and see them, that's my decision. There's no reason for me to be disappointed or angry with them. I know what I'm paying to see.
I just wish they hadn't been so dishonest and, as Slave alluded to, condescending with their reasons as to why they don't play the older songs. From 'the crowd doesn't move' to 'too many guitar layers, the songs weren't meant to be played live' - it's just bullshit. IF were a live band from 1996 onwards, as soon as the core of the band was formed on TJR they toured regularly. They were able to adapt every song from TJR and Whoracle to be played live without a problem back then. Just be honest and admit you don't really want to play that stuff live - whether it's because they don't want to personally, or because they think shows with newer songs will sell more tickets, it's fine either way. I would respect that honesty far more than what has, at times, been gaslighting of the fans of the older works.
I must say that, among the few bands that I have seen live, IF must be the most unprofessional. It's not just Anders weak singing. Bjorn also doesn't seem to give a shit about his live performances.
Also, excuse me but, paying 40€ or whatever they charge today for an hour and a half show is just a no for me. I expect bands to give their all during, at least, two hours. There's no technical or physical excuse for the length of their shows having in mind what a lot of other bands do.
Also, excuse me but, paying 40€ or whatever they charge today for an hour and a half show is just a no for me. I expect bands to give their all during, at least, two hours. There's no technical or physical excuse for the length of their shows having in mind what a lot of other bands do.
Also, I don't think that CC is an album vocal oriented. In fact, I can easily think of Anders struggling to create his parts. The guitars, and their melodies are there almost all of the time.
If I have to compare it to Clayman, this (Clayman) seems to me more vocal friendly.
If I have to compare it to Clayman, this (Clayman) seems to me more vocal friendly.
Vocals on Clayman are mostly just layered on top. They play their part but are not driving the melody in any noticeable way, often the vocals are just mimicking the guitar lines beneath. Clayman and Suburban Me choruses are good examples of this. Even in songs like Square Nothing and S&A where there are sections without major guitar-work, you'd struggle to call Anders' mumbling creating melody. Anders is doing his part but his vocals are following the lead of the guitar.
CC is a little different in that we already know the instruments were created completely independent of vocals and then sent to Anders to work with. In that sense you can say it's more of a guitar-driven effort than any of the post-Clayman albums. However, vocals are providing far more melody in various places compared to Clayman - especially in the choruses. By this point this is just how Jesper and Bjorn were structuring songs. They definitely put more effort into bringing the guitars to the forefront, but they aren't 100% key drivers of all melody in the same way they are on Clayman, for example.
CC is a little different in that we already know the instruments were created completely independent of vocals and then sent to Anders to work with. In that sense you can say it's more of a guitar-driven effort than any of the post-Clayman albums. However, vocals are providing far more melody in various places compared to Clayman - especially in the choruses. By this point this is just how Jesper and Bjorn were structuring songs. They definitely put more effort into bringing the guitars to the forefront, but they aren't 100% key drivers of all melody in the same way they are on Clayman, for example.
The Grayfox
Nija
And yeah you may have been there for Minus, but were you there during Bottled's limited 40 show run like this cool muthafucka?
Unfortunately, I too have been there for Bottled. But I also got the rest of STYE, so there's that. Which means I've gotten one of two times Borders and Shading was played. Also one of the two times they've covered Blinded by Fear. Going through setlist.fm, I've actually gotten quite a few rarities that I've taken for granted. They are definitely missing some shows though. I know Suburban Me was tried at least once and according to somebody who was there, it didn't go well... specifically the solo. And have they really not played Artifacts since 2012? What a god damn travesty.
Also... https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/in-flames/2006/marquee-theatre-tempe-az-73da66c5.html
Fucking hell...
Jester Slave
Narcissist
Damn, what a start to a show. Them not playing Artifacts is also a crime. Great melody, barely longer than Graveland, great solo (or call it whatever you want to), absolutely doable vocals.
Listening to Graveland just now, it's actually closer to Lunar Strain than TJR. Good job guys, you bullied them too far into old-school.
Listening to Graveland just now, it's actually closer to Lunar Strain than TJR. Good job guys, you bullied them too far into old-school.
Brothers in arms having both endured the suffering of Bottled live.
The Artifacts hiatus doesn't surprise me - keep in mind until recently they hadn't played fucking Episode 666 for over 13 years. Happy to play The Hive on loop for practically a decade plus though.
When I went to see them in 2006 in London they played some really good stuff, although nothing truly rare. Leeches, System, Trigger, Behind Space, Crawl Through Knives, Black and White, Moonshield, Episode 666 and Vacuum were all really cool to see. Vacuum was in fact only ever played in 2006, so if you didn't see them that year and like that song you were and likely are shit out of luck.
Suburban Me attempt ending as a fail wouldn't surprise me. No chance of Bjorn pulling off that solo live - especially considering it wasn't even him on the album.
As far as crimes go, Evil in a Closet only ever being played 10 times has to be up there. One of their best ballad-type songs, actually within Anders' ability to pull off live, and they've only ever played it 10 times - all in 2004. Meanwhile the godawful Here Until Forever has been played 139 times. Disgusting. No offence to Move Through Me, but how does a bang average track like that have 61 more live appearances than EIAC?
Frankly, it feels like the band just have shit taste when it comes to their own music.
Not sure I'd go as far as Graveland being LS material, but keep in mind they were playing that one regularly between 2006-2008 also. Between 2009 - 2016 they basically played nothing from TJR at all, then briefly started playing Moonshield in 2017 before switching back to Graveland as their go-to, for reasons only known to Anders and Bjorn.
For anyone who cares, top 10 tracks of all time played by IF, according to setlist.fm:
1. Cloud Connected
2. Take This Life
3. Only For The Weak
4. Pinball Map
5. The Quiet Place
6. The Mirror's Truth
7. Trigger
8. Behind Space
9. My Sweet Shadow
10. Colony
Behind Space being 8th is interesting, although it should be noted that it picks up most of its hits between 1998 and 2006. They didn't play it at all for 9 years between 2009 and 2018. For whatever reason it's back in favour now though. Must be Foregone connecting them with da rootz again.
As far as albums are concerned, Reroute is their most played album, barely beating out Clayman with 3139 plays to 3130 respectively. It's a steep drop off from that point, as SOAPF comes in 3rd with 2221 plays. TJR is 12th and actually comes behind Lunar Strain in 11th, although that solely owes to Behind Space being played so often. They have only ever played three songs off TJR remotely regularly live - Moonshield, Graveland and Artifacts. Imagine having played more songs from fucking Siren Charms and Battles live over the course of your career - keeping in mind TJR came out in 1996 and the other two came out in 2014 and 2016. Quite pathetic, really. Watch Them Feed has been played more times than everything, except the three aforementioned songs, from TJR.
They can claim to love that album, and say "you're not an In Flames fan if you don't have TJR", but actions speak louder than words. These fucks don't respect that album at all. For what it's worth, TJR's play count increases slightly if you include the medley of Dead God/TJR/Behind Space they were playing in 2008, but not enough to push it above Lunar Strain (and you'd also have to give +54 to LS anyway due to Behind Space being part of the medley).
Based on the average setlists on setlist.fm, worst year to see IF live would probably have been 2014 unless you really, really love Siren Charms.
Also, just to loop back to the earlier discussion about the melodic differences between Clayman and Come Clarity, see below examples.
Choruses of Clayman & Suburban Me (instrumental):
Aside from these both being utterly glorious, it's clear that the vocal lines are based on the guitar melodies. You can hear this very clearly on both.
Now, if we are to compare, say, Leeches and Crawl Through Knives choruses from CC:
The difference is stark. Firstly, much less melodic, but that's because the vocals are being relied upon for the primary chorus melody, not the guitars. Anders is creating the melody with his vocals on these choruses, with the guitars simply supporting, whereas on Clayman the guitar melodies create the vocal melodies.
Choruses of Clayman & Suburban Me (instrumental):
Aside from these both being utterly glorious, it's clear that the vocal lines are based on the guitar melodies. You can hear this very clearly on both.
Now, if we are to compare, say, Leeches and Crawl Through Knives choruses from CC:
The difference is stark. Firstly, much less melodic, but that's because the vocals are being relied upon for the primary chorus melody, not the guitars. Anders is creating the melody with his vocals on these choruses, with the guitars simply supporting, whereas on Clayman the guitar melodies create the vocal melodies.
I would also posit that Colony is actually a more vocally inclusive album than Clayman. The former has a lot less melodic guitar-work, where the vocals actually do create parts of the melodies (think the Ordinary Story verses, or the 'helpless excuse, a fallen reality' section from Insipid 2000, although there are other examples). The latter is heavily, heavily focused on the guitars doing almost everything, to the point of reducing the vocals to genuinely little more than a supporting role. The closest you get on Clayman is probably the Bullet Ride verses (although again, can you call that mumbling 'creating melody' ?) and the chorus to Pinball Map (probably why it's played so often live). Although when you listen to Pinball Map instrumental the guitars are still bookending the vocal melodies, just more subtly.
Looking at it this way, you can maybe understand why Anders felt Nordstrom was sidelining him and wanted to move to a different producer. On Clayman he really was sidelined with the guitars given precedence in every respect. Fortunately for Anders, Bjorn and Jesper didn't like being made to work that hard, and were evidently more than happy to move to a producer that would place less emphasis on the guitars and more emphasis on the vocals.
Looking at it this way, you can maybe understand why Anders felt Nordstrom was sidelining him and wanted to move to a different producer. On Clayman he really was sidelined with the guitars given precedence in every respect. Fortunately for Anders, Bjorn and Jesper didn't like being made to work that hard, and were evidently more than happy to move to a producer that would place less emphasis on the guitars and more emphasis on the vocals.
The Grayfox
Nija
Suburban Me is a fucking work of art, I’ll say it until the end of time.
Graveland is a weird thing. The crowd never gets into it, yet it’s become a staple in their set. If their logic of not playing certain old songs is due to non reactions from the crowd, I guess I don’t understand why it even matters which old songs get played. Is Graveland just the safe choice because it’s short and to the point, easy to pull off? Is it because it’s one of Anders’ favorite songs? Same with the Hive. It doesn’t get a huge reaction. There was a time when I thought “ok, switch out Episode 666 and play something else from Whoracle.” Now I would love to see Episode 666 back in the rotation because at least it would be different. Why Graveland and The Hive? Why not Artifacts and Jotun? Why not Moonshield and Food for the Gods? Is it laziness? They don’t seem to have a problem pulling out some rarities for Dalhalla. You’ve rehearsed them, so why not just keep them around? The crowd goes mild for Graveland anyway, so just let them go mild for Stand Ablaze instead.
Graveland is a weird thing. The crowd never gets into it, yet it’s become a staple in their set. If their logic of not playing certain old songs is due to non reactions from the crowd, I guess I don’t understand why it even matters which old songs get played. Is Graveland just the safe choice because it’s short and to the point, easy to pull off? Is it because it’s one of Anders’ favorite songs? Same with the Hive. It doesn’t get a huge reaction. There was a time when I thought “ok, switch out Episode 666 and play something else from Whoracle.” Now I would love to see Episode 666 back in the rotation because at least it would be different. Why Graveland and The Hive? Why not Artifacts and Jotun? Why not Moonshield and Food for the Gods? Is it laziness? They don’t seem to have a problem pulling out some rarities for Dalhalla. You’ve rehearsed them, so why not just keep them around? The crowd goes mild for Graveland anyway, so just let them go mild for Stand Ablaze instead.
I was going through some old IF interviews recently, some interesting comments in these for sure.
An interview with Jesper from 1997, post-TJR and pre-Whoracle
www.chroniclesofchaos.com
"Bands change but that is required to keep it fresh and innovative at times. We have changed our music from the sound we were doing four years ago, but it has been natural for us. Some bands change to keep up with what is going on at the moment and they will never succeed in the long run because they keep having to change to be accepted."
Interesting that even as far back as when TJR was released Jesper was already defending the change in sound. Bizarre, actually, considering only LS and Sub had been released at that point. I can't help but think his final line here prophesises what In Flames ultimately became, though.
"I think people are drawn to In Flames because of our diversity. As well, our fans, or people that may know us, know that they are going to get something different with each release and not have us repeat the same song styles. I think from looking at our music and career from this point, we have not stagnated ourselves."
This quote is pretty strange as well considering, again, they'd only released LS, Sub and TJR at this point. With LS and Sub really just being demos. Just shows how much attention In Flames had gotten even by 1997. Honestly this is the kind of quote you'd expect to see in an interview from 2006 or something, not 1997.
An interview with Jesper from 1998, after Whoracle's release
www.chroniclesofchaos.com
"In terms of new material, we have written a couple of new songs and I think one of them is the best song we have ever written. It sounds like "Moonshield Part 2" or "Gyroscope Part 2". It is a very good song."
I have no idea what song he's talking about here. I can't think of any song on Colony that sounds like Gyroscope or Moonshield part 2. Pallars Anders Visa is the closest, I guess, but I don't get the feeling he was talking about that. I wonder if this song was just dropped in the end?
"We want to maybe try a bit more clearer vocals. Not in the same vein as Amorphis, because I think if you can't sing normal then don't do it 'cause it sounds pathetic."
Ain't that the truth.
"I like the whole feel of [Whoracle], but as most musicians will point out about their efforts, I am not 100% happy with the production. It was good, but could have been better."
Interesting as Whoracle production is often brought up as being a little off. With that said, I'd like to know what 1998 Jesper would make of ASOP's production, as seemingly he had no problem with that mess.
"[Whoracle] was a very quick record for us to assemble. But there were problems first off. I had a writing block for sometime and I didn't know what we were going to do. No ideas were coming to me and I was worried. I didn't write for almost a whole year, though I had written the song "Episode 666" (off _Whoracle_). Then at the start of 1997 I had started to write material and then it all just poured out. To go from total blackness to a new album in less than four weeks. It just came out all at once."
Pretty damn impressive that all of Whoracle except Episode 666 was created in four weeks. It also suggests that, regardless of songwriting credits, Jesper was basically responsible for the majority of Whoracle from a songwriting perspective.
"I am not in Hammerfall. They are a real band now and I have no part in the band. They had real problems with people thinking it was a side-project of In Flames."
Did not realise people thought this. Strange considering Hammerfall and In Flames are poles apart musically.
An interview with Bjorn from 2000, after Clayman's release
www.chroniclesofchaos.com
"While the band does have a very faithful following, a lot of fans of the band feel very passionate about the work on _The Jester Race_ and think that much of In Flames' new work is just a continuation of that, not really breaking from that mold. About those comments from fans, Gelotte answers: "Let people think what they want. Some people even want us to go back and record another album like _Lunar Strain_. Why should we do that? That would be like living in the past. We are getting older now and are being influenced by many different things these days."
Lol, it's funny to me that even back then people were wanting them to go back to da rootz. They'd have to wait another 23 years for that (Foregone \m/)
"[Clayman] It was all pretty much done within the time frame of a month. It was very fast and it felt so good to be able to go into the studio inspired and get it all done so quickly."
Seems that they do their best work when it gets done quickly. Siren Charms excepted, obviously.
"We used to be very lazy, but this time around it was the total opposite."
And look at the end result, an amazing instrumental effort. A shame they went back to being lazy. 'Used to', yeah, that didn't last.
Another interview with Bjorn from 2000, after Clayman's release
"ID: Clayman. Just actually got a copy.
Björn: Actually, I'm sitting here with a copy, the first printed one. I didn't even get to look at the lyrics yet. Should be interesting reading them tonight.
ID: Does Anders just write the lyrics without telling anyone about them?
Björn: He never tells anybody, not even press, about the lyrics.
ID: Oh."
lmao, I love how for some reason the interviewer seems quite offended/baffled by this.
"ID: Some people accuse Colony of having one constant tempo, but Clayman is very dynamic in comparison."
Just find this an odd question... what people accused Colony of this?
"ID: Do you think that Clayman is going to be harder to reproduce live?
Björn: I think we always try to make the songs possible to play. We are not a studio band, we are a live band these days. We try to make the songs to sound good live, but I don't think it will be hard to reproduce this live."
And yet you never seem to get the OFTW solo right.
"ID: It's my favorite song on the album. So, other than In Flames, what do you guys do. Do you have day jobs or families?
Björn: Actually, I work in a music store in Gothenburg. An instument store, not a cd store.
ID: Cool.
Björn: Yeah, I get to work with all these nice guitars and stuff, and try the new, latest stuff, which is really cool for me. And I meet a lot of people really interested in music, so it's great for me. Also it's relaxation, instead of just playing music, you get to talk other kinds of music with other people. Everything from pop music to the darkest gore metal. For me, everything is really cool. Daniel is working as a teacher somewhere, teaching Latin and Italian or something like that. Peter is going to have another kid soon. He has a wife and a kid, so he is pretty happy with that. He is really a family man. Anders has Studio Fredman. He has his hands full. Jesper has a family, with a couple dogs and a girlfriend. Well, he has just one dog now. And a big apartment, just writing music all day."
Some cool background on what Bjorn was doing as a normal job back then, although I assume he left that job quite soon afterwards.
"Bjorn: And we have all sorts of music, it's not all Swedish music. It's maybe mainly not Swedish music. But it's the same stuff that's popular over here, excuse me for saying crap. I can't really stand it. You know "Cryyying." Too much.
ID: Boy bands?
Björn: Well, I wouldn't say that about boy bands.
ID: Well, the Backstreet Boys are my secret love that I don't tell anyone about.[Seems you just told the world, Kevin. --Jamie]
Björn: Yeah! That's the same with us! We rarely speak about it, but we listen to that stuff. The songs are really well written, and the choruses are excellent."
I will always respect somebody showing their love for the Backstreet Boys.
"ID: On to the scandalous question. Why is the Clayman release party postponed?
Björn: Release party, postponed?
ID: Yes, I read it on the website.
Björn: It's postponed now? I didn't know that. Ahh, shit. Maybe I should call home. I didn't know that.
ID: I'm sorry.
Björn: Nah nah, it's alright. It's good that someone tells me."
Something about this exchange just cracks me up. Even back then Bjorn was the last to know.
"ID: So, what music are you really into these days. Where do you find inspiration?
Björn: Well, it's hard. I like everything. If it's the Backstreet Boys, or Slipknot, which I find very interesting. I listen to Meshuggah. I listen to everything. I think it's important to maintain a diversity; to get a healthy perspective on music. I mean, Jesper listens to everything from power metal to brutal death metal; he loves Macabre. He really enjoys some Britney Spears songs. I mean everything. Anders is a great fan of Tea Party and Tool. We listen to a lot of different things. You shouldn't be afraid of listening to different stuff, or we might produce the same album all the time. I know people who say "Oh, I only listen to my own albums" of their own."
Firstly, Bjorn utterly destroying he and Jesper's underground credibility. Secondly, I'm sure there was an interview recently where it was stated Bjorn listens to nothing new anymore, only old stuff he likes. Pretty sad that he went from being so open-minded here to just listening to the same stuff. Might explain why his riffs and solos sound so utterly uninspired and recycled these days, though. He had it right back then.
An interview with Daniel from 2003, after Reroute's release
www.darkside.ru
"Tell me something about the new album that you're writing at the moment. How do the new songs sound like? Will the new stuff be a development of what you did on "Reroute To Remain" or will there be another dramatic turn?
You'll still hear that it's In Flames. Some people say there are drastic changes from "Clayman" (2000) to "Reroute To Remain", but I don't really see it. Nevertheless, it's up to them to judge. We now have 13 songs for the new album, there will be a couple of really fast songs and also some really groovy and heavy and aggressive stuff. It's still In Flames, it's still melodic, but we try to experiment, as we always do, just to make it interesting for ourselves."
Hard disagree there, Daniel.
"Do you have a title for the new album? As far as I understand, "The Tuborg Sessions" is the working title…
It's just a misunderstanding. Tuborg is a Danish beer, and we had a lot of Danish beer, so that's why we called it "Tuborg Sessions". There's nothing serious about it, it was just for fun, but then they wrote in newspapers that this is the working title of the new record. (laughs)"
Lol, imagine actually believing the album would be called "The Tuborg Sessions". Would have been quite epic tbf, but still.
"What is the song "Dismiss The Cynics" about?
It's not me writing the lyrics, but from the title I can guess that it's against narrow-minded people. Narrow-minded when it comes to music and to everything."
Should have just called it "Old Fans - Just Fuck Off and Die".
"More about session musicians - you had Kee Marcello (Europe) doing one guitar solo on "Colony" (1999). How did you get to know him? Do you like Europe?
That was Fredrik Nordstrom, our old producer, who met him in a bar. And Fredrik knew that Jesper (Stromblad, guitar) is a really big fan of Kee. So we invited him to the studio and Jesper didn't know it. When he came to the studio, Kee was there playing guitar, so Jesper was totally stunned! (laughs) That was the thing was we did for Jesper. And Kee is a really good guitar player."
Cool little story that I didn't know.
"What's your impression about their latest album "St. Anger"? Have you heard it?
I heard two songs and I think it sucks! (laughs) Not really, but I have to listen to it more. The sound is weird."
Your first answer was correct, Daniel.
"Nuclear Blast decided to use your version of Metallica's "Eye Of The Beholder" for their "Tribute To The Four Horsemen", but this recording is nearly nine years old. Why didn't you do something new for this tribute?
We didn't wanna be on the album, because we didn't wanna do a metal cover. And we said, "Please don't use this song, because it's so old, and only one current member of In Flames is playing on it." If a kid buys the album and gets excited about In Flames, it's not fair, because that's not how we sound today. We didn't wanna be on the album, and that's not something we are behind."
Fair comment.
An Interview with Anders from 2004, about a month before the release of STYE
ultimatemetal.com
"How are you?
A:Uh, great, nothing to complain, what about you?
I have a cold at the moment, but okay.
A:Not that good. Well, okay then"
Lol, what a strange and awkward start to an interview. Why include this?
"I even know some people who claim that you changed your style just to reach a wider audience!
A: No, that's bullshit! We didn't change the sound that much, it's just a progression that started and we go on with it. You can't compose songs just to please people, no way."
We didn't change sound that much. Yeah, OK.
"Talking about your upcoming tour now. I guess it's quite hard after so many albums to choose songs to play live. How many of the older ones do you actually choose?...like from the first albums like Jester Race or Whoracle?
A:We hear it from all fans "please, play something from Jester Race and Whoracle and Colony or whatever" but we learned over the years that we write our music, our songs, from live-perspective, all songs from Soundtrack To Your Escape we're able to play live, and they will sound good live. The songs from the Jester Race - we were young, we were like trying to get everything into one song, all tons of melodies at the same time, different guitarlines and so on. They will sound totally crap and weak and that's why we don't play those songs live. And when it comes to choose songs - yeah, its harder and harder for every album, you need to play songs from the new album, you want to present the new album and that's why we have to kick out some old stuff. It's really hard which ones we will choose or which are not supposed to be in there, but we have to make it interesting and challenging for us so it feels good to play the songs; it shouldn't be like we have to play them, because the audience will see that we are forcing ourselves I guess - we want to be happy, but it's harder and harder every time, of course."
What a giant mass of nonsense. You hear from all the fans that they want you to play some stuff from the classic albums, and you ignore them. Well done. Colony was only five years old at this point as well, fuck me. That'd be like saying nowadays "people ask us to play Siren Charms Battles and I, the Mask or whatever but fuck that, those albums are old". As for TJR stuff sounding "totally crap and weak" live, just fuck off with that. If that was the case you'd have had nobody coming to your shows between 1996 and 2002. At least he comes close to admitting the truth when he mentions "forcing" themselves to play older songs. Because the truth is, simply, that he and probably Bjorn just didn't want to. Nothing to do with them being "totally crap and weak". What a dense thing to say. As if your clean vocals don't sound "crap and weak" every time you attempt them. Really funny to hear him talk about STYE songs being so good to play live. Yeah, that's why you ended up playing barely any of them regularly over the years. One of the most neglected albums in terms of songs played live. Obviously didn't work out as he expected.
"Could you ever imagine to record an album on which you'll go back to the roots?
A:Why? We have all the roots with us, why do we have to go back to the roots? If you're a band and you say "Ah, we need to go back to the roots", then you lost something along the way, there's no point. We exist for ten years now and we can't write the same songs again and we don't want to do."
Ah, the good old rootz. If only he could go forward in time and hear Foregone. Then he'd realise how wrong he is.
An interview with Anders & Peter from 2004, 6 days before the release of STYE
www.chroniclesofchaos.com
"CoC: As far as choosing Daniel Bergstrand to produce the new record -- why use him again this time round?
PI: We were very comfortable with working with him the last time. He was very dedicated to what we were doing and he did a very good job. Why change a good recipe?"
Hmmm... not sure Reroute's production counts as "doing a good job" but yeah, OK.
"CoC: As you grew more popular after _The Jester Race_, In Flames obviously drew a lot of criticism with people saying that you were repeating yourselves and that you had grown boring. Was the departure of _Soundtrack to Your Escape_ a reaction to that?
AF: We've been around for a long time and we've learned a lot from our experiences. From the first album we have been growing as a band. In the beginning we didn't really know how to play live, we weren't such good songwriters, but we pushed everything we had into In Flames. We don't regret anything, but I think that it's important to move forward and it's important not to repeat yourselves."
'We weren't such good songwriters' - fucking bullshit. Imagine being stupid enough to even say that, considering how awesome TJR and Whoracle are. Not to mention, we weren't such good songwriters? Who is we, Anders? It isn't you, as you didn't write any of the songs, so this is basically taking a shot at Jesper, Glenn and Bjorn. Both an incorrect and offensive statement, frankly. But yeah, sure, Bottled and F(r)iend, far superior songwriting to anything off the old albums. So much better.
"CoC: Any last words, guys?
AF: Buy _Soundtrack to Your Escape_. You will not be disappointed."
Narrator: They were disappointed.
An interview with Anders from 2006, just before Come Clarity's release
www.chroniclesofchaos.com
"CoC: After so many years of working with essentially the same group of people, has the temptation ever arisen to use another producer or go to a completely different studio?
AF: I think it's always good to have an outside opinion, and this time around we did do things slightly differently. I would like someday to have a different producer all the way and see what they can do with the music. Not to have them change it, but just to see what they can bring to the table and what sort of perspective they can bring to things."
Ten years later, every song co-written by Howard Benson and co.
"CoC: Who would be your dream producer to use?
AF: <pauses>
CoC: Bob Rock?
AF: <laughs> No, maybe Rick Rubin. Terry Date would be cool too."
Poor Howard, not even in Anders' thoughts in 2006. Although I'm not sure how famous he was back then.
"AF: We'll always be In Flames no matter what happens. We can change songs here and there, but we will always be melodic and we will always be aggressive."
Eight years later, Siren Charms happened.
"CoC: What do you think of the music press?
AF: I don't think anything bad about journalists. We need them and they need us, you know? And I don't blame them when an article comes out and maybe I don't sound like such a cool guy. I think that a lot of things that are said and quoted come from the band members and it's their responsibility to make sure that they're not saying anything they shouldn't be. A lot of bands tend to love the press while they're doing well, and they hate them when something bad gets said about them and people turn on them. They always blame the press and some people just love to say certain things so that they can be seen as being rebellious. And when that goes wrong, then they blame the press and they say that they were misquoted. That's their fault, and no one else's. Personally, I've never had any problems with any of the press. I've been misquoted sometimes, but it's never been anything serious. Sometimes you shake your head at a review, like when people were saying that we were going nu metal with _Reroute to Remain_, or when they say that now you sound like this or now you're sounding like that band. We're just doing our own thing. We're not trying to sound American. We're Swedish. We've been around for a long time and we've been doing this same thing since we began. The musical climate might change, but we don't. Sure we don't do the same album every time, but we're still In Flames every time. We are on our own path somewhere. And it's hard to be original. A lot of people try to do it and they fail, but I don't think that there's another band who sound like In Flames. No doubt about it. I don't think anybody can sound like we sound."
Kind of a condescending take, honestly. Also "the musical climate might change, but we don't". Haha, good one m8.
"CoC: My next question is about Passengers, and I was wondering what's happening with that project now that your priorities with In Flames have obviously begun to take up a lot more of your time.
AF: Well, I've recorded vocals for about ten or twelve songs. I don't know how many of those will make it on to the next album, but it's really just a case of finding the time to do it. Right now In Flames takes up my time 24/7. And to be really honest, Passengers is more of a nice outlet for me to do things I can't do with In Flames and spend some time with my friends. We'll see whatever happens."
Sounds like a bunch of new Passenger stuff was recorded - demos, at the very least. A shame they'll likely never see the light of day.
An interview with Peter from 2008, just before the release of ASOP
www.darkside.ru
"Beside the title track, “The Mirror’s Truth” there will be three more songs on the single – “Eraser”, “Tilt“, “Abnegation”. What songs are these? Were they left out off the album and didn’t get on it?
Exactly. We wrote 16 songs for this record and only 12 were put on the album. But all songs were really good and they could be on the record as well. We just felt that they were good enough, but they couldn’t be on the record, cause it would be too long then. And moreover to sell a single to people with only one song it makes no sense at all. So we decided to put them on the Japanese version."
Firstly, TCP is the equivilent of 3 songs, so just remove that and replace with Eraser, Tilt and Abnegation. Make TCP a Japanese bonus. Problem solved. Secondly, I always find it odd that Eraser especially was recorded as part of the overall ASOP sessions. It sounds so different in terms of production and style.
"If you were to characterize “A Sense Of Purpose” in several words what words would you choose?
The very very diverse record. So that you can basically take all In Flames records so far and put them together and then you have “A Sense Of Purpose”. It’s a combination of everything."
Sorry Peter, but no.
"The new album will be also released in a limited edition? What bonus-track will there be?
(thinks) It will be the song … Well for me the song has just a working title, I mean that which we are going to use as a bonus track. I forgot the name of the song, but that will be a song – very good song by the way – that didn’t get either on the record, or to the EP. So there will be only one bonus – this song."
The mystery song that never saw the light of day. One assumes he isn't talking about the South Korean album version with the Alias remix, anyway.
"You have a joint project with one of your group mates - Jesper Strömblad - DJ Sellout & DJ Kaos.
Yeah! It’s just a DJ project. We travel around the world and play our favorite music. We are invited and we go and play. We’ve been to Greece, some places in America. We hang around, have a good time and show people our favorite music."
I would have liked to have seen this.
An Interview with Anders from 2019, after ITM release
empireextreme.com
I'm literally including this for one comment:
"I will never go back and do another ‘The Jester Race’ or ‘Whoracle’ or ‘Colony’ or ‘Clayman’. It wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t be true to that album. That album is perfect in every way. If I try to go back 20 years and try to recreate something when I’m in a whole different state of mind, that wouldn’t do it justice. It would just only be bad."
Clayman 2020 has entered the chat.
Seriously... Clayman 2020 was released barely a year after he said this. Way to stick to your beliefs.
An interview with Jesper from 1997, post-TJR and pre-Whoracle
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 4/9/1997
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 4/9/1997
"Bands change but that is required to keep it fresh and innovative at times. We have changed our music from the sound we were doing four years ago, but it has been natural for us. Some bands change to keep up with what is going on at the moment and they will never succeed in the long run because they keep having to change to be accepted."
Interesting that even as far back as when TJR was released Jesper was already defending the change in sound. Bizarre, actually, considering only LS and Sub had been released at that point. I can't help but think his final line here prophesises what In Flames ultimately became, though.
"I think people are drawn to In Flames because of our diversity. As well, our fans, or people that may know us, know that they are going to get something different with each release and not have us repeat the same song styles. I think from looking at our music and career from this point, we have not stagnated ourselves."
This quote is pretty strange as well considering, again, they'd only released LS, Sub and TJR at this point. With LS and Sub really just being demos. Just shows how much attention In Flames had gotten even by 1997. Honestly this is the kind of quote you'd expect to see in an interview from 2006 or something, not 1997.
An interview with Jesper from 1998, after Whoracle's release
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 3/10/1998
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 3/10/1998
"In terms of new material, we have written a couple of new songs and I think one of them is the best song we have ever written. It sounds like "Moonshield Part 2" or "Gyroscope Part 2". It is a very good song."
I have no idea what song he's talking about here. I can't think of any song on Colony that sounds like Gyroscope or Moonshield part 2. Pallars Anders Visa is the closest, I guess, but I don't get the feeling he was talking about that. I wonder if this song was just dropped in the end?
"We want to maybe try a bit more clearer vocals. Not in the same vein as Amorphis, because I think if you can't sing normal then don't do it 'cause it sounds pathetic."
Ain't that the truth.
"I like the whole feel of [Whoracle], but as most musicians will point out about their efforts, I am not 100% happy with the production. It was good, but could have been better."
Interesting as Whoracle production is often brought up as being a little off. With that said, I'd like to know what 1998 Jesper would make of ASOP's production, as seemingly he had no problem with that mess.
"[Whoracle] was a very quick record for us to assemble. But there were problems first off. I had a writing block for sometime and I didn't know what we were going to do. No ideas were coming to me and I was worried. I didn't write for almost a whole year, though I had written the song "Episode 666" (off _Whoracle_). Then at the start of 1997 I had started to write material and then it all just poured out. To go from total blackness to a new album in less than four weeks. It just came out all at once."
Pretty damn impressive that all of Whoracle except Episode 666 was created in four weeks. It also suggests that, regardless of songwriting credits, Jesper was basically responsible for the majority of Whoracle from a songwriting perspective.
"I am not in Hammerfall. They are a real band now and I have no part in the band. They had real problems with people thinking it was a side-project of In Flames."
Did not realise people thought this. Strange considering Hammerfall and In Flames are poles apart musically.
An interview with Bjorn from 2000, after Clayman's release
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 8/12/2000
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 8/12/2000
"While the band does have a very faithful following, a lot of fans of the band feel very passionate about the work on _The Jester Race_ and think that much of In Flames' new work is just a continuation of that, not really breaking from that mold. About those comments from fans, Gelotte answers: "Let people think what they want. Some people even want us to go back and record another album like _Lunar Strain_. Why should we do that? That would be like living in the past. We are getting older now and are being influenced by many different things these days."
Lol, it's funny to me that even back then people were wanting them to go back to da rootz. They'd have to wait another 23 years for that (Foregone \m/)
"[Clayman] It was all pretty much done within the time frame of a month. It was very fast and it felt so good to be able to go into the studio inspired and get it all done so quickly."
Seems that they do their best work when it gets done quickly. Siren Charms excepted, obviously.
"We used to be very lazy, but this time around it was the total opposite."
And look at the end result, an amazing instrumental effort. A shame they went back to being lazy. 'Used to', yeah, that didn't last.
Another interview with Bjorn from 2000, after Clayman's release
"ID: Clayman. Just actually got a copy.
Björn: Actually, I'm sitting here with a copy, the first printed one. I didn't even get to look at the lyrics yet. Should be interesting reading them tonight.
ID: Does Anders just write the lyrics without telling anyone about them?
Björn: He never tells anybody, not even press, about the lyrics.
ID: Oh."
lmao, I love how for some reason the interviewer seems quite offended/baffled by this.
"ID: Some people accuse Colony of having one constant tempo, but Clayman is very dynamic in comparison."
Just find this an odd question... what people accused Colony of this?
"ID: Do you think that Clayman is going to be harder to reproduce live?
Björn: I think we always try to make the songs possible to play. We are not a studio band, we are a live band these days. We try to make the songs to sound good live, but I don't think it will be hard to reproduce this live."
And yet you never seem to get the OFTW solo right.
"ID: It's my favorite song on the album. So, other than In Flames, what do you guys do. Do you have day jobs or families?
Björn: Actually, I work in a music store in Gothenburg. An instument store, not a cd store.
ID: Cool.
Björn: Yeah, I get to work with all these nice guitars and stuff, and try the new, latest stuff, which is really cool for me. And I meet a lot of people really interested in music, so it's great for me. Also it's relaxation, instead of just playing music, you get to talk other kinds of music with other people. Everything from pop music to the darkest gore metal. For me, everything is really cool. Daniel is working as a teacher somewhere, teaching Latin and Italian or something like that. Peter is going to have another kid soon. He has a wife and a kid, so he is pretty happy with that. He is really a family man. Anders has Studio Fredman. He has his hands full. Jesper has a family, with a couple dogs and a girlfriend. Well, he has just one dog now. And a big apartment, just writing music all day."
Some cool background on what Bjorn was doing as a normal job back then, although I assume he left that job quite soon afterwards.
"Bjorn: And we have all sorts of music, it's not all Swedish music. It's maybe mainly not Swedish music. But it's the same stuff that's popular over here, excuse me for saying crap. I can't really stand it. You know "Cryyying." Too much.
ID: Boy bands?
Björn: Well, I wouldn't say that about boy bands.
ID: Well, the Backstreet Boys are my secret love that I don't tell anyone about.[Seems you just told the world, Kevin. --Jamie]
Björn: Yeah! That's the same with us! We rarely speak about it, but we listen to that stuff. The songs are really well written, and the choruses are excellent."
I will always respect somebody showing their love for the Backstreet Boys.
"ID: On to the scandalous question. Why is the Clayman release party postponed?
Björn: Release party, postponed?
ID: Yes, I read it on the website.
Björn: It's postponed now? I didn't know that. Ahh, shit. Maybe I should call home. I didn't know that.
ID: I'm sorry.
Björn: Nah nah, it's alright. It's good that someone tells me."
Something about this exchange just cracks me up. Even back then Bjorn was the last to know.
"ID: So, what music are you really into these days. Where do you find inspiration?
Björn: Well, it's hard. I like everything. If it's the Backstreet Boys, or Slipknot, which I find very interesting. I listen to Meshuggah. I listen to everything. I think it's important to maintain a diversity; to get a healthy perspective on music. I mean, Jesper listens to everything from power metal to brutal death metal; he loves Macabre. He really enjoys some Britney Spears songs. I mean everything. Anders is a great fan of Tea Party and Tool. We listen to a lot of different things. You shouldn't be afraid of listening to different stuff, or we might produce the same album all the time. I know people who say "Oh, I only listen to my own albums" of their own."
Firstly, Bjorn utterly destroying he and Jesper's underground credibility. Secondly, I'm sure there was an interview recently where it was stated Bjorn listens to nothing new anymore, only old stuff he likes. Pretty sad that he went from being so open-minded here to just listening to the same stuff. Might explain why his riffs and solos sound so utterly uninspired and recycled these days, though. He had it right back then.
An interview with Daniel from 2003, after Reroute's release
Интервью с In Flames
Общепризнанные основатели Новой волны шведского death metal продолжают пожинать плоды успеха своего диска 2002 года 'Reroute To Remain'. Нынешний год ознаменовался для шведов очередным выступлением на немецком фестивале Wacken Open Air. Незадолго до их шоу сцене фестиваля мне выдалась...
You'll still hear that it's In Flames. Some people say there are drastic changes from "Clayman" (2000) to "Reroute To Remain", but I don't really see it. Nevertheless, it's up to them to judge. We now have 13 songs for the new album, there will be a couple of really fast songs and also some really groovy and heavy and aggressive stuff. It's still In Flames, it's still melodic, but we try to experiment, as we always do, just to make it interesting for ourselves."
Hard disagree there, Daniel.
"Do you have a title for the new album? As far as I understand, "The Tuborg Sessions" is the working title…
It's just a misunderstanding. Tuborg is a Danish beer, and we had a lot of Danish beer, so that's why we called it "Tuborg Sessions". There's nothing serious about it, it was just for fun, but then they wrote in newspapers that this is the working title of the new record. (laughs)"
Lol, imagine actually believing the album would be called "The Tuborg Sessions". Would have been quite epic tbf, but still.
"What is the song "Dismiss The Cynics" about?
It's not me writing the lyrics, but from the title I can guess that it's against narrow-minded people. Narrow-minded when it comes to music and to everything."
Should have just called it "Old Fans - Just Fuck Off and Die".
"More about session musicians - you had Kee Marcello (Europe) doing one guitar solo on "Colony" (1999). How did you get to know him? Do you like Europe?
That was Fredrik Nordstrom, our old producer, who met him in a bar. And Fredrik knew that Jesper (Stromblad, guitar) is a really big fan of Kee. So we invited him to the studio and Jesper didn't know it. When he came to the studio, Kee was there playing guitar, so Jesper was totally stunned! (laughs) That was the thing was we did for Jesper. And Kee is a really good guitar player."
Cool little story that I didn't know.
"What's your impression about their latest album "St. Anger"? Have you heard it?
I heard two songs and I think it sucks! (laughs) Not really, but I have to listen to it more. The sound is weird."
Your first answer was correct, Daniel.
"Nuclear Blast decided to use your version of Metallica's "Eye Of The Beholder" for their "Tribute To The Four Horsemen", but this recording is nearly nine years old. Why didn't you do something new for this tribute?
We didn't wanna be on the album, because we didn't wanna do a metal cover. And we said, "Please don't use this song, because it's so old, and only one current member of In Flames is playing on it." If a kid buys the album and gets excited about In Flames, it's not fair, because that's not how we sound today. We didn't wanna be on the album, and that's not something we are behind."
Fair comment.
An Interview with Anders from 2004, about a month before the release of STYE
Interview with Anders of In Flames (done last week)
This phone interview with the vocalist Anders Fridén of In Flames was done by Alexa Kasparek on February 18th, 2004. In Flames have been one of the founding fathers for the melodic death metal scene from Sweden. With their last album "Reroute To Remain" the band started experimenting more with...
ultimatemetal.com
"How are you?
A:Uh, great, nothing to complain, what about you?
I have a cold at the moment, but okay.
A:Not that good. Well, okay then"
Lol, what a strange and awkward start to an interview. Why include this?
"I even know some people who claim that you changed your style just to reach a wider audience!
A: No, that's bullshit! We didn't change the sound that much, it's just a progression that started and we go on with it. You can't compose songs just to please people, no way."
We didn't change sound that much. Yeah, OK.
"Talking about your upcoming tour now. I guess it's quite hard after so many albums to choose songs to play live. How many of the older ones do you actually choose?...like from the first albums like Jester Race or Whoracle?
A:We hear it from all fans "please, play something from Jester Race and Whoracle and Colony or whatever" but we learned over the years that we write our music, our songs, from live-perspective, all songs from Soundtrack To Your Escape we're able to play live, and they will sound good live. The songs from the Jester Race - we were young, we were like trying to get everything into one song, all tons of melodies at the same time, different guitarlines and so on. They will sound totally crap and weak and that's why we don't play those songs live. And when it comes to choose songs - yeah, its harder and harder for every album, you need to play songs from the new album, you want to present the new album and that's why we have to kick out some old stuff. It's really hard which ones we will choose or which are not supposed to be in there, but we have to make it interesting and challenging for us so it feels good to play the songs; it shouldn't be like we have to play them, because the audience will see that we are forcing ourselves I guess - we want to be happy, but it's harder and harder every time, of course."
What a giant mass of nonsense. You hear from all the fans that they want you to play some stuff from the classic albums, and you ignore them. Well done. Colony was only five years old at this point as well, fuck me. That'd be like saying nowadays "people ask us to play Siren Charms Battles and I, the Mask or whatever but fuck that, those albums are old". As for TJR stuff sounding "totally crap and weak" live, just fuck off with that. If that was the case you'd have had nobody coming to your shows between 1996 and 2002. At least he comes close to admitting the truth when he mentions "forcing" themselves to play older songs. Because the truth is, simply, that he and probably Bjorn just didn't want to. Nothing to do with them being "totally crap and weak". What a dense thing to say. As if your clean vocals don't sound "crap and weak" every time you attempt them. Really funny to hear him talk about STYE songs being so good to play live. Yeah, that's why you ended up playing barely any of them regularly over the years. One of the most neglected albums in terms of songs played live. Obviously didn't work out as he expected.
"Could you ever imagine to record an album on which you'll go back to the roots?
A:Why? We have all the roots with us, why do we have to go back to the roots? If you're a band and you say "Ah, we need to go back to the roots", then you lost something along the way, there's no point. We exist for ten years now and we can't write the same songs again and we don't want to do."
Ah, the good old rootz. If only he could go forward in time and hear Foregone. Then he'd realise how wrong he is.
An interview with Anders & Peter from 2004, 6 days before the release of STYE
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 3/23/2004
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 3/23/2004
"CoC: As far as choosing Daniel Bergstrand to produce the new record -- why use him again this time round?
PI: We were very comfortable with working with him the last time. He was very dedicated to what we were doing and he did a very good job. Why change a good recipe?"
Hmmm... not sure Reroute's production counts as "doing a good job" but yeah, OK.
"CoC: As you grew more popular after _The Jester Race_, In Flames obviously drew a lot of criticism with people saying that you were repeating yourselves and that you had grown boring. Was the departure of _Soundtrack to Your Escape_ a reaction to that?
AF: We've been around for a long time and we've learned a lot from our experiences. From the first album we have been growing as a band. In the beginning we didn't really know how to play live, we weren't such good songwriters, but we pushed everything we had into In Flames. We don't regret anything, but I think that it's important to move forward and it's important not to repeat yourselves."
'We weren't such good songwriters' - fucking bullshit. Imagine being stupid enough to even say that, considering how awesome TJR and Whoracle are. Not to mention, we weren't such good songwriters? Who is we, Anders? It isn't you, as you didn't write any of the songs, so this is basically taking a shot at Jesper, Glenn and Bjorn. Both an incorrect and offensive statement, frankly. But yeah, sure, Bottled and F(r)iend, far superior songwriting to anything off the old albums. So much better.
"CoC: Any last words, guys?
AF: Buy _Soundtrack to Your Escape_. You will not be disappointed."
Narrator: They were disappointed.
An interview with Anders from 2006, just before Come Clarity's release
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 1/9/2006
CoC : In Flames : Interview : 1/9/2006 : From playing alongside the likes of Motorhead and Judas Priest to slaying the main stage at Ozzfest, the last twenty four months have seen Sweden's premier melodic metal band scale heights that no one ever could have foreseen.
AF: I think it's always good to have an outside opinion, and this time around we did do things slightly differently. I would like someday to have a different producer all the way and see what they can do with the music. Not to have them change it, but just to see what they can bring to the table and what sort of perspective they can bring to things."
Ten years later, every song co-written by Howard Benson and co.
"CoC: Who would be your dream producer to use?
AF: <pauses>
CoC: Bob Rock?
AF: <laughs> No, maybe Rick Rubin. Terry Date would be cool too."
Poor Howard, not even in Anders' thoughts in 2006. Although I'm not sure how famous he was back then.
"AF: We'll always be In Flames no matter what happens. We can change songs here and there, but we will always be melodic and we will always be aggressive."
Eight years later, Siren Charms happened.
"CoC: What do you think of the music press?
AF: I don't think anything bad about journalists. We need them and they need us, you know? And I don't blame them when an article comes out and maybe I don't sound like such a cool guy. I think that a lot of things that are said and quoted come from the band members and it's their responsibility to make sure that they're not saying anything they shouldn't be. A lot of bands tend to love the press while they're doing well, and they hate them when something bad gets said about them and people turn on them. They always blame the press and some people just love to say certain things so that they can be seen as being rebellious. And when that goes wrong, then they blame the press and they say that they were misquoted. That's their fault, and no one else's. Personally, I've never had any problems with any of the press. I've been misquoted sometimes, but it's never been anything serious. Sometimes you shake your head at a review, like when people were saying that we were going nu metal with _Reroute to Remain_, or when they say that now you sound like this or now you're sounding like that band. We're just doing our own thing. We're not trying to sound American. We're Swedish. We've been around for a long time and we've been doing this same thing since we began. The musical climate might change, but we don't. Sure we don't do the same album every time, but we're still In Flames every time. We are on our own path somewhere. And it's hard to be original. A lot of people try to do it and they fail, but I don't think that there's another band who sound like In Flames. No doubt about it. I don't think anybody can sound like we sound."
Kind of a condescending take, honestly. Also "the musical climate might change, but we don't". Haha, good one m8.
"CoC: My next question is about Passengers, and I was wondering what's happening with that project now that your priorities with In Flames have obviously begun to take up a lot more of your time.
AF: Well, I've recorded vocals for about ten or twelve songs. I don't know how many of those will make it on to the next album, but it's really just a case of finding the time to do it. Right now In Flames takes up my time 24/7. And to be really honest, Passengers is more of a nice outlet for me to do things I can't do with In Flames and spend some time with my friends. We'll see whatever happens."
Sounds like a bunch of new Passenger stuff was recorded - demos, at the very least. A shame they'll likely never see the light of day.
An interview with Peter from 2008, just before the release of ASOP
Интервью с In Flames
Скажу сразу, что это интервью заставило меня всерьез обмозговать и, я бы даже сказала, пересмотреть свои взгляды как на музыкальную индустрию, в целом, так и на отдельных ее представителей, в частности. Не могу сказать, что это интервью было из ряда вон выходящим или каким-то особенным, но одна...
Exactly. We wrote 16 songs for this record and only 12 were put on the album. But all songs were really good and they could be on the record as well. We just felt that they were good enough, but they couldn’t be on the record, cause it would be too long then. And moreover to sell a single to people with only one song it makes no sense at all. So we decided to put them on the Japanese version."
Firstly, TCP is the equivilent of 3 songs, so just remove that and replace with Eraser, Tilt and Abnegation. Make TCP a Japanese bonus. Problem solved. Secondly, I always find it odd that Eraser especially was recorded as part of the overall ASOP sessions. It sounds so different in terms of production and style.
"If you were to characterize “A Sense Of Purpose” in several words what words would you choose?
The very very diverse record. So that you can basically take all In Flames records so far and put them together and then you have “A Sense Of Purpose”. It’s a combination of everything."
Sorry Peter, but no.
"The new album will be also released in a limited edition? What bonus-track will there be?
(thinks) It will be the song … Well for me the song has just a working title, I mean that which we are going to use as a bonus track. I forgot the name of the song, but that will be a song – very good song by the way – that didn’t get either on the record, or to the EP. So there will be only one bonus – this song."
The mystery song that never saw the light of day. One assumes he isn't talking about the South Korean album version with the Alias remix, anyway.
"You have a joint project with one of your group mates - Jesper Strömblad - DJ Sellout & DJ Kaos.
Yeah! It’s just a DJ project. We travel around the world and play our favorite music. We are invited and we go and play. We’ve been to Greece, some places in America. We hang around, have a good time and show people our favorite music."
I would have liked to have seen this.
An Interview with Anders from 2019, after ITM release
IN FLAMES' ANDERS FRIDÉN: 'I Will Never Go Back And Do Another 'The Jester Race' Or 'Whoracle''
IN FLAMES’ ANDERS FRIDÉN: ‘I Will Never Go Back And Do Another ‘The Jester Race’ Or ‘Whoracle” France’s United Rock Nations recently conducted an interview with frontman Anders Fridén of Swedish metallers IN FLAMES. You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by...
empireextreme.com
I'm literally including this for one comment:
"I will never go back and do another ‘The Jester Race’ or ‘Whoracle’ or ‘Colony’ or ‘Clayman’. It wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t be true to that album. That album is perfect in every way. If I try to go back 20 years and try to recreate something when I’m in a whole different state of mind, that wouldn’t do it justice. It would just only be bad."
Clayman 2020 has entered the chat.
Seriously... Clayman 2020 was released barely a year after he said this. Way to stick to your beliefs.
I'm glad I'm not the only one! Sometimes I read the general sentiment on here and think 'am I an easily-impressed dumbass for liking this thing?'
I think I'm well beyond the stage that I reached with A Sense of Purpose, where I had to admit that I was forcing myself to try to like it and eventually just gave up. Whereas, with ASOP, the more I listened to it, the more prominent its flaws became and the less I became willing to tolerate them in order to cling onto the bits I -did- like (which were usually fragments of songs, rather than whole songs), with Foregone, the more I listen to it, the less its flaws seem to matter. I generally don't skip any songs, even Bleeding Out and A Dialogue in Bbm, although I'm not a fan of their overproduced choruses, because there are little bits in the instrumentals or harsh vocals that act as saving graces.
Setting myself up for ridicule here, but I think I like Foregone about as much as SOAPF now (my Last FM profile definitely says so). I'm fully aware that it's more of a guilty pleasure and that SOAPF is an objectively better piece of art, but I just find Foregone a lot of fun, and I think the things it does well more than compensate for the cringey elements it has.
Side note, I feel like this crowd would have deserved December Flower a lot more than the crowd at Dalhalla did:
Xpyro125
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- Dec 1, 2021
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As someone who had Foregone kinda just go in one ear and out the other, I respect that, no judgement here. A lot of it for me stems from my distaste for modern metalcore, and the album kinda just has way too much of its principles musically compared to the melodies IF always had on prior albums. It’s not to say that there’s nothing to love— Far from it— but something feels terribly wrong with my priorities for the band when Pure Light of Mind, theoretically the least IF song ever, is far and away my favorite track from the album.
I think when everything was said and done, I had that same sort of experience that you had with ASoP. Even though I look back at the track list and see that I like eight of the twelve songs, Foregone strangely just doesn’t have any staying power to me. I don’t know if I’m the only one with that opinion, but I’m actually kind of jealous of everyone who genuinely enjoys the album without compromise. I think that’s pretty cool.
I think they started playing December Flower a couple weeks after I saw them, and that just fucking hurt, man. They switched Episode 666 out of the setlist for The Hive maybe a week before I saw them too. I would’ve lost my fucking mind if I got to hear those tracks live.
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