New album Foregone out February 2023

[Xpyro125]

I just thought about it now, but I forget if I said something about disliking/being indifferent about Worlds Within the Margin or not, but if I did, I meant it about Morphing Into Primal instead (Which coincidentally just finally kinda clicked with me today). I’ve been seriously exhausted, so I might just be making shit up in my head at this point. Just wanted to correct myself in case if I did say it, since I fucking love Worlds Within the Margin.

I was going through some old IF interviews recently, some interesting comments in these for sure.
An interview with Jesper from 1998, after Whoracle's release

CoC : In Flames : Interview : 3/10/1998

CoC : In Flames : Interview : 3/10/1998

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?

The only thing (Aside from Pallar, but you know) I can think of that would come close, at least off of Colony, would be Man Made God, though at that point I’m not sure why it’d be shoved off as an instrumental bonus track.

Small side note, but I found out there was an official music video for Ordinary Story while looking up the versions of Colony. It’s not really that good in my opinion, though I’m an incredibly harsh critic with music videos, so take it with a grain of salt. The most notable thing is that Anders has a goatee, which surprised me since I thought he waited until Reroute before ever growing a beard, at least since he didn’t have one in OFTW’s music video.

"[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.

That actually lines up, since Episode 666 had a demo that (If I remember correctly) was rushed out to be put on Death… Is Just The Beginning IV in 1996 (Or early 97? I’m getting mixed release dates here). I could be wrong about the rushed out part, but it was the only track for Whoracle they had at that point.

Another interview with Bjorn from 2000, after Clayman's release

In Flames Interview - Infernal Dominion Magazine

"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.

That is comedy fucking gold right there. It has to be more on the baffled side than the offended side, the simplicity of that response speaks volumes, and I love it.

"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?

I would argue no one did, weird comment.

"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.

A nice rehearsal of the “we can’t do harmonized leads because it doesn’t work live” excuse.

Actually, no, he said it won’t be hard to reproduce live, what the hell.

In all actuality, this might be a take you guys might disagree with (I know a couple people here would for sure), but I’d rather a band make something that sounds incredible in studio and mediocre/incomplete live than something just good for both. I’d prefer a band be able to perform their material well, make no mistake, but that’s just a lower priority to me.

"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.

It’s nice hearing about people talk about a wider variety of music tastes and more about their lives, so that’s all actually really cool to learn.

"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.

This is also comedy gold— Just imagine he didn’t have the interview and was the only one to show up to the release party where nothing’s there. Fucking priceless imagery.

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...

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.

I actually find it interesting that he said 13 songs. I’ve never been one for the “Fourteen Songs of Conscious Insanity” subtitle, but I do wonder what the fourteenth song added was.

Actually, it was probably Black and White. It always seemed like such an odd choice for a closing track, especially since Metaphor would’ve done the job fine. Then again, it’s always been a song that just didn’t quite click to me, so maybe that’s why I picked it as the last minute addition.

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.

You know, he could’ve just said no or at least have gotten a different kind of defensive. I think at this point it’s widely accepted (I could be wrong) that the change in sound wasn’t to sell out or anything, but the way Anders said that nearly changed my mind for a second. Fantastic work, buddy.

"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.

The irony on display is simply off the charts, holy shit.

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

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.

Yeah, the more I listen to Reroute, the more I realize just how shitty the production is. The only complaint I could ever make about Nordström’s production is that it was rather compressed, but even then, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Reroute. One guy made remasters of a few IF songs, one of which being Cloud Connected, and it’s amazing what he was able to accomplish with it.

I think out of the four works Bergstrand did with the band, STYE is definitely my favorite in terms of the production and mixing— Not because it’s objectively good, but because it has a unique soundscape and feel that the whole thing was built around that genuinely works because of that. In that regard, I’m glad they stuck with him. It’s just a shame that he returned for ASoP and Siren Charms.

"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.

I think it was moreso a remark to try and say that they had humbler beginnings and have grown and evolved as a lot as time went on, rather than any sort of taking shots or anything. It’s still complete fucking bullshit, but you know.

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.

www.chroniclesofchaos.com

"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.

When I read that earlier, I didn’t feel any condescension, but there’s definitely a pretty big ego in the latter part of his response. In Flames didn’t change because the musical climate changed, but they did still change. Im glad he elaborates immediately afterwards to make it a statement with some reasoning behind it, but the constant denial that their sound has changed is seriously confusing.

"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.

Fuck.

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...

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.

Another weird miscounting case. Assuming it’s not the demo of Abnegation (It’d be stupid to count it twice), nor the acoustic version of Delight and Angers that apparently exists, nor the Laid Remix of Alias, there’s one song from the ASoP sessions that never made the light of day. I vaguely remember something from the ASoP documentary that didn’t make it outside of that, but I seriously feel like I’m misremembering things there.

I’m certain it isn’t the 30 second X-mas song nor the Christmas medley that I can’t find, for obvious reasons. I doubt it’s New Beginnings, since that seems like something Björn did on his own. Apparently the band also covered Reign of Chaos by Insane Clarity, but I can only find the 8-bit version of that one. I can’t find its existence anywhere else, so I don’t even know if it’s actually real or not. It’s only now that I realize just how much of In Flames’ discography has been lost to the fucking void.

"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.

Honestly? I can genuinely agree with him on that. It very much does feel like a mix of every IF record until that point, save for Lunar Strain and Subterranean. Didn’t make it a good record though.

"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.

Fuck, blew my load earlier. I’m too lazy to copy/paste my paragraphs down here, they’re staying up there.

"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.

“DJ Sellout”

Honestly, I love the little bit of humor.

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.

He wasn’t going to win against Nuclear Blast, let’s be real. Neither he nor Björn wanted that shit, and it showed in the product.

I had more to say about all of this earlier, comparing contradictory but not really stuff and talking about how the band’s opinions changed or stayed the same as time went on, but I’m spent as is. I’ll probably get onto writing that stuff tomorrow.

 

[The Grayfox]

I think they started playing December Flower a couple weeks after I saw them, and that just fucking hurt, man.

Besides in 1996, I believe they only played December Flower once and it was at Dalhalla. Are you thinking of Stand Ablaze?

 

[Xpyro125]

Besides in 1996, I believe they only played December Flower once and it was at Dalhalla. Are you thinking of Stand Ablaze?

So I somehow mixed up the December Flower timing with another concert I saw. They played DF a couple weeks before another concert I saw, but it wasn’t an In Flames concert. I’m still heartbroken.

I did get to see Stand Ablaze live though, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Anders didn't seem too happy that only a bit of the crowd reacted at first (I don’t blame him, but at the same time it’s been how long?), but everyone got into it by the time it got going. Definitely one of the tracks with a smaller crowd reaction, even Wallflower had more chanting and cheering (Though the band got really into that performance, so I won’t say it was unwarranted), but the people were definitely still into it.

 

[DE4life]

Anders is evidently still puzzled by the idea that fans at a show won't recognise a song from 1995 that hasn't been played for literally decades. He must be aware by now that the vast majority of fans who liked the awesome metal from 90s IF are not going to want to come to a show to hear him wailing about seeing himself when he looks at his son or jump jump jump like muddafukkas to The Truth.

 

[Xpyro125]

Anders is evidently still puzzled by the idea that fans at a show won't recognise a song from 1995 that hasn't been played for literally decades. He must be aware by now that the vast majority of fans who liked the awesome metal from 90s IF are not going to want to come to a show to hear him wailing about seeing himself when he looks at his son or jump jump jump like muddafukkas to The Truth.

Not a counterargument, but it was actually really surprising because there were a couple guys with what seemed like older designed TJR and Colony shirts. It’s still not a majority, but hey, it’s not something I expected to see, and that’s pretty cool.

And I guess luckily for the few 90s fans who showed, they didn’t play Here Until Forever or The Truth, so I think they won out somewhat.

 

[DE4life]

I had to endure both of them in 2019, so yeah, they definitely won out!

And yeah, there's a few of us from the old school around who still drag ourselves to the IF shows (not me recently, though). At the 2019 show I actually wore my TJR shirt. I had a moment of sorts with Anders where he pointed approvingly at my shirt, and I feigned surprise he knew what it was. He laughed and rolled his eyes. He didn't realise I'd let him off easy.

 

[DE4life]

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.

Yeah, agree with most of this. I have no problem with anybody liking Foregone - it isn't a mutant misstep like SC or a soulless joke like Battles. It's a competent enough metal album. The problem I have with most of Foregone is not that it's excessively bad... it's just boring to me, and in a way that's worse. I can rag on stuff that's really bad and have fun with it. As a result I might even gain some affection for it. When a song or album is boring, however, then there's nothing there. Even the 'back to da rootz' nonsense I keep amusing myself with is based off reviewers being paid shills writing BS, not the music within the album itself.

However, just because I find it boring doesn't mean that the album is categorically boring. That's just my opinion based on my personal preferences. I find a song like End the Transmission one of the most pointless pieces of music ever penned. I don't see the point of it. For somebody else it might take them to a different place, though, and that's cool. Even though I agree that Pure Light of Mind is probably the song with the most merit on Foregone, the vocals are so utterly fake that it genuinely bothers me. If we like this then we can say nothing against AI vocals either, as this is barely any different. Those vocals are not Anders, he just provided the pattern, which is exactly what happens with AI generated vocals.

So yeah, Foregone, the root of all roots... it bores me, but I have no issue with anyone who likes and enjoys it. That's totally cool.

 

[eochaid]

What can I say? I don't understand how people can complain about vocals on the previous albums being too fake and then being ok with the vocals in this one because it's a back to the roots. And no. They're not less produced than in Battles or ITM.

I don't care about people liking this product but I have serious issues with all the fakery that's in it so I have trouble understanding why people is good with all that fakery.

I also have issues with people saying that this is better than ITM because it's more metal. Like, I don't have the remembrance that this album is that different with the exception of a few songs in terms of being more extreme, and I don't know how being more extreme means better.

 

[DE4life]

I, the Mask feels more like an In Flames album to me than Foregone ever has. To me, Foregone sounds like In Flames trying to be literally anyone else, to the point where Anders is altering his vocals to sound like a completely different human being, or a space alien version of himself. It's funny because I've bemoaned Bjorn keeping the creative work, instrumentally, to himself, but now he's let Broderick and Tanner get involved it doesn't sound like IF to me anymore. Not that it's bad, it's just not IF. I'd rather Bjorn kept recycling riffs than the band become whatever this is, honestly. Not that SC or Battles were any good either, admittedly, but Battles was the subject of a hostile takeover by Benson and Crew, whilst SC was Anders briefly having his own way to the detriment of the band. One offs that you can move on from. I fear the Foregone sound, however you'd describe it, is here to stay.

And yeah, I know there are songs which kinda sorta sound like stuff from CC - or even Whoracle with Foregone pt.1 if you squint hard enough, but really, in my view it isn't much more authentic than if a random metalcore band made a song with Whoracle or CC influences. I just listened to a few tracks now - Become One, End the Transmission, Bleeding Out, Cynosure... let's be real guys, this is not In Flames any more than Siren Charms or Battles was.

 

[eochaid]

And yeah, I know there are songs which kinda sorta sound like stuff from CC

People have been saying this (literally, not you) for every album since SC. That they sound like CC or whatever before ASOP and now the behave as if everything that goes from SC to ITM has nothing to do with IF and Foregone is a back to the roots (laughable).

 

[Xpyro125]

I, the Mask feels more like an In Flames album to me than Foregone ever has. To me, Foregone sounds like In Flames trying to be literally anyone else, to the point where Anders is altering his vocals to sound like a completely different human being, or a space alien version of himself. It's funny because I've bemoaned Bjorn keeping the creative work, instrumentally, to himself, but now he's let Broderick and Tanner get involved it doesn't sound like IF to me anymore. Not that it's bad, it's just not IF. I'd rather Bjorn kept recycling riffs than the band become whatever this is, honestly. Not that SC or Battles were any good either, admittedly, but Battles was the subject of a hostile takeover by Benson and Crew, whilst SC was Anders briefly having his own way to the detriment of the band. One offs that you can move on from. I fear the Foregone sound, however you'd describe it, is here to stay.

And yeah, I know there are songs which kinda sorta sound like stuff from CC - or even Whoracle with Foregone pt.1 if you squint hard enough, but really, in my view it isn't much more authentic than if a random metalcore band made a song with Whoracle or CC influences. I just listened to a few tracks now - Become One, End the Transmission, Bleeding Out, Cynosure... let's be real guys, this is not In Flames any more than Siren Charms or Battles was.

The sound has gone full Americanized, rather than the probably 60/40 (Swedish 40) it felt on Battles and ITM, and the melodic nature is mostly abandoned for ‘heaviness’.

 

[DE4life]

People have been saying this (literally, not you) for every album since SC. That they sound like CC or whatever before ASOP and now the behave as if everything that goes from SC to ITM has nothing to do with IF and Foregone is a back to the roots (laughable).

On every album you'll hear little bits here and there that remind you of older IF. That's quite normal when Bjorn is still writing most of the music, and he has recycled parts of older songs many times. The Black & White intro on Everything's Gone, there was a song on ITM that had part of Square Nothing and another part which sounded like I'm the Highway. Do songs on SC and ITM as a whole sound like they'd fit on a much older IF album though? Not for me, and it's the same with Foregone. SSoD could have been on an ATG tribute CD or something. TGD and MYM could have been on ITM. Overall Foregone does not, as an album, remind me of anything they did in the past. It's a different sound and not one I'm very fond of.

The sound has gone full Americanized, rather than the probably 60/40 (Swedish 40) it felt on Battles and ITM, and the melodic nature is mostly abandoned for ‘heaviness’.

Pretty much. There are a handful of tracks which still sound like what I'd expect from modern IF - SSoD, TGD, MYM, perhaps both of the title tracks to an extent. However, the rest is completely different and simply not what I listen to IF for. PLoM could be considered that traditional IF ballad in the vein of Metaphor, EiaC, CC, Liberation, Through Oblivion, Like Sand and Stay With Me... but it's the first time where, to me, the vocals are so altered that it doesn't even sound like Anders anymore. For better or worse, in the previous songs it still sounds like him, albeit very autotuned and processed, especially since Benson came onto the scene. PLoM goes beyond that, though, into total fabrication vocally. And it's a shame because instrumentally I think the track is quite nice, and it's got a good chorus. It's disappointing to me that Anders felt the need to digitally alter his voice to the point where it is basically unrecognisable. There's a point where it goes too far, and this song is where they went over the line for me. There were parts of ITM where this happened as well, but PLoM is totally overboard.

 

[eochaid]

I like when people says that Foregone is old school IF while they say at the same time that THE has nothing to do with old IF when, in fact, that band is a return to the melodies.

 

[Xpyro125]

On every album you'll hear little bits here and there that remind you of older IF. That's quite normal when Bjorn is still writing most of the music, and he has recycled parts of older songs many times. The Black & White intro on Everything's Gone, there was a song on ITM that had part of Square Nothing and another part which sounded like I'm the Highway. Do songs on SC and ITM as a whole sound like they'd fit on a much older IF album though? Not for me, and it's the same with Foregone. SSoD could have been on an ATG tribute CD or something. TGD and MYM could have been on ITM. Overall Foregone does not, as an album, remind me of anything they did in the past. It's a different sound and not one I'm very fond of.



Pretty much. There are a handful of tracks which still sound like what I'd expect from modern IF - SSoD, TGD, MYM, perhaps both of the title tracks to an extent. However, the rest is completely different and simply not what I listen to IF for. PLoM could be considered that traditional IF ballad in the vein of Metaphor, EiaC, CC, Liberation, Through Oblivion, Like Sand and Stay With Me... but it's the first time where, to me, the vocals are so altered that it doesn't even sound like Anders anymore. For better or worse, in the previous songs it still sounds like him, albeit very autotuned and processed, especially since Benson came onto the scene. PLoM goes beyond that, though, into total fabrication vocally. And it's a shame because instrumentally I think the track is quite nice, and it's got a good chorus. It's disappointing to me that Anders felt the need to digitally alter his voice to the point where it is basically unrecognisable. There's a point where it goes too far, and this song is where they went over the line for me. There were parts of ITM where this happened as well, but PLoM is totally overboard.

I haven’t mentioned it as of recent (I forgot about its existence), but A Dialogue would have probably been my favorite song off the album if it continued with the awesome groove metal instead of slowing to a crawl with actually processed vocals in the chorus (Compared to just the harmonized in the pre-chorus), relatable/“relatable” vocals be damned. The clean vocal part before the solo is pretty nice though. Shit, even Björn’s solo in it is awesome.

It’s just disappointing because the “all the clouds(?)/clowns(?)” part was used as the preview for it days before the album’s release, and that hyped me up more than I could possibly describe. Unfortunately, I don’t have it here, since I only downloaded The Beginning and Pure Light’s previews. Fuck.

Small edit here, I don’t remember why I was responding to that message.

 

[DE4life]

If they'd released an EP with:

SSoD
TGD
MYM
Foregone pt.1
Foregone pt. 2

Then I could understand people being happy with that. I still wouldn't be hugely interested, but I would totally get it. I'd be somewhat on board. Not enough to say "back to da rooootz" because none of those are, but enough to say, there's potential here. Next album could be interesting. That's a decent enough little modern metal EP and wouldn't be too far removed from the heavier stuff on ITM. It would make sense as a continuation of tracks like I Am Above or Voices.

The rest of the songs on Foregone, though... it's like they were created in a completely separate session. Yo, okay guys, it's Howard's turn to show us how it's done. Time to board the American metal hype train, choo choo. We're about to sound like every shitty mallcore band Howard knows and maybe a rubbish clone of Tool, too. What a time to be alive.

 

[ThePhobiac]

A Dialogue has become one of my favorites on Foregone, with the chorus being the glaring weak point. It's not bad, but it clashes with the rest of the song. But when the synths kick in during the main riff before the first verse...damn. Reminds me of STYE's best moments. It's not "old" In Flames, but that's one part of the album that hearkens back to the time when I was first getting into these guys.

 

[eochaid]

On every album you'll hear little bits here and there that remind you of older IF.

This is one thing. A different one is people pretending that fill songs from SC to ITM could have been part of CC or the previous albums. The same goes for Foregone.

 

[The Grayfox]

Foregone is boring to me as well, but it’s also the fakest, most manufactured sounding IF album to me and that seems worse than ‘just boring.’ It just sounds like an uninspired metalcore album. Judging by how things go with them, they will release a jazz fusion or easy listening album next. It’ll be some polar opposite to Foregone — and somehow still slightly better.

What they should really do is bring Jesper in just as a session member to write. In fact, I’m not sure why that was never an option to begin with. There are several bands who do this. Fit for an Autopsy comes to mind; Will Putney doesn’t tour with the band but he is a full fledged member and writes and records in the studio. That sort of situation could’ve been really good for IF. Obviously they don’t think this, but Anders and Bjorn are not very good songwriters on their own. They’re decent at best at fitting in with whatever the flavor of the year is. They can look around at what’s popular in the rock/metal world and then be mediocre at trying to replicate it. It’s a damn shame that In Flames went from being pioneers to followers.

 

[eochaid]

What they should really do is bring Jesper in just as a session member to write. In fact, I’m not sure why that was never an option to begin with. There are several bands who do this.

That's not even a chance because of reasons (Anders).

 

[DE4life]

The Anders/Bjorn combo had one good effort with SOAPF, albeit it was all Bjorn musically. Didn't sound much like past IF, but was a fresh and energetic record which could have evolved into a really cool sound if they'd built upon it. Problem is, despite what people say, In Flames don't really evolve sounds from past albums. Not since 2000 anyway. Every album since then is just different, sometimes wildly so. You'll still hear some of Bjorn's stock stuff - recycled riffs, solos - and you'll hear dat catchy autotuned chorus from Anders in various songs, but the albums rarely naturally evolve from their predecessors in any logical way. You may be able to make a case in some ways for Battles > ITM, but Battles to Foregone is a pretty big leap to something totally different. From SC to Foregone even more so, and we're only talking 7 years here.

It's not necessarily a bad thing to be unpredictable, but it's also not a bad thing to take a cool sound and evolve/refine it over a few albums. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I really enjoy an album like SOAPF, anticipate something similar in the next release, and then get hit with a brooding, melancholic album like SC (I'm being nice with that description). As a fan it's nice to believe you'll get something in a similar vein from previous albums of a band you like, particularly if it's the same band members and a short time period between releases. With IF you simply cannot expect that, and it means I go into each new album with trepadation rather than excitement. Well, I used to anyway. Nowadays it's more morbid curiousity.