It's an interesting one, really, because there's no precedent for how long MDM bands go for. The vocal side of things is particularly an issue, as let's be honest, even with technique involved the human voice box isn't designed to handle growling and screaming for 100+ days out of the year. The vocalists who adapted their technique over the years - Stanne and Speed, for example - still sound OK. Anders can sound alright but changed his technique really late in the game, which puts him at a disadvantage. Then you've got vocalists like Lindberg who never really used a technique and he now sounds like an asthmatic gargoyle. I know some people still like the new ATG stuff, but the vocals just don't do it for me at all.
But yeah, frankly it's tough to imagine any of the MDM bands going much past 55-60 years old with their original vocalists. Arch Enemy are obviously ahead of the game in that respect, and Speed is only 45 so Soilwork don't need to worry too much yet. The likes of Anders and Stanne, though... you can't envision them going on for too much longer. Stanne has obviously refined his technique a lot and become very comfortable with it, but even with the best will in the world, father time catches all of us in the end.
As I said before, to me IF as the band I knew and appreciated pretty much ended with SOAPF. Pretty much all written by Bjorn, very different but still authentic and I give it a pass. SC should have been an Anders side project. Battles, ITM and Foregone have been Howard Benson's In Flames which, to me anyway, is a totally different entity. Doesn't evoke the same feelings, doesn't have the same magic, doesn't come close to making me feel energised in the same way as a few bands in the past decade or so have done. AE's Will to Power (aware it's not liked by most others), Nightrage's Wolf to Man, Beast in Black's Dark Connection and Fellowship's The Sabrelight Chronicles... all way, way ahead in terms of how much I enjoyed an album compared to any of IF's efforts since SOAPF. Even Amaranthe's The Nexus is far beyond for me, and that's pretty much as commercialised as metal gets.
It ain't necessarily about IF becoming commercialised for me. I listen to a lot of stuff like that elsewhere and enjoy it. The IF formula just lost that spark somewhere along the way. Jesper leaving was a huge part of that. Bjorn carried it on himself for one album, but it feels like he put everything he had into SOAPF and had nothing left afterwards except recycled riffs, generic solos and the occasional, few seconds reminder of past, better songs.
For what it's worth, as far as ITM and Foregone are concerned, I don't think current In Flames are bad. They aren't the joke they were during the SC & Battles era. They're back to being somewhat respectable and I can understand why people would like the more recent stuff. ITM was solid for me, too, although not on a 'wow this is awesome' level. Just a 'this is fine' level. Foregone more of a 'I somewhat get what they were going for, with half of the album anyway, but no, not for me'. And regardless, neither album has the old IF magic that disappeated after 2011. Bjorn used what was left and that was it.
I enjoy coming on here and chatting shit with you guys about the band, because they were the band that got me into metal and for that reason alone I'll always have a soft spot for them. They were my favourite band up until Siren Charms. With that said, I'm over them as a contemporary interest. It's now all rooted in the past, and Foregone really did make me realise that, when none of the singles and the album itself got more than a handful of listens for me. I really knew for the first time that I am done with In Flames. I think
@eochaid kind of had the same reaction. It sucks in some ways, but I guess life is this way.
What it means is that if they announced tomorrow that the band was done, I'd be okay with it. A few years ago I would have been sad, even after Battles, but now... I'm good. They've given me more than enough and I'm cool with whenever they decide to stop, whether that be tomorrow, a year, five years or a decade.
