New album Foregone out February 2023

[ThePhobiac]

It's a shame that the chorus lyrics have had such a negative effect on the song's reputation. I love the riffing on it and Daniel's performance is great. It's sort of a preview of his approach on Come Clarity.

@DE4life Dead Alone sounds great live, and is probably a Top 3 STYE song for me. Not huge on LYBD, though. One of the misfires on that album for me.

 

[DE4life]

ISFI is a bit like Scream for me, the overall song is fine and instrumentally there's no issues, but the chorus is just dumb and even though the chorus vocals are fine in terms of rhythm and vocal patterns, I can't take those lyrics seriously at all. It's a shame. Generally speaking I can give bad lyrics a pass if the music is alright (for example, "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK... OR MAYBE I DO??" in The Puzzle), but it's a bit too much for me on ISFI.

Dead Alone I have more appreciation for after seeing it live on U&A, although it's still not one of my favourite tracks on the album itself. Something is just missing from the album version that exists when it's played live. Basically STYE's production fucking things up. It's the same with LYBD to a degree - there are some really nice melodies in there, but they come through far better live than they do on CD. Would have been a much more powerful track if it had been given CC's production values.

 

[The Grayfox]

Top 3 from STYE for me is Dead Alone, Borders and Shading and Superhero. Bottom is Bottled, In Search for I and Like You Better Dead. Dead Alone for me is a super underrated IF track.

 

[The Grayfox]

Also, this just makes me laugh. On Spotify, the fucking My Sweet Shadow remix has more plays than Bottled.

 

[ThePhobiac]

I haven't listened to Bottled in many years. I'll put it on now.

Update: Haha I forgot about that "I reach to you again" line near the end. That scream is way harder than it should be. But overall the nostalgia is way too strong, lol. It encapsulates the weirdness of mid-era In Flames for me. The verses are kind of boring but the chorus makes up for it for me. Fun little ditty.

 

[eochaid]

Yes. The problem with ISFI is that the chorus is so stupid that it kills the whole song.

Borders and Shading is always in my top ten IF list. There's something about the pacing and melodies that I really enjoy. And the guitar solo is fucking simple but a great melody.

Then, though at first I didn't like My Sweet Shadow it's a song that now I like a lot.

Dead Alone is a song that I like but that feels incomplete, so I cannot enjoy it that much.

 

[GraemeSinclair]

ISFI is a bit like Scream for me, the overall song is fine and instrumentally there's no issues, but the chorus is just dumb and even though the chorus vocals are fine in terms of rhythm and vocal patterns, I can't take those lyrics seriously at all. It's a shame. Generally speaking I can give bad lyrics a pass if the music is alright (for example, "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK... OR MAYBE I DO??" in The Puzzle), but it's a bit too much for me on ISFI.

Dead Alone I have more appreciation for after seeing it live on U&A, although it's still not one of my favourite tracks on the album itself. Something is just missing from the album version that exists when it's played live. Basically STYE's production fucking things up. It's the same with LYBD to a degree - there are some really nice melodies in there, but they come through far better live than they do on CD. Would have been a much more powerful track if it had been given CC's production values.

Growls, the answer is growls . Same with Like You Better Dead and F[r]iend. I know that there are some growls as 'underdubs' on the studio recordings, but it's really not the same as having them front and centre.

 

[The Grayfox]

Musically, In Search For I is fine, but yes, the lyrics are terrible and completely kill the vibe of the song for me. When STYE first out, it was one of the only songs that people over at Everdying actually liked. That and F(r)iend.

 

[eochaid]

What about Touch of Red? No one ever mentions that song. I didn't like it. Now I like it a lot. Though I think that it's greatly improved by the acoustic section. And it's interesting that in the full-length video that section is the intro to the song, which I think works great too.

Then there's The Quiet Place. It took me a lot of time to understand that song but now I appreciate a lot how every section goes increasing its intensity until exploding in the chorus.

Both songs really enjoyable.

 

[DE4life]

Touch of Red is a bit like Egonomic in that it just gets straight to the point, no fucking about. The second verse is like 9 seconds long and then straight back to the chorus, lol. But anyway it's a good track and the outro is cool.

I have pretty much always liked TQP. Commercial IF done correctly, I like it just as much as Cloud Connected and Trigger.

However, I'm not a huge fan of MSS. I liked it when it first came out, but find it quite a boring song to listen to nowadays.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Touch of Red is good, albeit a bit short for my tastes. But that may have been the point. I like the chorus and the bridge, and that outro is excellent.

The Quiet Place is also solid. I like the More Human Than Human reference in the bridge (open chord, open chord, palm-muted chord, open chord). I'm not sure I ever really understood what Anders was going for in the chorus -- like, what the vocal melodies are supposed to be.

Back in the day I thought My Sweet Shadow would be the one song from the album that would stand the test of time. Not sure that came to pass, but I do think it's a cut above the rest. Some of my favorite In Flames lyrics, too. Some hiccups aside, I think STYE might be my favorite IF album lyrics-wise.

 

[The Grayfox]

If I had to rank STYE tracks as of right this moment, it would probably be:

Borders and Shading
Superhero of the Computer Rage
Dead Alone
My Sweet Shadow
Dial 595-ESCAPE
The Quiet Place
F(r)iend
Evil in a Closet
Touch of Red
Like You Better Dead
In Search For I
Bottled

Minor tweaks could be made on any given day though.

 

[ciko_gfb]

Cool we're ranking stuff, I like that. Here's my rank for the STYE:

Dead Alone
F(r)iend
My Sweet Shadow
Touch of Red
Bottled (Yeah I like that one)
Dial 595-Escape
Like You Better Dead
Evil in a Closet
The Quiet Place
Borders and Shading
Superhero of the Computer Rage
In Search for I (I really hate that song)

I used to like The Quiet Place a lot but nowadays it feels like a weak song for me, just doesnt do it anymore. I also been listening ASOP a lot this days, wonder how you guys rank that.

 

[eochaid]

You forgot about Discover Me Like Emptiness.

 

[DE4life]

STYE:

Evil in a Closet
The Quiet Place
Touch of Red
Borders and Shading
Like You Better Dead
Dead Alone
Superhero of the Computer Rage
Discover Me Like Emptiness
In Search For I
Dial-595 Escape
My Sweet Shadow
F(r)iend
Bottled

I've italicised six of the songs because I basically rank all of those in the same place, they're all 7/10 tracks for me. A better way of grouping for my selections would be by ratings:

9/10 - Evil in a Closet
8.5/10 - The Quiet Place
7.5/10 - Touch of Red, Borders and Shading, Like You Better Dead
7/10 - Dead Alone, Superhero of the Computer Rage, Discover Me Like Emptiness, In Search For I, Dial-595 Escape, My Sweet Shadow
5/10 - F(r)iend
1/10 - Bottled

As far as ASOP is concerned...

Eraser
Abnegation
Condemned
Tilt
Sleepless Again
The Mirror's Truth
Disconnected
Alias
Sober and Irrelevant
I'm the Highway
Drenched in Fear
Move Through Me
March to the Shore
Delight and Angers
The Chosen Pessimist

Again, a lot of songs basically in the same or similar brackets:

8/10 - Eraser, Abnegation, Condemned
7.5/10 - Tilt, Sleepless Again
7/10 - The Mirror's Truth, Disconnected, Alias
6.5/10 - Sober and Irrelevant, I'm the Highway, Drenched in Fear, Move Through Me, March to the Shore
3/10 - Delight and Angers
2/10 - TCP

Production and vocals on this album drag everything down, though, and make even the good songs tough to listen to. Most of them sound a lot better live. TMT live is awesome, but on album it's quite average.

 

[ThePhobiac]

For STYE...

My Sweet Shadow
Dead Alone
Dial 595-Escape
F(r)iend
Evil in a Closet
In Search for I
Discover Me Like Emptiness
Superhero of the Computer Rage
The Quiet Place
Touch of Red
Bottled
Borders and Shading
Like You Better Dead

The only songs I don't care for are Borders and Shading and Like You Better Dead. Though B&S came on Spotify shuffle last night and it was better than I remembered. It's mostly the chorus I don't particularly like.

For ASOP...

Disconnected
Sleepless Again
Drenched in Fear
Condemned
I'm the Highway
The Chosen Pessimist
Alias
The Mirror's Truth
Sober and Irrelevant
Move Through Me
March to the Shore
Delight & Angers

The only song I don't like is Delight & Angers. Even though songs like Move Through Me and March to the Shore are ranked low here, I still think they're great. I excluded Eraser, Tilt, and Abnegation because I consider them to be part of the The Mirror's Truth EP, and thus separate from ASOP (I know that probably doesn't make sense, but that's just me).

 

[DE4life]

Forgot about Delight and Angers, added that piece of shit to my list also.

I used to consider the EP separate from ASOP, but since learning they were recorded as part of the same sessions it makes sense to put them together.

 

[eochaid]

Borders and Shading
The Quiet Place
Touch of Red
My Sweet Shadow
Dial 595
Superhero
Discover me
Evil in a Closet
Like you Better dead
Dead Alone
Friend
Bottled
In search for I

Tilt
Sleepless Again
Alias
Condemned
Sober and Irrelevant
Delight and Anders
Drenched in Fear
Diaconnected
Eraser
I'm the highway
The Chosen Pessimist
The mirrors Truth
Move through me
Abnegation (ep edit)
March to the shore.

In asop there aren't any songs that blow up my mind. It's an ok album with a few songs that I dislike.

 

[The Grayfox]

The problem with ranking ASOP for me is that it's basically ranking which songs I dislike more than the others because as a whole, I don't enjoy the album at all. If we're including the EP, that's a bit easier I guess.


Eraser
Tilt
Abnegation
I’m The Highway
Condemned
Sleepless Again
Sober and Irrelevant
Alias
Disconnected
Move Through Me
Drenched in Fear
The Mirror's Truth
Delight and Angers
March to the Shore
The Chosen Pessimist

 

[DE4life]

I try to rate ASOP songs based on what they could/should have been rather than what they turned out like on CD. Sometimes, as with STYE, you can hear how the songs should sound a lot better in a live environment. ASOP hasn't had much coverage in that regard though. Feels like outside of D&A, TMT, TCP and Alias very few of these songs have gotten any significant run in setlists. Disconnected was played a lot in 2008 and 2009, then pretty much dropped entirely.

Abnegation, never played. Tilt, never played. Condemned, never played. Drenched in Fear, never played. Most of the other tracks were played briefly in 2008 and then never again.

Can't help but get the feeling Anders and Bjorn don't like this album as a whole much.