New album Foregone out February 2023

[The Grayfox]

Anybody catch that they released a bonus song from Foregone yesterday called 'Become One'? It features even more horrendous clean vocals. Just weird nobody caught it?

- edit - apparently it's been around for a while and I just never noticed. Shows how much I've paid attention to this album I guess lol

 

[DE4life]

Yeah I thought it was pretty bad, can see why it was a bonus.

 

[Xpyro125]

It’s forgettable, and I don’t remember if I liked it or not back when the album released.

 

[DE4life]

Their recent show in Osaka has been uploaded in good quality:



Foregone Part 1
Pinball Map
Deliver Us
Everything's Gone
Paralyzed
All For Me
Behind Space
Graveland
The Hive
Cloud Connected
Delight & Angers
State of Slow Decay
The Quiet Place
The Mirror's Truth
I Am Above
Take This Life

 

[DE4life]

Also, if anyone's curious, the below show has the live debut of End the Transmission.



Nothing particularly interesting on the setlist otherwise. I do think Beginnings is a nice show intro.

 

[DE4life]

One thing I will say in regards to Anders, having watched some shows from the 2010s versus recently, is that his vocals are far better now than they were ten years ago. Mainly because since 2019 or so he seems to have found a comfortable growling technique in the lower end of the spectrum, and he now often growls many of the cleaner parts of the studio songs. I don't really mind as they always sounded like shit when he tried to do them clean live anyway.

 

[Xpyro125]

So I went on iTunes and found this. What a fucking cash grab by the label. If you’re going to release a bonus version with just one extra track way after the initial release, at least give us instrumental versions of all the tracks as well, it’s not that difficult.

 

[The Grayfox]

Yeah, I saw that on Spotify. It's a total cash grab. No live tracks, no instrumentals, nothing. Just one single bonus track that was already out there. It would've been really easy to add a second disc with 4 or 5 live tracks or even a 'producer's edition' with stems. Just something to make it actually feel like a bonus edition.

 

[drawntoblack]

Am I the only one who finds it hilarious that they keep releasing songs with impossibly produced vocals only to proceed to never play them live?

 

[DE4life]

Better than their previous tactic of releasing songs with impossibly produced vocals that then got butchered live.

 

[The Grayfox]

I got an email yesterday promoting new Foregone merch, they're releasing a 'bonus edition' of the album, yet here they are not playing the songs live. And there's press releases talking about how special they think the album is, how much fun they had recording it, etc. but it certainly doesn't seem like it.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Certainly not as much fun as they had recording Whoracle.

 

[Jester Slave]

I can imagine the rehearsals where they give eachother telling looks after the Pure Light of Minds, the Stay WIth Mes and the Meet Your Makers. No one says a thing, a studio engineer just slowly crosses these out on the paper for the upcoming potential setlist.

Again, I can give a pass to something like PLoM, because it's fine to have a vanity track or two on your umpteenth record, who cares. But jesus fucking christ, you released Foregone pt 2. and MYM as singles, they were both hits with their general audience and you don't fucking play them? It's lame, but on the other hand, they are on the verge of a semi-decent setlist, so if that's the price then so be it.

 

[Xpyro125]

Again, I can give a pass to something like PLoM, because it's fine to have a vanity track or two on your umpteenth record, who cares. But jesus fucking christ, you released Foregone pt 2. and MYM as singles, they were both hits with their general audience and you don't fucking play them? It's lame, but on the other hand, they are on the verge of a semi-decent setlist, so if that's the price then so be it.

This is pretty much how I feel too.

I’ll be completely honest, I get why there are the criticisms about Foregone not having much representation in the setlist, but I’m not complaining in the ducking slightest. Oh no, we’re missing their newer, more boring barely not deathcore songs in exchange for getting some of their incredible classic songs? That’s so sad…

And sure, I know that Graveland and whatnot are on the setlist, but they were on there anyway. We got shit like Stand Ablaze out of this— That’s way more than good enough for me.

 

[DE4life]

All I can say is that I wish they'd taken the same approach with SC and Battles.

 

[Xpyro125]

All I can say is that I wish they'd taken the same approach with SC and Battles.

I haven’t gone back and listened to much love from that era, but from the little that I have seen… I don’t think Anders’ vocals would’ve done the classic songs justice then, especially not compared to now. I saw OFTW and Cloud Connected at Rock AM Ring, and that’s all I needed to know.

I guess it’d still be better than The End and everything else anyways.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Had a whole post written out about my thoughts regarding Foregone a year after its release, but it wasn't gelling the way I intended.

Suffice it to say: I still think it's very solid if somewhat unremarkable, and likely as close to the "classic" In Flames sound as a band well past their prime* is going to get. The biggest strength is the instrumentation, which feels fluid and vibrant in a way most post-Jesper albums have not. There are a lot of cool passages in this album that I think go unnoticed (check the tremolo guitars in the "the devil has done his deed" section near the end of End The Transmission -- cut out the vocals in Foregone Pt. 2 and you've got an In Flames instrumental that could've come out of the early 2000s).

The clean vocal melodies and overuse of vocal harmonies** are the album's biggest weaknesses, not necessarily the vocals themselves (for comparison, Come Clarity had plenty of clean-sung choruses, but they hit far better than they do here). Probably their most consistent album since SOAPF. The majority of the songs are still in my rotation and only rarely do I skip them. I don't assign numerical ratings, but this would be a 3.5/5, which I consider respectable.

In an interview with Ola Englund, Bjorn mentioned that during the pandemic, he and Anders were discussing how long they should wait before continuing the I, the Mask tour. They eventually decided, in his words, "fuck it, let's do another record." And I think that fits my conception that Foregone is really "just" another record for them. The results are better, imo, than anything since SOAPF***, but you can hear that there's a degree of going-through-the-motions on this one as compared to ITM or even Battles.

* This is not a knock against the band. Most bands have a post-peak period and there's nothing wrong with that. I consider DT to be well past their prime, too.

** IMO too many vocal harmonies can dilute what's actually being sung, especially when they're used in verses or intros. Katatonia's recent output is a good example of this.

*** My appreciation of SC is its own thing, lol

 

[A88]

I really don't remember anything much from this album.

Few days ago when that Become...song showed in my YT suggestions, I was honestly surprised to find out that I've heard it already when album was released.

So what do I remember from Foregone? There are some acoustics, Anders growling "meeet yooour maaakeerrr", one of Foregone songs has some old school sound, PLoM was fake but cool. And that's it. Zero riffs or melodies in my head, and I couldn't identify most of the songs without hearing Anders sing the song name in the chorus.

Has to be the least remarkable IF album ever for me. Not the worst one.

 

[The Grayfox]

I would say it's the same for me. It isn't the worst, but it is the least remarkable. It's forgettable in the worst way -- I forget the moments that are actually decent and only remember the parts that really suck, like the vocals on End the Transmission.

 

[DE4life]

Think that sums it up well. Is it as bad as SC or Battles? Not even close. Do I remember more from SC and Battles? Yeah, for better or worse.