Reroute was a tentative step towards 'Murican metal, STYE was the big jump to that kind of sound. CC then seemed to do a bit of a hard reset - suddenly the guitar melodies and solos were back. Production also dramatically shifted from being soft and wimpy to being harsh and in-your-face.
ASOP was weird in that it kept the guitar melodies, but production got wrecked and vocals drastically declined in quality.
SOAPF massively improved production, insofar as changing their sound, which helped with vocals too. Guitar melodies and solos were still there, but obviously a bit different as there was no longer any direct Jesper influence.
SC, yeah, just a big pile of shit. Goodbye good production, goodbye decent sounding vocals, goodbye interesting guitar melodies and solos, goodbye energy, goodbye upbeat tempo. Basically, goodbye In Flames. RIP.
Battles, basically an animated corpse. More uptempo and energetic, but utterly fake and production is laughably weak. Also the uptempo and energy is not the same as previous IF releases, feels more like what you'd hear from a pop-punk band or something. HB Era IF begins.
ITM actually a bit of an improvement. Still HB IF, but probably the 'best' version of this era of the band. Some parts reminiscent of the OG IF sound (although often because riffs and melodies are literally ripped from older material). Probably the last time we'll hear Anders' fry scream. Overall doesn't feel as lifeless or fake as the previous two records, but still way below the bar set by SOAPF for post-Jesper era.
Foregone, well, this is the same as Battles in that 90% of the album doesn't sound like IF to me. TGD and MYM, yeah, mid-era IF put through the HB filter. The rest, not really. Vocals all this low, deep growl which Anders has never really done in the past. Closest would be something like Whoracle, but even there it isn't the same as he has no technique on Whoracle. He does now, but much like when Stanne morphed into robo-Stanne, technique takes away from the uniqueness of what I'm used to with Anders' vocals. Little in the way of upbeat, catchy melodies. All technically competent but lacking any soul. I appreciate what Broderick and Tanner bring to the table and both of them do a good job on Foregone, but it's not IF to me. Production is solid though, that much I will concede.
I do wonder if Sony dropping them after SC, and SC getting such a negative reception, was ultimately the trigger that ruined Anders and Bjorn's confidence and let to them finding safety and solace in the arms of Benson. If so then it's a shame, because whilst SC was a misstep, I think a lot of the problems came from the band failing to plan and prepare appropriately. Bjorn worked on SOAPF for something like 3 months - probably a bit longer overall - before they even got to the studio. SC, in comparison, I believe was basically written and recorded within six weeks in studio. The difference shows in the quality of each album.
All they needed to do was return to SOAPF way of working. Give Bjorn adequate time to prepare himself before going to studio, make some small amendments once in studio but basically know what the album's structure is ahead of time. They didn't need Benson for that.
