New album Foregone out February 2023

[DE4life]

I’m only theoretically knowledgeable in music theory, so take my explanations with a grain of salt.

Before going on with In Flames guitarwork as a whole, I’ll also highlight the intro. I’d say that for the first time since Dawn of a New Day (Which was the first time since Everlost Pt.2), we’ve gotten truly bluesy music from IF— With this intro, with The Attic, with the clean guitars that play in tandem with the cellos in A New Dawn, and in Liberation, though that one’s a more upbeat type beat in a bittersweet way. It’s almost haunting, like going through a graveyard to visit departed souls, which I feel both contrasts and complements the rest of the album’s tone incredibly nicely.

What I’ve noticed with old IF guitarwork that’s been mostly but not completely lost are two bigs things. Firstly, the use of hammer-ons and pull-offs, particularly used with 5-7–5 with two sixteenth notes before an eighth note (Hence the length of the dashes) or a 5-7-5 sixteenth triplet note before a 3 (Or 9-7-9 triplet before a 10) eighth note— The numbers are just examples based off of what I’ve used before, but the principle still stands. I forget exactly what it’s called, but I know there is a term for it. I believe its use was originally in classical music, which Jesper picked up from playing violin, though it’s mainly used in rock and metal to create something more ‘active’ than just two eighth notes.

In SOSD, they’re only used in the pre-verse parts and four times in the main solo. This may not sound like a big deal, especially since those numbers might sound big, but SOSD for example has 118 bars and four or five guitar layers, with two or three of those being solo guitars depending on where you look. Three instances in each rhythm guitar track per pre-verse part, making twelve altogether there, and four in the main solo, making for sixteen instances throughout the entire song. There are eight instances of that in Satellites and Astronauts’ intro and four more right after, making for twelve before you even get to the first verse. Even Rusted Nail has seven before you even get to the first verse, and that’s just viewing a version without any harmonies.

Meanwhile in Foregone Pt. 1 for example, guess how many times that sort of thing appears? Five times— Four in Chris’ solo, once in Björn’s solo.

It’s a small thing when put into words, but when listening to something like Foregone (the album), not employing them makes the lead melodies in particular far more boring.

Secondly, particularly in SOAPF, Björn tends to use 0 on whichever string as a baseline for each melody— Typically I’ve just seen that on the lowest string, but he even does it for the lead parts of Deliver Us’ verses. He also tends to conclude certain parts, like fourth bar intervals of Deliver Us’s verses, pieces of WTDSD, and fourth bar intervals the title track’s verses with pieces of four rising or descending notes. It’s a bit tougher to explain in text, but Deliver Us’ verse has a part that goes 15-14-12-10, then 14-12-10-9. Björn does that in Foregone as well, but this rarely rises above the second-lowest string, relegating it to downtuned melodies— Which are also made boring by the exclusion of the 5-7-5 style note melody. Sounds of a Playground Fading, particularly with certain fourth bar intervals of 0-0-(Some three note chord here, I dunno) in Deliver Us, nearly the entirety of All For Me (Which includes a low string 5-7-5 type of note sequence in the chorus) particularly due to the 3/4 time signature, also The Puzzle, and especially the chorus of Enter Tragedy with its 0-0-(r)-0-0–(r)—0-0-(r)-0-0-(r)-0 rhythm guitar pattern. It’s something that In Flames has gotten right in Whoracle, Come Clarity, and I’d say a few songs on each album beforehand, but this is what I feel is the third album to really get the groove feel right. It’s why I fully believe that Björn was the one who did the main writing on Pinball Map. I also feel like I’ve heard Foregone get this praise, and I just do not feel it whatsoever, save for the pre-hook(?) part of A Dialogue, where it is genuinely phenomenal. Albums like the aforementioned three, Stabbing the Drama (My favorite Soilwork album), The Panic Broadcast (Not even close to my favorite Soilwork album), Vulgar Display of Power, etc. also have a sense of melody along with their groove, which is essential for a groove metal sound to me.

I don’t think it’s all studio magic, like with how you mentioned it below, but I do very much believe that excellent production and instrument tones is a massive part of SOAPF’s success. Compare the 0 notes of the lowest two strings (The lowest pitch chord) on Foregone to even the 0 note on the single lowest string (The lowest pitch note) of The Puzzle (Even the palm muted 0 notes in the verse), SOAPF, Enter Tragedy, etc. Despite being “heavier” than SOAPF, I’d argue that the guitar tone on Foregone is actually not nearly as punchy as SOAPF, instead being somewhat scratchier and weaker. On albums with weaker production, Daniel’s kit has sounded significantly weaker, and drums in particular are susceptible to bad production, as not highlighting the right frequency for each drum in particular can make or break it. You can really hear Daniel use the entirety of the kit here, but on something like STYE, where not only does he less frequently use the toms, they’re somewhat less distinctive than on an album with clearer production. That’s a bit of a problem with STYE as a whole, but I don’t think it’s entirely fair to only rip Foregone apart. Besides, I’d actually argue that Tanner’s kit sounds pretty great there. Even on something like House (which I did listen to again for this message, please pray for my soul), it’s actually the snare that isn’t nearly as powerful as it should sound. Surprisingly, the toms sound fine in the song, but God, that song really should’ve been left off of ITM, what the fuck.

Wow, thanks for all of this analysis. It's really cool to see in technical detail what I can only describe on a surface and emotional level. I genuinely appreciate the effort. I really believe a track like A New Dawn, assuming Bjorn wrote the entire thing, shows that he is capable of writing intricate and energetic songs. He just hasn't put anything close to that kind of effort in since SOAPF, really. I appreciate people will argue that Foregone is a good effort as well, but Broderick wrote many of the solos on that, and who knows how much involvement Benson had. They've lied to us before about his input. SOAPF is one album where we can say, for sure, it's pretty much all Bjorn and a showcase of what he's capable of when he puts his mind to it.

It’s weird to try to put into words, but Sounds of a Playground Fading generally has this amusement park rollercoaster kind of tone with its guitarwork— Which is fitting both because of the Deliver Us video taking place in a ferris wheel in an amusement park and because, well, an amusement park is essentially a giant playground with actual organization and mechanizing behind it. There’s a genuinely fun kind of grandiosity to it all that transcends what can be described using music theory. I still have absolutely wonderful memories of breezing through Saints Row 4 to Deliver Us— A game I dropped midway through the intro because I wasn’t feeling it and would’ve probably never come back to had it not been for Deliver Us fitting it so perfectly and thus enhancing the experience for me. There’s nothing like skydiving with superpowers to the soaring melody of “Fly into the distance, disappear for a while”. Many fans of the game have said that this song or that song fit Saints Row 4 perfectly, but I truly believe that Deliver Us is the song that fits the game perfectly.

Yeah I agree, SOAPF has this frenetic, bouncy energy which gives it a really unique vibe. It's funny you mention associating it with Saints Row 4. Last year I realised I could manually upload music to GTA V to use on the radio station. I specifically uploaded SOAPF and now whenever it comes on I immediately think of driving around San Andreas in the sun - probably even more so because I play the game in VR.

I think one of the things I love about SOAPF which I get from very few albums in general is that it’s an album where when I listen to one song, I want to listen to the whole thing. I’ve gotten that feeling with most other IF albums, but I’d argue I get it with Letters To Myself more than any other album out there. Listening to albums is a process that’s honestly become a bit dull to me, particularly if it’s a new album or one that isn’t one of my favorites through and through, but SOAPF has this sort of magic and almost unpredictability despite having listened to it countless times. Don’t get me wrong, I very much do still feel that with other In Flames albums, but most In Flames albums feel like another In Flames album. Hell, I generally sort them into pairs going from Lunar Strain and Subterranean, to TJR and Whoracle, to Colony and Clayman, then… Alright, RTR and STYE don’t really sound like each other too much, but I’d argue a lot of compositional similarities are there. Then there’s Come Clarity and the shitty Come Clarity, which is a horrific insult to Come Clarity, and I guess one could say SOAPF and Siren Charms, given that the sound is rather similar… Despite it just being another Come Clarity and shitty Come Clarity situation (I still like you, Siren Charms, even if you aren’t good), though I could see the case being made for it and Battles. Honestly though, I think I’d pair Battles with ITM, given the poppy, alt metal sound of both. That being said, I don’t really know, SOAPF genuinely does sound like its own thing. Siren Charms is rather different despite a similar sound, and it’s certainly a downgrade, though it doesn’t make me think of SOAPF like ASOP makes me think of Come Clarity. I realize I’m rambling, and I really don’t entirely understand my feelings about SOAPF in relation to the rest of In Flames’ discography, but I’d actually argue that that’s part of the magic of it. I know we’ll never get something like it again, but I can always dream of a world where this was the first bold step in a new sonic direction that would stick for them. It wouldn’t be the classic lineup, or even like the middle era, but it’d be a new era we could enjoy for its genuinely high quality musicianship.

Instead we have House.

From my perspective the two misfits of the IF catalogue are Come Clarity and Siren Charms. CC was a complete detour from where they had been going with Reroute and STYE, whilst SC was a complete detour from everything good they had done up until that point. I've never seen SOAPF and SC being similar in terms of sound. SOAPF is upbeat, positive and energetic, SC is the literal opposite in that it's downbeat, negative and kind of depressing. Not to mention Bjorn clearly put a lot of effort into SOAPF, and seems to have put barely any into SC. I don't really understand why the albums often get twinned when they have such vastly different vibes. I understand TJR and Whoracle, Colony and Clayman, Reroute and STYE, Battles and ITM... but not SOAPF and SC.

If anything, SOAPF, to me, is closer to ASOP. It retains the upbeat energy of ASOP and Anders' vocal performance is basically the same, but production across the board is vastly improved. You do lose Jesper's 'classic IF' touch, which is noticeable, but in that sense it's basically an improved-production ASOP with Bjorn as the sole writer. SC, meanwhile, reminds me of nothing they have done before or since.

The title track is an interesting one. I love it. It never got a lot of love in their setlists though. I mean, it did during the touring cycle for the album. I think they opened with it during the tours for SOAPF and it never came back once Siren Charms was out. Which is insane to me because it's such a good song.

There are a few videos of it being played live on YouTube and, to my ears at least, it sounds good. Maybe the crowd response wasn't what they wanted, or they just weren't feeling it when playing it, idk. They seem to have defaulted to All For Me, Fear is the Weakness and WTDSD as the 'staples' of SOAPF on the live set, with stuff like Ropes and Darker Times getting a showing every so often. I don't like All for Me, but I do understand why they put it in there as it's got those heavy, headbangable riffs. WTDSD is an obvious choice too, even if Anders can't pull off the chorus live. FITW also an obvious live pick. I'd have SOAPF in there over Darker Times, but again, I'm guessing it's the heavier riffs that gives Darker Times the advantage in terms of being selected. SOAPF is indeed a great song, one of the best they've released post-2006, but maybe suffers from not being engaging enough to a live audience to be put in the setlist. I somewhat understand it at this point, considering they only have a few slots for SOAPF tracks, but I'd personally love to hear it live again.

 

[eochaid]

I think he did/does both Leeches and Take This Life fine enough— Leeches is generally fun to listen to back in the end of the middle era, and Take This Life especially was a fucking rush to experience live. Absolutely fucking loved it.

In the shared show, the cleans for both songs are ridiculously bad. TTL chorus is not specially difficult to sing and still he does not only fail but he sounds awful. How difficult is for him to hit two consecutive correct notes?

 

[The Grayfox]

I kind of wish In Flames would do something similar to what Maiden does. Pick one or two albums per tour and just make a setlist with those albums being represented more heavily than everything else. For instance, pick SOAPF and CC and then play 4-5 songs from each one and then pepper other stuff in to fill out the set. With an 18 song setlist, you'd get a combined 8-10 songs from those two albums and still another 8-10 songs from other albums. But rotate the albums so the setlists stay sort of fresh. In Maiden's case, this gives them a chance to bring back songs that otherwise would probably never get played again. I'm sure that will never happen because we can't be having IF setlists that aren't just loaded with the hits. Fuck man, even when they do switch it up, they always go right back to their more traditional style setlist.

 

[Xpyro125]

Wow, thanks for all of this analysis. It's really cool to see in technical detail what I can only describe on a surface and emotional level. I genuinely appreciate the effort.

I missed out on some parts like Björn’s use of the wah pedal and vibrato not being too over the top like on later albums, but I don’t think that matters quite as much as the main melody stuff.

It’s nice to be able to talk about this sort of stuff since I don’t really have anyone else with a similar level of knowledge of music theory as me (Which isn’t to say everyone I know knows less about it, quite a few actually have way more knowledge than I do) and as much love for the band as I do. There never really comes the opportunity to do so, so I generally end up just looking into it for fun at most. I’m sure if I asked my father and showed him some tabs and whatnot, he’d be able to describe far more about the music theory aspect of it than I ever could.

I really believe a track like A New Dawn, assuming Bjorn wrote the entire thing, shows that he is capable of writing intricate and energetic songs. He just hasn't put anything close to that kind of effort in since SOAPF, really. I appreciate people will argue that Foregone is a good effort as well, but Broderick wrote many of the solos on that, and who knows how much involvement Benson had. They've lied to us before about his input. SOAPF is one album where we can say, for sure, it's pretty much all Bjorn and a showcase of what he's capable of when he puts his mind to it.

I don’t feel quite as much lying about Benson’s involvement as I do Engelin’s. They at least credit Benson quite a bit for which songs he’s written for, even if we don’t know the extent of it. Meanwhile, Engelin didn’t really get credited for stuff he wrote, like Wallflower and I’m assuming I Am Above due to the Engel-sounding riff (I forget which song, but I’ve brought it up before, it’s very similar). If anything, I’d actually argue that the band’s been rather transparent about how involved Chris has been, pointing out not just which songs he’s contributed solos to, but also which solos are his and which ones are Björn’s— Even going as far as to say that Chris had the first one on Foregone Pt.1, and Björn had the second one. At 2:38 specifically you can tell that it goes from Chris’ solo to Björn’s. At no point was that ever the case with Engelin’s second stint with the band, and that’s incredibly aggravating and slimy.

When it comes to giving Foregone its due credit, it almost hurts to say that my issues with it stem from Anders and Björn (And Benson, but look, I have a point to make) rather than the new American additions. Tanner puts in a wonderfully technical performance on the kit, and while Daniel is still my favorite IF drummer for his sense of groove and his range of styles which all have a ton of character, I can in fact admit that Tanner is, in a certain objective respect, the best and most technical drummer IF has had. I’d take Daniel over him if I could, even with the somewhat lackluster performance on DOTL, but still. Meanwhile Chris’ solos are genuinely exciting, actually IF-feeling, and quite masterful. Compared to the more recent noodling where Björn primarily fumbles around, Chris’ solos bring a rather skilled and professional touch that’s desperately needed for Foregone to be taken seriously. It’s the first time that anyone’s talked about the solos since SOAPF, and among casual fans/reviewers, I’d argue the first time since ASOP. It genuinely feels like Chris studied the band’s old guitarwork and did something reminiscent of it while still very much being recognizably his own. It’s everything I’d want from a new addition.

Meanwhile, Anders and Björn are doing 40 miles an hour in a school zone. Björn’s guitarwork does not fucking feel like I’m Flames for me for the first time in their discography. It’s genuinely my Reroute moment where the lack of classic IF melodies is a fucking dealbreaker. It’s primarily just downtuned modern metalcore bullshit, and the only real times when that isn’t felt comes in the opener, Pure Light of Mind, TGD, In the Dark, and Cynosure— The latter-most of which feels like Passenger rather than In Flames, though I’ll take that over nothing. Meanwhile Anders’ vocals despite being objectively better just carry no emotion and are kinda just fucking there. I don’t want to enjoy the autotuned bullshit that Benson decided to bring back in full force despite dialing it down in ITM, but it’s the some of only times I actually feel something aside from like the pre-hook part of A Dialogue and the chorus of SOSD. Are Pure Light of Mind’s vocals manufactured as fuck? Yes, but it’s the only song that really feels human and down to earth otherwise. Foregone, for me, fails because the legacy members of In Flames make the album not feel In Flames— Something that even Benson couldn’t entirely put out, if you will. The lack of Foregone songs in the setlist makes me think that they’re going to continue in this direction to appease critics and naysayers in particular while keeping the setlist full of legacy stuff like they want for themselves and for the fans, and I just hope I’m wrong in the former part of the theory.

I guess that’s just it for me when it comes to SOAPF— It’s genuinely phenomenal and full of life in spite of Jesper’s departure. Jesper’s my favorite guitarist too, this isn’t some “Björn supremacy” sort of thing, but I think Björn just really felt inspired being on his own to make the album. The one-two punch of A New Dawn and Liberation really send SOAPF off on the best note possible for me, they really do leave so much hope for what would come next. Just a shame that fucking In Plain View (Or Rusted Nail if we’re talking singles, but I’d argue that’s far better than In Plain View) would come next.

From my perspective the two misfits of the IF catalogue are Come Clarity and Siren Charms. CC was a complete detour from where they had been going with Reroute and STYE, whilst SC was a complete detour from everything good they had done up until that point.

I think in terms of quality and direction, you’re absolutely right, though I do see similarities between them and albums like ASOP and SOAPF.

I've never seen SOAPF and SC being similar in terms of sound. SOAPF is upbeat, positive and energetic, SC is the literal opposite in that it's downbeat, negative and kind of depressing. Not to mention Bjorn clearly put a lot of effort into SOAPF, and seems to have put barely any into SC. I don't really understand why the albums often get twinned when they have such vastly different vibes. I understand TJR and Whoracle, Colony and Clayman, Reroute and STYE, Battles and ITM... but not SOAPF and SC.

If anything, SOAPF, to me, is closer to ASOP. It retains the upbeat energy of ASOP and Anders' vocal performance is basically the same, but production across the board is vastly improved. You do lose Jesper's 'classic IF' touch, which is noticeable, but in that sense it's basically an improved-production ASOP with Bjorn as the sole writer. SC, meanwhile, reminds me of nothing they have done before or since.

The tones of SOAPF and SC are rather different, and the production certainly is as well. Compositionally, they definitely are different as well, but songs like WEWO, Rusted Nail, The Chase, and Become the Sky do have pieces and melodies that do very much feel like they could fit in SOAPF. Not all the time, and in fact I do see the two albums being far different than I realized upon re-examining SC, but I do think there are remnants of SOAPF. That being said, yeah, you might actually be right about that one.

In the shared show, the cleans for both songs are ridiculously bad. TTL chorus is not specially difficult to sing and still he does not only fail but he sounds awful. How difficult is for him to hit two consecutive correct notes?

Yeah, I got to Leeches there, and it’s just fucking awful— Not even just the cleans either.

 

[drawntoblack]

From my perspective the two misfits of the IF catalogue are Come Clarity and Siren Charms. CC was a complete detour from where they had been going with Reroute and STYE, whilst SC was a complete detour from everything good they had done up until that point.

I don't think CC was a detour, more like it was the accelerated and almost forced pinnacle of evolution of that era and that line up. Stylistically when you look at those 2006-7 live shows, all the songs blend well together, the mash up of STYE/Reroute/CC.
Maybe I would even go as far to say that Come Clarity is the freshest the band has ever sounded, the crystal clear production and (imho) Anders's vocals being exceptionally produced with solid melodic ideas and lots of stylistic variations. Reroute was an experiment that has more atmosphere than actual substance, STYE was very proto-CC but subpar in quality as half of the album is filler. When you look at it in that context, Come Clarity feels like a spectacular return to form, no fillers (Okay, maybe Scream), great production, considerably more melodic than its predecessor.

And maybe my favorite thing about that record is just how uptempo and energetic it feels. I really wish they stuck with CC formula onward, ASOP was inferior in every way - guitar tone, visual representation (hate the cover, hate the mascot), everything after it was progressively more and more anemic and lifeless.

 

[eochaid]

I see CC as a mix of evrtything that they did before plus a few new things.

 

[DE4life]

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.

 

[The Grayfox]

See, I think CC has plenty of filler and I don't enjoy the way the album sounds either. Personal preference. Two of the most beloved IF albums are RTR and CC and I just don't get it most of the time. CC has some good songs obviously, but it also has Scream, Reflect the Storm, Leeches and Dead End, all of which I think suck for one reason or another. Somehow I ended up actually liking STYE even though it's the furthest away from their usual sound of the era and even more amazing because production wise, I think it's one of their worst sounding albums. To me, that's proof that they don't need to make straight up melodeath for me to enjoy it. I'll still take CC over ASOP and ASOP over RTR though. STYE > CC > ASOP > RTR -- that should upset at least somebody out there.

All of that being said, CC also has the title track, Vacuum, Crawl Through Knives and Vanishing Light which I think are excellent IF songs.

Just noticed that Spotify has Our Infinite Struggle listed as Our Infinite Solution.

 

[drawntoblack]

See, I think CC has plenty of filler and I don't enjoy the way the album sounds either. Personal preference. Two of the most beloved IF albums are RTR and CC and I just don't get it most of the time. CC has some good songs obviously, but it also has Scream, Reflect the Storm, Leeches and Dead End, all of which I think suck for one reason or another.

I respect your opinion, but it's a very uncommon one, for sure. The chorus of Scream is probably the only subpar moment on that entire album for me.

 

[Xpyro125]

See, I think CC has plenty of filler and I don't enjoy the way the album sounds either. Personal preference. Two of the most beloved IF albums are RTR and CC and I just don't get it most of the time. CC has some good songs obviously, but it also has Scream, Reflect the Storm, Leeches and Dead End, all of which I think suck for one reason or another. Somehow I ended up actually liking STYE even though it's the furthest away from their usual sound of the era and even more amazing because production wise, I think it's one of their worst sounding albums. To me, that's proof that they don't need to make straight up melodeath for me to enjoy it. I'll still take CC over ASOP and ASOP over RTR though. STYE > CC > ASOP > RTR -- that should upset at least somebody out there.

All of that being said, CC also has the title track, Vacuum, Crawl Through Knives and Vanishing Light which I think are excellent IF songs.

Just noticed that Spotify has Our Infinite Struggle listed as Our Infinite Solution.

I respect your opinion, but it's a very uncommon one, for sure. The chorus of Scream is probably the only subpar moment on that entire album for me.

I will agree that I don’t quite love RTR to nearly the same degree as the majority of this forum. Genuinely surprised about Reflect the Storm and Dead End being in your disliked songs since I think those two are arguably top five on the album bare minimum on a good day. Leeches is with them for me, but it’s got far more core and far less melodic guitarwork as well as a slow groove chorus, so I do get that one completely. I love it, but I can see why others might not.

It’s also surprising but very welcoming to see love for the title track and Vacuum. I know some people like myself love the title, but I also know others really don’t. I also don’t really ever see Vacuum get brought up, and that’s a shame because it really feels like Egonomic done right. I really want to shout out Pacing Death’s Trail as well because it’s such an underrated song both within IF’s discography and within CC’s tracklist.

I don’t mind Scream’s chorus— I like it, it’s a small adrenaline rush, but it’s a 7/10 on a nearly 10/10 album to me.

Our Infinite Struggle’s been mislabeled like that everywhere for years. I bought the album back in 2016, and it was still Our Infinite Solution. But hey, they fixed it in the full album video on their channel! Just disregard Take This Live, it’s definitely not incorrect.

 

[DE4life]

I think the song name confusion comes from the early leak of the album, which contained a lot of the pre-release names. Also the official album I had actually ripped at least two of the songs with their working titles. One was Our Infinite Struggle/Solution, and the other one was Versus Terminus, which was called 'End of Things'. In fact, you can see on the below Blabbermouth article that even the official tracklist released to the press had VT down as 'End of Things' as late as October 2005:

IN FLAMES Sign North American Deal With FERRET RECORDS

Sweden's IN FLAMES have inked a U.S. record deal with Ferret Records. The band's already completed new album, "Come Clarity", is scheduled for a February 7, 2006 North American release. The CD will be issued in Europe on February 6, 2006 via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2004's...

blabbermouth.net

Versus Terminus definitely sounds better, though.

Also, as I'm sure everyone on here already knows, the album's original title was 'Crawl Through Knives'. Again, Come Clarity was imo a better choice in the end, even if CTK is the better song.

I don't really consider CC an album with any filler tracks. The closest are probably Versus Terminus and Pacing Death's Trail, but I wouldn't put them into the filler category, only more straightforward than the other songs and a bit less melodic/catchy.

I was blessed to see Vacuum live. I was delighted at the time as it was one of my favourites off Come Clarity (this would have been their March 2006 show in London, I think).

 

[Xpyro125]

I could be wrong, but I also remember seeing somewhere that Reflect the Storm had the early name of Reflect the End. I don’t want to be giving any misinformation though, so I’d need a second opinion on that.

 

[DE4life]

It's been a really long time since I read anything about the working titles, so I'm not sure. I know at least three or four had some rewording from early to late 2005. My OG Come Clarity CD only rips Our Infinite Struggle and Versus Terminus with their working titles, so they must have been the last to change - although as per that Blabbermouth article, OIS had been changed by October '05 at least, so it's weird the CDs printed months later still had the OIS working title. Versus Terminus seems to have been changed pretty late, so you could give that one the benefit of the doubt.

 

[eochaid]

I think the song name confusion comes from the early leak of the album, which contained a lot of the pre-release names. Also the official album I had actually ripped at least two of the songs with their working titles. One was Our Infinite Struggle/Solution, and the other one was Versus Terminus, which was called 'End of Things'. In fact, you can see on the below Blabbermouth article that even the official tracklist released to the press had VT down as 'End of Things' as late as October 2005

That's interesting because, as far as I can remember, I had downloaded the full album like a month before it was released, and the titles were correct. VT and OIS. Also, the version for YBSISE was like 2 minutes shorter than the final album version.

 

[DE4life]

Yeah my leak version also had the correct titles, so not sure how the official CD has the working ones.

IN FLAMES: 'Used And Abused' DVD Delayed

IN FLAMES's upcoming DVD, "Used and Abused... In Live We Trust", has had its release date pushed back to July 18 from the previously announced June 20. No reason was given for the delay. More information on the set can be found at this location. IN FLAMES are currently mixing their new album, ...

blabbermouth.net

As per this article from March 2005, one of the songs was originally called "Surrender?" - the only song on the album with Surrender in the lyrics is Pacing Death's Trail, so perhaps an early working title for that one.

 

[eochaid]

Rememeber that, at first, the title for the album was going to be Crawl Through Knives, So it looks like a lot of changes were made (by Anders). Then, the logical conclusion should be that some press received a package with the preliminary titles and other press received them with the final titles.

 

[DE4life]

Whilst looking at blabbermouth articles about In Flames, I came across one regarding Henke Forss' dispute with the band over Subterranean royalties. I'm curious what he means when he says:

"It's no big secret that former original members have fought IN FLAMES for 10+ years to get their right as well..."

By 'original members' I assume he means people who were part of the band pre-1999. That would be:

Glenn Ljungstrom - Unlikely? He played with Jesper in DZ and The Resistance, which I assume he wouldn't have done if he was miffed over royalties from back then.

Carl Naslund - I mean, the guy hasn't been in any bands since and only recorded something on Lunar Strain, although likely not much as Glenn and Jesper were the creative forces at that time. Considering Carl seemingly quit the music business afterwards, one would have to think he'd have to have fallen on hard times to be fighting for residuals from Lunar Strain. This one also seems unlikely.

Johan Larsson - Seems to have been successful in his post-music endeavours as a network engineer, so I wouldn't have thought he'd be fighting for presumably meagre royalties from LS/Sub/TJR/Whoracle. Particularly as he wasn't actually a songwriter.

Mikael Stanne - I think we can rule him out.

So yeah, no idea who Henke is talking about here. Sounds made up tbh.

 

[The Grayfox]

I don't really consider CC an album with any filler tracks.

Wait... so you like We All Scream For Ice Cream?

I was blessed to see Vacuum live. I was delighted at the time as it was one of my favourites off Come Clarity (this would have been their March 2006 show in London, I think).

Yeah, I got it in '06 as well. Those tours are the only ones that ever got Vacuum.

We got Worlds Within the Margin, Watch Them Feed, Dial 595-ESCAPE and Graveland

You got Black & White, Moonshield, Episode 666, Crawl Through Knives, Drifter and Colony

The earlier shows that year got some real nice stuff: Swim, Artifacts, Jotun, Clad in Shadows, Ordinary Story and Bullet Ride. I don't know how the fuck Graveland got subbed in for Moonshield -- actually I do know, it was Anders, but seeing Worlds Within the Margin live was really, really cool. As heavy as it sounds on Whoracle, the sound was immense live. I figured I'd search around on the Tube for a good live recording of it and what I found was a reminder of Anders introducing the song as "WORLDS WITHIN THE MARIYINOW!" at Club Citta (I think).

 

[DE4life]

Wait... so you like We All Scream For Ice Cream?

Hah, no, Scream is by far my least listened to CC song - mainly because of the idiotic chorus. With that said, I wouldn't call it a filler song. To me a filler song is an average song with little effort, basically just there to pad the album out. Scream is annoying but it doesn't fit in that category for me. Verses are actually quite fine and there's some good stuff in the song. Chorus just fucks it all up.

Yeah, I got it in '06 as well. Those tours are the only ones that ever got Vacuum.

We got Worlds Within the Margin, Watch Them Feed, Dial 595-ESCAPE and Graveland

You got Black & White, Moonshield, Episode 666, Crawl Through Knives, Drifter and Colony

The earlier shows that year got some real nice stuff: Swim, Artifacts, Jotun, Clad in Shadows, Ordinary Story and Bullet Ride. I don't know how the fuck Graveland got subbed in for Moonshield -- actually I do know, it was Anders, but seeing Worlds Within the Margin live was really, really cool. As heavy as it sounds on Whoracle, the sound was immense live. I figured I'd search around on the Tube for a good live recording of it and what I found was a reminder of Anders introducing the song as "WORLDS WITHIN THE MARIYINOW!" at Club Citta (I think).

I would have loved to have seen WWTM. Don't care about Watch Them Feed as I never liked that song. DIal-595 was at one time my favourite STYE song, so in 2006 I think I would have loved to have seen that. Graveland I have seen at subsequent shows.

Lmao that club citta crowd banter is so fucking random.

Anders: This one is called worlds within the margin!
-silence-
Anders: YEAH?
Crowd: Yeah!
Anders: YEAH?
Crowd: Yeah!
Anders: YEAHHH?
Crowd: Yeah!
Anders: YEEEAAHHHHH?!?!?!
Crowd: Yeah!
Anders: Wwwwworlds widdin da marginaaaoooowww!!

Anders was so fucking awkward back then haha.

 

[The Grayfox]

Yeah, I think 'awkward' sums it up very well. I don't know if he was self conscious of his English, which is possible, or his social anxiety, which I think at least was a thing. In person I've found that he is a pretty shy individual. In 1998, he was probably still quite uncomfortable on stage. It kind of reminds me of Yannis from Beast in Black. Not too comfortable with stage banter yet. He told like a two minute story about "a boy" and "a girl" and how "things happen" and someday "you might get married" but to "be careful" of their "SWEET TRUE LIES!" It was so fucking awkward that it was hilarious. It was one of those things where it went on way too long and people in the crowd just started looking at each other like "what the fuck is he talking about?"