New album Foregone out February 2023
- Thread starter TheJestersDoor
- Start date
I saw Moonshield back in 2006, it was pretty cool although I don't really remember how the crowd responded. Probably pretty well as there were still a lot of older IF fans coming to shows at that time, and Sepultura were the support so it was a proper metal crowd. I think songs like that introduce a good mixture to the sound, even if the crowd won't necessarily react in the same way as some of the more straightforward metal tracks. I'd love to see Gyroscope make a reappearance instead of them always playing The Hive if they choose to perform something from Whoracle. Gyroscope has such an infectious groove which blends perfectly with the folky elements. Last performance of that song, according to setlist.fm, was 2012 though and that was just a one off. Otherwise last time it was played with any regularity was 2004. FFTG seems to be their choice on this tour at least, which is a solid song to pick too. If they switched out Hive for FFTG, I don't see why they couldn't switch Graveland out for something else. Too much effort I guess.
Metaltown 2012 was also the last time they played Artifacts, apparently. They must have been feeling especially nostalgic on that show.
Imagine thinking Graveland is a better choice than this. Smh.
Imagine thinking Graveland is a better choice than this. Smh.
Hey there guys, hope everyone is good. 
I know I’m really good because just went to my first IF concert. I started listening IF around 2011-2012 and the band wasnt in Istanbul since 2012 so this was my first one
My first impression about concert was how good they were on stage. Amazing stage presence by everyone, trying to contact with every fan even when they’re playing was literally amazing. Even I had a few contact with Anders, Björn and Chris which felt really good. Really professional by them.
Setlist was same with they played on Athens and I think it was good, they played something from every album. New songs got a lot of attention from the crowd, one guy was about to faint when they play Paralyzed!? I’m sure @eochaid would smack the guy to wake him up Graveland and Coerced Coexistence didnt got that much attention from the crowd, personally I dont like that songs either.
Negative side from the concert was the crowd. Concert was in mid-week and IF showed up at 10 PM so everyone was tired already. Most people come after work (like me) so they werent as alive as IF expected I think.
My final note for the concert, when Anders introduced everyone he talked about Björn as his “secret love” It was really good to see Anders and Björn to get along 25-30 something years.
I know I’m really good because just went to my first IF concert. I started listening IF around 2011-2012 and the band wasnt in Istanbul since 2012 so this was my first one My first impression about concert was how good they were on stage. Amazing stage presence by everyone, trying to contact with every fan even when they’re playing was literally amazing. Even I had a few contact with Anders, Björn and Chris which felt really good. Really professional by them.
Setlist was same with they played on Athens and I think it was good, they played something from every album. New songs got a lot of attention from the crowd, one guy was about to faint when they play Paralyzed!? I’m sure @eochaid would smack the guy to wake him up
Graveland and Coerced Coexistence didnt got that much attention from the crowd, personally I dont like that songs either.Negative side from the concert was the crowd. Concert was in mid-week and IF showed up at 10 PM so everyone was tired already. Most people come after work (like me) so they werent as alive as IF expected I think.
My final note for the concert, when Anders introduced everyone he talked about Björn as his “secret love”
It was really good to see Anders and Björn to get along 25-30 something years. I'm just back from the Glasgow show. I hadn't come on here for a few days because I didn't want to see anything about the setlists from the Greek/Turkish shows in case they played any hidden gems that then got dropped due to time constraints with it being a co-headlining tour, and might have raised my expectations only to be disappointed. As it turns out, that did happen, but the songs in question were The Quiet Place, Graveland and All For Me, all of which I would have enjoyed, but I've heard them all before several times, so it's not like getting hyped for Jotun, Jester Script Transfigured and Crawl Through Knives, then being gutted when they don't get played.
The whole night was great, to be honest. A real value for money ticket, three quality melodic death metal bands who each delivered an outstanding set. The other really cool thing is that the place was pretty full from the beginning, and the audience gave all the acts a lot of love. I would say that the atmosphere definitely ramped up as the night went on, and In Flames got the biggest reception, but there was plenty of appreciation for the other two bands too.
My only complaint about Soilwork's set was that I hadn't put in enough effort to familiarise myself with their work before seeing them, I'd gone on a few binges in the past, and liked what I'd heard, but I hadn't re-listened to anything enough to commit it to memory. They were brilliant! I really liked their sound overall and Björn Strid is a hell of a singer. I definitely came out of that theatre convinced that I need to give them more of my attention, and I would love to see them again.
It was my third time seeing Arch Enemy, and my first time with Alissa as frontwoman. They played their socks off too. I like their music well enough, but I think it resonates with me just a wee bit less than Soilwork's or In Flames'. It feels very machine gun-esque at times, like a relentless full frontal assault, and actually, my favourite moments during their set were the parts where they let the music breathe a bit and you could hear the melodies and harmonies in the riffs. I think they tend to experiment with dissonance a bit more in their melodic sections as well, they're more likely to throw in tritones or diminished chords, which sound a bit more stereotypically 'evil', whereas IF and Soilwork tend to use more diatonic melodies and suspended chords that sound 'prettier'. The latter is more my jam, but I can't fault Arch Enemy, they did their thing with aplomb. Shoutout to Daniel Erlandsson on drums, and to Alissa, who really gave it everything.
As for IF... I'm obviously biased in the sense that they're my favourite band and I'm much more familiar with their music, but for me they were 100% worth their place as headliners. As an old-school elitist obscurist, Cloud Connected and Take This Life aren't in my personal top tier of In Flames songs, but to be able to drop those as a one-two punch to start a show and still have a lot more to come is pretty impressive. It got the crowd engaged from the get-go, and they never really dropped the tempo after that.
I guess I would generally judge an IF show based on performance, atmosphere and setlist. Performance-wise, I said on here the last two times I've seen them (2019 and 2022) that they've really hit their stride as a live act in recent years. The musicianship is excellent, everything's polished and in sync, their sound is massive and, as recently discussed, Anders' vocals are really evoking my favourite era of In Flames, regardless of whether he's singing old or new material. I would say tonight was more of the same, as far as performance goes. They've been consistently excellent over the last three shows I've seen.
As far as atmosphere goes, this was my first IF gig in a seated section, they were the only tickets left available when I booked, so it wasn't like past shows where I've been in the thick of it, bouncing around, but even with that caveat I would say this was maybe the second best atmosphere I've experienced at an IF show (this was my seventh time seeing them). The standing area was very active with crowd surfing, pits, call-and-response, and lots of noise. Good vibes only. It's also by far the sweatiest I've ever been at a seated gig because I was giving it laldy, as we say in Scotland, and I think I've possibly given myself minor whiplash from headbanging.
Lastly, setlist. I'd say this was pretty good. There have been two IF shows where I came away feeling genuinely disappointed in the setlist: the SOAPF tour in 2011, where it was great to hear the songs from that album for the first time (I really think that the title track from SOAPF should come back sometime), but the only other songs played were The Quiet Place, Cloud Connected and Take This Life, and in 2014 where Siren Charms and ASOP made up half of a 20 song setlist and the only song that really excited me was Resin. I find it easier to get excited for the 'hits' when they're interspersed with stuff I find more interesting, so even though a lot of those songs have featured on more recent setlists I've been present for, the fact that they were placed alongside songs like Colony, Behind Space, Graveland, Pinball Map, Deep Inside, The Hive or Leeches made the experience as a whole feel more satisfying. Tonight was very much in the same bracket. The absolute highlight for me was definitely Food for the Gods/Coerced Coexistence. It was amazing to be in the room when those songs were being played live, especially with Anders' vocals rolling back the years and bringing them to life, but I was almost just as hyped for In the Dark. I feel pretty lucky that by far my favourite song from the new record (maybe one of my favourite IF songs full stop) is one that they've kept playing live, and it really seems to work in a live setting. I think the fact that I liked Foregone definitely helped, it meant that when they played new material I was excited for that rather than lamenting the fact that they could be playing other things.
Overall, I'd still say the 2008 show where they played Insipid 2000, Zombie Inc, Dead God in Me, The Jester Race, Vanishing Light, Come Clarity and Satellites and Astronauts is still my number one, in terms of setlist and atmosphere (the Barrowland Ballroom is my favourite venue), but tonight was close, which is the highest compliment I can give it. Absolutely worth the price of admission, would go and see again.
Side notes:
Björn (Gelotte)'s shaved all his hair off. It's weird seeing the guy who once had the biggest hair in the band being bald.
I have videos of Food for the Gods and part of In the Dark that I can upload if anyone's interested.
The whole night was great, to be honest. A real value for money ticket, three quality melodic death metal bands who each delivered an outstanding set. The other really cool thing is that the place was pretty full from the beginning, and the audience gave all the acts a lot of love. I would say that the atmosphere definitely ramped up as the night went on, and In Flames got the biggest reception, but there was plenty of appreciation for the other two bands too.
My only complaint about Soilwork's set was that I hadn't put in enough effort to familiarise myself with their work before seeing them, I'd gone on a few binges in the past, and liked what I'd heard, but I hadn't re-listened to anything enough to commit it to memory. They were brilliant! I really liked their sound overall and Björn Strid is a hell of a singer. I definitely came out of that theatre convinced that I need to give them more of my attention, and I would love to see them again.
It was my third time seeing Arch Enemy, and my first time with Alissa as frontwoman. They played their socks off too. I like their music well enough, but I think it resonates with me just a wee bit less than Soilwork's or In Flames'. It feels very machine gun-esque at times, like a relentless full frontal assault, and actually, my favourite moments during their set were the parts where they let the music breathe a bit and you could hear the melodies and harmonies in the riffs. I think they tend to experiment with dissonance a bit more in their melodic sections as well, they're more likely to throw in tritones or diminished chords, which sound a bit more stereotypically 'evil', whereas IF and Soilwork tend to use more diatonic melodies and suspended chords that sound 'prettier'. The latter is more my jam, but I can't fault Arch Enemy, they did their thing with aplomb. Shoutout to Daniel Erlandsson on drums, and to Alissa, who really gave it everything.
As for IF... I'm obviously biased in the sense that they're my favourite band and I'm much more familiar with their music, but for me they were 100% worth their place as headliners. As an old-school elitist obscurist, Cloud Connected and Take This Life aren't in my personal top tier of In Flames songs, but to be able to drop those as a one-two punch to start a show and still have a lot more to come is pretty impressive. It got the crowd engaged from the get-go, and they never really dropped the tempo after that.
I guess I would generally judge an IF show based on performance, atmosphere and setlist. Performance-wise, I said on here the last two times I've seen them (2019 and 2022) that they've really hit their stride as a live act in recent years. The musicianship is excellent, everything's polished and in sync, their sound is massive and, as recently discussed, Anders' vocals are really evoking my favourite era of In Flames, regardless of whether he's singing old or new material. I would say tonight was more of the same, as far as performance goes. They've been consistently excellent over the last three shows I've seen.
As far as atmosphere goes, this was my first IF gig in a seated section, they were the only tickets left available when I booked, so it wasn't like past shows where I've been in the thick of it, bouncing around, but even with that caveat I would say this was maybe the second best atmosphere I've experienced at an IF show (this was my seventh time seeing them). The standing area was very active with crowd surfing, pits, call-and-response, and lots of noise. Good vibes only. It's also by far the sweatiest I've ever been at a seated gig because I was giving it laldy, as we say in Scotland, and I think I've possibly given myself minor whiplash from headbanging.
Lastly, setlist. I'd say this was pretty good. There have been two IF shows where I came away feeling genuinely disappointed in the setlist: the SOAPF tour in 2011, where it was great to hear the songs from that album for the first time (I really think that the title track from SOAPF should come back sometime), but the only other songs played were The Quiet Place, Cloud Connected and Take This Life, and in 2014 where Siren Charms and ASOP made up half of a 20 song setlist and the only song that really excited me was Resin. I find it easier to get excited for the 'hits' when they're interspersed with stuff I find more interesting, so even though a lot of those songs have featured on more recent setlists I've been present for, the fact that they were placed alongside songs like Colony, Behind Space, Graveland, Pinball Map, Deep Inside, The Hive or Leeches made the experience as a whole feel more satisfying. Tonight was very much in the same bracket. The absolute highlight for me was definitely Food for the Gods/Coerced Coexistence. It was amazing to be in the room when those songs were being played live, especially with Anders' vocals rolling back the years and bringing them to life, but I was almost just as hyped for In the Dark. I feel pretty lucky that by far my favourite song from the new record (maybe one of my favourite IF songs full stop) is one that they've kept playing live, and it really seems to work in a live setting. I think the fact that I liked Foregone definitely helped, it meant that when they played new material I was excited for that rather than lamenting the fact that they could be playing other things.
Overall, I'd still say the 2008 show where they played Insipid 2000, Zombie Inc, Dead God in Me, The Jester Race, Vanishing Light, Come Clarity and Satellites and Astronauts is still my number one, in terms of setlist and atmosphere (the Barrowland Ballroom is my favourite venue), but tonight was close, which is the highest compliment I can give it. Absolutely worth the price of admission, would go and see again.
Side notes:
Björn (Gelotte)'s shaved all his hair off. It's weird seeing the guy who once had the biggest hair in the band being bald.
I have videos of Food for the Gods and part of In the Dark that I can upload if anyone's interested.
The Grayfox
#MusicTheoryBro
I'm pretty sure Bjorn has been going bald for quite some time, so shaving his head makes sense I guess. He has shaved his head a few times over his career though, so maybe it's just temporary. I keep seeing pictures of Jesper in the studio with short hair and to me, that is really fucking weird.
Glad you had a good time. I like the idea that they're trying to play songs from each album, I just think their choice of songs is a bit off. For my own taste, at least. I took a look at Soilwork's setlist and although its pretty much devoid of old stuff, for an 8-9 song support set, it's pretty solid. Also very cool that they brought back Distortion Sleep. Arch Enemy's set is cookie-cutter AE, but good enough I guess.
Sitting at a metal show is underrated. In my younger years, sure I was right up front and that was great at the time, but now if you gave me the choice, I'd take a seated area every time. The first time I sat was at a Dark Tranquillity/Amorphis show and it was amazing. I've found that instead of worrying if a fat sweaty dude is going to bump into me, I can actually concentrate on what the band is doing. I'm going to see Dream Theater in February. It's in an amphitheater and I'm very much looking forward to a nice sit.
I haven't seen In Flames live in many years at this point. I don't know that I will ever choose to again. I think the only way it'll happen is if there's some sort of reunion with Jesper, Peter and Daniel, which I don't think is likely or if they ever do one of those Maiden style nostalgia tours, which I think is even less likely. I'd rather remember my experiences seeing In Flames live when they had good setlists and it wasn't Anders and Bjorn & American Friends.
Glad you had a good time. I like the idea that they're trying to play songs from each album, I just think their choice of songs is a bit off. For my own taste, at least. I took a look at Soilwork's setlist and although its pretty much devoid of old stuff, for an 8-9 song support set, it's pretty solid. Also very cool that they brought back Distortion Sleep. Arch Enemy's set is cookie-cutter AE, but good enough I guess.
Sitting at a metal show is underrated. In my younger years, sure I was right up front and that was great at the time, but now if you gave me the choice, I'd take a seated area every time. The first time I sat was at a Dark Tranquillity/Amorphis show and it was amazing. I've found that instead of worrying if a fat sweaty dude is going to bump into me, I can actually concentrate on what the band is doing. I'm going to see Dream Theater in February. It's in an amphitheater and I'm very much looking forward to a nice sit.
I haven't seen In Flames live in many years at this point. I don't know that I will ever choose to again. I think the only way it'll happen is if there's some sort of reunion with Jesper, Peter and Daniel, which I don't think is likely or if they ever do one of those Maiden style nostalgia tours, which I think is even less likely. I'd rather remember my experiences seeing In Flames live when they had good setlists and it wasn't Anders and Bjorn & American Friends.
The Grayfox
#MusicTheoryBro
Is this the most excitement we've ever, and will ever, see for Graveland?
Moonshield_
Member
Is this the most excitement we've ever, and will ever, see for Graveland?
Well, except for Anders who appears to be bored as fuck.
mindd
Faithless by Default
ThePhobiac
be at ease
I'm sort of the opposite. If I don't have a fun moment where I "connect" with one of the band members (could be as insignificant as a fistbump or a funny look), I feel like I've failed my mission, so I'm always right up front, lol. It's a key part of the experience for me. At least when it comes to my favorite bands, anyway. I was at a DT/Amorphis show myself yesterday and I was close enough to the guys that I could see the individual threads on their shoes. Lots of fun moments with them, and it felt surreal to hear the songs that "close." It did come with a price of being elbowed in the head a few times, haha.
But I realize it's different for everyone and there have been shows where I've been far back enough to just soak in the experience.
The Grayfox
#MusicTheoryBro
For sure. I still do go right up front occasionally. Also, why do DT and Amorphis tour together so much? I'm not complaining as I love both bands, but they're on the road together a lot. Anyway, yeah, it can be really cool being right up front. The last time I did it was probably 2019, when I saw Evergrey. Front and center, singing along with Tom Englund all night. Stuff like that feels very special, so I definitely get it. Afterwards we went to the bar, had a beer with the Evergrey guys and Tom said he appreciated that we were up front for their whole set being passionate about their music. I think bands like it too. They want to see people enjoying their music and having fun. That's really what it's all about anyway.
But as I get older, I also appreciate relaxing and sort of taking a band in from afar. It feels special in it's own way. But there are certain bands that I will always want to see up close too. Blind Guardian, Evergrey, Wintersun. If The Halo Effect ever tours the States, I'll be as close as I possibly can be.
But as I get older, I also appreciate relaxing and sort of taking a band in from afar. It feels special in it's own way. But there are certain bands that I will always want to see up close too. Blind Guardian, Evergrey, Wintersun. If The Halo Effect ever tours the States, I'll be as close as I possibly can be.
ThePhobiac
be at ease
Not sure about the DT/Amorphis thing, but maybe it has something to do with their synergy? They both put on great performances. I was chatting to Mikael before the show and he said to come find him afterward so we could continue talking. I looked everywhere for him, couldn't find him. Turns out he was at the bar upstairs, the most obvious place! I'm still kicking myself. I did run into him again as I was leaving and we had a nice goodbye at least.
The venue was incredibly small, so it's good that the crowd was so into it. I made sure to throw Martin a few horns and points here and there because he was so far in the back, haha. He always returned or even initiated them. Stuff like that is fun.
The venue was incredibly small, so it's good that the crowd was so into it. I made sure to throw Martin a few horns and points here and there because he was so far in the back, haha. He always returned or even initiated them. Stuff like that is fun.
I hadn't really noticed any recession in Björn's hairline the last time I saw him, but I wasn't paying that much attention, so it could well be the case, or it could just be a temporary style choice.
As someone not that familiar with Soilwork's back catalogue, I thought their set sounded great. I don't know if 'old Soilwork' is regarded with the same prestige as 'old In Flames' among their fans, or if it's felt that they've lost their way at some since. I will say that even without knowing the song at the time, Distortion Sleep was the highlight of their set, and the song I've listened to most afterwards.
Of course I wish that In Flames approached gigs more like melodic death metal's Bruce Springsteen (i.e., 3+ hour sets, changing things up every night, plenty of deep cuts and taking fan requests as a regular part of each show), but given that I've been to shows where literally nothing from before Reroute was played, getting a couple of absolute bangers (imo, at least) from Whoracle and Colony was enough to have me leaving the venue in a good mood. Maybe it's the musical equivalent of the saying 'hunger makes good kitchen' (i.e., if you're starving, you'll enjoy whatever fare you can get), but I'd say the setlists I've seen in 2019, 2022 and 2024 have felt much more satisfying in general than the ones I saw from 2009-2014. Also, I personally don't feel like the personnel changes have detracted from the band's performances or my enjoyment thereof. I'm probably more tolerant than most when it comes to bands changing members, I usually feel instinctively defensive of someone who steps into a band to replace a beloved and well-known member (blame being a Guns N Roses fan as a teenager in the mid 2000s and getting very attached to the guys who were in that band at the time). In my opinion, the present line-up of In Flames are a fantastic live act, capable of bringing songs from any era of the band's history to life and making them sound great.
I think their current setlist is quite OK and a decent mix of most of their albums. It's funny to see Battles being completely ignored despite being one of their three most recent albums, but that's the correct course of action so not a problem.
I would swap out In the Dark for something from TJR - not Graveland though. Artifacts would be fine. At that point you've got a pretty good sweep of pretty much all albums save for Lunar/Sub - which is understandable - and Battles, which is also quite fine.
I would swap out In the Dark for something from TJR - not Graveland though. Artifacts would be fine. At that point you've got a pretty good sweep of pretty much all albums save for Lunar/Sub - which is understandable - and Battles, which is also quite fine.
The Grayfox
#MusicTheoryBro
While I will always think of The Chainheart Machine as peak Soilwork, I don't think they ever dropped off as much as some people think. I certainly don't think they went anywhere as close to where In Flames did when it came to... well, sucking. Soilwork's worst album (Sworn to a Great Divide) beats the shit out In Flames' worst album (Siren Charms) every time. Obviously that's my opinion, nobody get too pissy. Soilwork's style shift came around Natural Born Chaos and it's sort of stayed in that vein (with their hits and misses obviously) since. Because of that, I don't think their fan base fell off as hard as In Flames' did. Soilwork definitely found their style and sound on NBC. For me, They are the best melodeath band when it comes to chorus driven songs and I think Speed's clean vocals are everything Anders wishes his were. That's not a knock on Anders, it's a high bar. Speed is a phenomenal vocalist.
I think that I'll never be fully satisfied with an In Flames set. Unfairly, and I fully admit that. I've mentioned it before, but I think it just has a lot to do with when I became a fan. I suspect there are very, very few people around these parts who discovered In Flames in the 90s, but if any are out there, they can probably relate. I could go see them live now and probably leave saying "yeah, that was fine." It just won't get two thumbs up and a "fuck yeah, that was amazing" because to me, their setlist is always going to be subpar as they're filled with stuff I could take or leave. And it just isn't reasonable to expect that they will ever play a Lunar Strain-Clayman set, so I'm not exactly clamoring to go see In Flames again.
I think that I'll never be fully satisfied with an In Flames set. Unfairly, and I fully admit that. I've mentioned it before, but I think it just has a lot to do with when I became a fan. I suspect there are very, very few people around these parts who discovered In Flames in the 90s, but if any are out there, they can probably relate. I could go see them live now and probably leave saying "yeah, that was fine." It just won't get two thumbs up and a "fuck yeah, that was amazing" because to me, their setlist is always going to be subpar as they're filled with stuff I could take or leave. And it just isn't reasonable to expect that they will ever play a Lunar Strain-Clayman set, so I'm not exactly clamoring to go see In Flames again.
.
mindd
Faithless by Default
Well, that sucks. Always sad when people pass, no matter how good or bad they were, even more so when they had a part in making something you appreciate.
And just 30 years since Lunar Strain... I may not be the biggest fan of the album, even though I like it, but you can't deny that without it there wouldn't be In Flames as it was.
Anyway, I wonder, what did he do with his life after Lunar Strain? He wasn't musically active any more, right?
And just 30 years since Lunar Strain... I may not be the biggest fan of the album, even though I like it, but you can't deny that without it there wouldn't be In Flames as it was.
Anyway, I wonder, what did he do with his life after Lunar Strain? He wasn't musically active any more, right?
ThePhobiac
be at ease
"A very talented lead guitarist! Today he runs some restaurants here in the city (Gothenburg). Our time together in IN FLAMES didn't last very long."
I wanted moreCarl Karl Naslund lore, but not like this. RIP.
I wanted more
He knew he was already at the mountain peak and it could only be downhill from there. RIP.
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