New album Foregone out February 2023
- Thread starter TheJestersDoor
- Start date
For the record I actually wrote those ridiculous lyrics rather than the AI 
last time I used Suno it couldn't produce a full song like this based precisely on lyrics written by the user. The fact it now can is very impressive, and it actually created a rhythm on lines where I thought it would struggle.
Also now that fucking chorus is legitimately stuck in my head, lmao.
last time I used Suno it couldn't produce a full song like this based precisely on lyrics written by the user. The fact it now can is very impressive, and it actually created a rhythm on lines where I thought it would struggle.Also now that fucking chorus is legitimately stuck in my head, lmao.
IF songs that made my 2024 most played on Spotify include:
Coerced Coexistence
Stay With Me
Scorn
It's No Good
In The Dark
Jester Script Transfigured
Man Made God
Embody the Invisible
Resin
Food for the Gods
Foregone Part I
Foregone Part II
Artifacts of the Black Rain
I guess It's No Good sticks out like a sore thumb, but I like how it sounds, especially the twin-lead melody after the chorus (it's the only track on that EP I like).
Coerced Coexistence
Stay With Me
Scorn
It's No Good
In The Dark
Jester Script Transfigured
Man Made God
Embody the Invisible
Resin
Food for the Gods
Foregone Part I
Foregone Part II
Artifacts of the Black Rain
I guess It's No Good sticks out like a sore thumb, but I like how it sounds, especially the twin-lead melody after the chorus (it's the only track on that EP I like).
Xpyro125
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I know the Wicked Game and Hurt covers both have more issues than the other two, but I genuinely prefer the direction they went with the EP (Particularly It’s No Good) over the direction of Foregone.
Good list though, it’s got a lot of classic era songs I absolutely love. I don’t have any lists of my own to give since I don’t really use Spotify, so that much just is what it is.
ThePhobiac
be at ease
Probably the year I've listened least to IF since I first discovered them tbh. No idea what my top ten would be.
Xpyro125
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It’s probably the same for me here. It’s been a lot more rock/hardcore especially on my end, but even then, the bunch of metal I’ve listened to just hasn’t really been In Flames. Maybe TJR, Whoracle, ASOP, and Siren Charms have gotten more listens from me than on previous years, but that’s about it.
I think Artifacts, Food For the Gods, and Disconnected would be there for me, but I just can’t think of anything else.
ThePhobiac
be at ease
Definitely get that. Usually I tend to listen to IF more around the time when they release new albums. I was more into ambient/electronic/avant-garde music for most of the year. I was on a massive 2000's-era Ulver kick this summer while studying sound design for my own project and went down some rabbit holes.
mindd
Faithless by Default
The only IF songs that got into my Spotify list were Behind Space '99, Sounds of a Playground Fading, and... Siren Charms? Wtf?
The Grayfox
Nija
IF is actually my third highest played artist this year on Spotify, which is surprising. They were outdone by Type O Negative and Evergrey and then followed by Orbit Culture and Architects, which is quite different than last year's top 5. I found it strange that there were no IF songs in the top 5 though. Two of my top 5 songs were Cemetery Skyline songs. Also strange
1. Type O Negative
2. Evergrey
3. In Flames
4. Orbit Culture
5. Architects
-
1. Seeing Red (Architects)
2. From the Inside (Orbit Culture)
3. In Darkness (Cemetery Skyline)
4. Nettie (Type O Negative)
5. Violent Storm (Cemetery Skyline)
And then not in the top 10 either...
6. DOWN (While She Sleeps)
7. The Forest That Weeps (Wintersun)
8. (We Were) Electrocute (Type O Negative)
9. Curse (Architects)
10. Ghosts (Paradise Lost)
Interesting how it went this year for me. Apparently I listened to a lot of In Flames, but not enough of one song to make it on the top 10. Or 20. Or 50. Or 90...
That is what's really strange: In Flames appears precisely one time and it's number 97, which is Bullet Ride.
1. Type O Negative
2. Evergrey
3. In Flames
4. Orbit Culture
5. Architects
-
1. Seeing Red (Architects)
2. From the Inside (Orbit Culture)
3. In Darkness (Cemetery Skyline)
4. Nettie (Type O Negative)
5. Violent Storm (Cemetery Skyline)
And then not in the top 10 either...
6. DOWN (While She Sleeps)
7. The Forest That Weeps (Wintersun)
8. (We Were) Electrocute (Type O Negative)
9. Curse (Architects)
10. Ghosts (Paradise Lost)
Interesting how it went this year for me. Apparently I listened to a lot of In Flames, but not enough of one song to make it on the top 10. Or 20. Or 50. Or 90...
That is what's really strange: In Flames appears precisely one time and it's number 97, which is Bullet Ride.
Xpyro125
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I pretty much solely use it to make playlists for my friends with songs I’d recommend them, otherwise it’s nothing for me. I just hate the business model for the consumer, even before how it is for artists. I shouldn’t have to pay for basic quality of life features with a premium subscription service. I know iTunes is flawed and costs me way more to buy songs and albums individually, but it’s what I use for listening to music on my phone. I have some CDs and cassette tapes of some albums, but those pretty much never see play since my CD player is busted and since I unfortunately have nothing to play the cassette tapes on.
The Grayfox
Nija
I never thought I'd be a Spotify user, but my brother-in-law came to stay with us during the pandemic and he had a family plans. He asked if I wanted to use it and I figured "fuck it, why not..." I ended up actually really enjoying it. I don't have to waste a ton of space on my phone for music anymore. When I'm driving, I just throw a playlist on, it's just nice and simple and works for me. I still have a record collection, I still have a huge mp3 collection, hell I still have all my CDs too, but for simplicity's sake, Spotify works best for me.
Also, I have a friend group that pays for different premium versions of things and has the aforementioned family plans, so we all pay for one each and then share the rest with each other. So, I get premium Spotify, YouTube, etc. while only paying for one of them. At least for now until these companies crack down on it, like Netflix has.
Also, I have a friend group that pays for different premium versions of things and has the aforementioned family plans, so we all pay for one each and then share the rest with each other. So, I get premium Spotify, YouTube, etc. while only paying for one of them. At least for now until these companies crack down on it, like Netflix has.
Same here, although admittedly not for any particular reason. The old ways of mp3s just don't cause me a problem, so, I never felt the need to change. Also the less services collecting data about me the better, even if at this point it's pretty much a lost cause anyway.
I've never really used Spotify so I'm not sure how well it would perform for my preferences. I wouldn't want to pay anything considering I have no issue with the way I do things now, so yeah, probably a deal-breaker from the off. I also have many thousands of songs from all sorts of genres that I play on random, and obviously Spotify couldn't do that unless I presumably put every song I have into one huge playlist. I certainly don't have time for that.
I suppose the one advantage of Spotify is that it could introduce me to new music, but I find new music pretty well by myself, so, again, not really required.
I suppose the one advantage of Spotify is that it could introduce me to new music, but I find new music pretty well by myself, so, again, not really required.
And, this disadvantage that, the moment artists remove their music from the platform it is lost for us unless we buy it or download it.
Then, I prefer to pay directly to the artists by buying their music online having in mind that the prices for mp3 songs and albums are ridiculously low.
Then, I prefer to pay directly to the artists by buying their music online having in mind that the prices for mp3 songs and albums are ridiculously low.
Xpyro125
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I’ll be honest, a lot of the riffs he picked here either suck or are a bit misrepresentative of the album, but I love his take on Battles. Absolutely exquisite taste there, genuinely riveting.
The Grayfox
Nija
Some of his choices were great. Behind Space, Dead Eternity, Pinball Map I think are really representative. But then, yeah, Morphing Into Primal, while an awesome song imo, isn't really the best choice for this sort of thing. And then Drifter and The Puzzle? Weird. So many better riffs on those albums. Even Ordinary Story, while I love the song, really isn't very noteworthy for it's riffs.
I decided to give Foregone another shot today, to see if I could get any more out of it than I did when it was initially released. Unfortunately, not really. My feelings remain largely the same.
Anders' cleans on this album are generally considered problematic by many, so I'm not going to go over old ground there, but I found that even his growls didn't quite work for me. I think it's more to do with the production than his performance, though. I find the vocals to be... too centered, I suppose? Sometimes on the lowest growls it feels like he's gurgling right into my ear and it's uncomfortable and kinda gross. I feel like the growls could have done with being given a wider pan and maybe a little more reverb at points. I particularly noticed when listening in my car that, due to how centered the harsh vocals are, they are sometimes quite difficult to hear. Granted that will be dependent to some degree on exactly how you're listening to the music (it was less of a problem on my headphones), but it isn't an issue I have with other IF albums.
As far as the songs are concerned, I have a bit more to say about them than I did when the album first released, but not much more.
The Great Deceiver, for me, is the best song on the album by some distance. It's the only track that, for me, sounds like In Flames. At least, how I perceive them. It's far from perfect and the Joey line is ridiculously dumb, but the structure, melodies, and vocals are all quite okay for modern IF. I like that Anders growling is in his more standard range for the majority of the song. Lyrically it oscillates between cliché's and some decent lines, but Joey aside it's an okay set of lyrics.
Pure Light of Mind is probably the song that divides me the most on the album. Parts of it are really nice instrumentally. I listen to the song and think the 2002-2008 version of the band could have made something really special out of this (if you are a fan of the band during this era, anyway). Vocals are a sticking point, but I actually don't think they are too egregious in the chorus. It does sound like Anders, despite the silly amount of layering going on. It's the verses that I find issues with. Firstly there is very little going on instrumentally, and whilst I get that the focus is more on the vocals here, you can still put a small amount of effort in elsewhere. The vocals on the verses, meanwhile, are just bad. They've been manipulated so it doesn't even sound like Anders - and the lyrics are somewhat laughable. Fix the verses and you'd have a decent enough effort on the whole.
Something else that bothers me about this track is the random growls underneath the clean vocals and "I won't be long". I know for pretty much everyone else this is a non-issue, but I just don't see the logic in doing this. The track is clearly an attempt at a commercial 'hit', so I don't know why the growls are required here. The song is obviously not aimed at the audience who typically prefers MDM style vocals, whilst the kind of audience who would like this kind of track would not typically listen to MDM, so... I don't know. Just seems unnecessary.
I still don't really understand why so many like Foregone Part 1. I find that the only thing this track really has going for it is heaviness - melodically it's severely lacking, and when it comes to In Flames melody is the one thing I look for the most. I just get very little out of this one.
I actually prefer Foregone Part 2 as this is more melodic, but it's a shame about the vocals, as they drag the song down. Instrumentally it's not too bad, though, and besides TGD is the closest the album comes to something resembling traditional IF.
State of Slow Decay isn't bad either, but I still struggle to get past the ATG hero worship in the verses. I also think Anders' vocal lines lack a bit during the verses, like he wasn't really sure what to do and so he didn't really do anything in terms of trying to produce a satisfying vocal rhythm. Other parts of the song are alright in this regard, but the ATG-parts of the verses seem a bit bland in terms of vocal rhythm.
Bleeding Out is generally pretty poor, but I will say that I think the chorus has something. The way they ended up doing it is not the way, but there's an inkling of something that could have been good there. Again, I feel like the 2002-2008 version of In Flames could have made this work a lot better. It is only the chorus though, the rest of the song is really forgettable.
Meet Your Maker has some potential with a very STYE-like vibe to it at points, but the clean vocals are ridiculously protooled and the chorus in general just derails the song. This could and should have been better.
I hate In the Dark, it just irritates me from beginning to end. End the Transmission has boring verses and the chorus just has me rolling my eyes. Cynosure might work well for another band, but I just don't like it as an In Flames song.
Anders' cleans on this album are generally considered problematic by many, so I'm not going to go over old ground there, but I found that even his growls didn't quite work for me. I think it's more to do with the production than his performance, though. I find the vocals to be... too centered, I suppose? Sometimes on the lowest growls it feels like he's gurgling right into my ear and it's uncomfortable and kinda gross. I feel like the growls could have done with being given a wider pan and maybe a little more reverb at points. I particularly noticed when listening in my car that, due to how centered the harsh vocals are, they are sometimes quite difficult to hear. Granted that will be dependent to some degree on exactly how you're listening to the music (it was less of a problem on my headphones), but it isn't an issue I have with other IF albums.
As far as the songs are concerned, I have a bit more to say about them than I did when the album first released, but not much more.
The Great Deceiver, for me, is the best song on the album by some distance. It's the only track that, for me, sounds like In Flames. At least, how I perceive them. It's far from perfect and the Joey line is ridiculously dumb, but the structure, melodies, and vocals are all quite okay for modern IF. I like that Anders growling is in his more standard range for the majority of the song. Lyrically it oscillates between cliché's and some decent lines, but Joey aside it's an okay set of lyrics.
Pure Light of Mind is probably the song that divides me the most on the album. Parts of it are really nice instrumentally. I listen to the song and think the 2002-2008 version of the band could have made something really special out of this (if you are a fan of the band during this era, anyway). Vocals are a sticking point, but I actually don't think they are too egregious in the chorus. It does sound like Anders, despite the silly amount of layering going on. It's the verses that I find issues with. Firstly there is very little going on instrumentally, and whilst I get that the focus is more on the vocals here, you can still put a small amount of effort in elsewhere. The vocals on the verses, meanwhile, are just bad. They've been manipulated so it doesn't even sound like Anders - and the lyrics are somewhat laughable. Fix the verses and you'd have a decent enough effort on the whole.
Something else that bothers me about this track is the random growls underneath the clean vocals and "I won't be long". I know for pretty much everyone else this is a non-issue, but I just don't see the logic in doing this. The track is clearly an attempt at a commercial 'hit', so I don't know why the growls are required here. The song is obviously not aimed at the audience who typically prefers MDM style vocals, whilst the kind of audience who would like this kind of track would not typically listen to MDM, so... I don't know. Just seems unnecessary.
I still don't really understand why so many like Foregone Part 1. I find that the only thing this track really has going for it is heaviness - melodically it's severely lacking, and when it comes to In Flames melody is the one thing I look for the most. I just get very little out of this one.
I actually prefer Foregone Part 2 as this is more melodic, but it's a shame about the vocals, as they drag the song down. Instrumentally it's not too bad, though, and besides TGD is the closest the album comes to something resembling traditional IF.
State of Slow Decay isn't bad either, but I still struggle to get past the ATG hero worship in the verses. I also think Anders' vocal lines lack a bit during the verses, like he wasn't really sure what to do and so he didn't really do anything in terms of trying to produce a satisfying vocal rhythm. Other parts of the song are alright in this regard, but the ATG-parts of the verses seem a bit bland in terms of vocal rhythm.
Bleeding Out is generally pretty poor, but I will say that I think the chorus has something. The way they ended up doing it is not the way, but there's an inkling of something that could have been good there. Again, I feel like the 2002-2008 version of In Flames could have made this work a lot better. It is only the chorus though, the rest of the song is really forgettable.
Meet Your Maker has some potential with a very STYE-like vibe to it at points, but the clean vocals are ridiculously protooled and the chorus in general just derails the song. This could and should have been better.
I hate In the Dark, it just irritates me from beginning to end. End the Transmission has boring verses and the chorus just has me rolling my eyes. Cynosure might work well for another band, but I just don't like it as an In Flames song.
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