New album Foregone out February 2023

[drawntoblack]

This was probably posted at some point, I only stumbled upon it today. Some dude arranged a bunch of early In Flames stuff (up to Clayman) for an acoustic guitar, but it's actually done really well and he even tackled the solos and incorporated them tastefully.

 

[GraemeSinclair]

This was probably posted at some point, I only stumbled upon it today. Some dude arranged a bunch of early In Flames stuff (up to Clayman) for an acoustic guitar, but it's actually done really well and he even tackled the solos and incorporated them tastefully.

Guilty as charged. It's one of the best things on YouTube, it really shows how good the Big Four are musically.

 

[DE4life]

There's a video on YouTube somewhere of a dude doing piano versions of various IF songs up to ASOP and it sounds fantastic. Older songs definitely sounded best though. Really does give you an appreciation for the songwriting chops of Jesper and Glenn (Bjorn to a point as well, even if his output has been mostly disappointing since Jesper left).

 

[Xpyro125]

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.

I think my biggest problems with are still that 1. It’s the epitome of Americanized modern core, but unfortunately somehow a bit better and slightly more creative than the rest of the trite of modern core, and 2. The lack of IF-feeling melodies. It really is just I, the Mask but headlining for ERRA (Alpha Seed vs anything off their self-titled), Make Them Suffer (Neverbloom vs anything off of their new self-titled), Bad Omens (Glass Houses vs The Death of Peace and Mind, though that’s just Tiktok music), or Spiritbox (The Mara Effect vs anything off Eternal Blue)— All of whom suffer the exact same sort of issue, having made far better and more creative music on the works before they were truly propelled into becoming mainstream.

Aside from the Joey line, The Great Deceiver has aged surprisingly gracefully. It’s one of the only songs I even semi-regularly listen to. I still remember hating it upon release, but I think I was completely wrong about it, and I would’ve been far happier with Foregone if more tracks were like it.

State of Slow Decay is still pretty good to me, though it’s definitely lost its replay value now that the novelty of the chorus has worn off. Cool riff, even if it isn’t really theirs, but I will give them credit for incorporating it into the song naturally. In fairness, I do think that Björn wrote it out himself, but that doesn’t make it not ripped off. As a lead single, it absolutely worked, and as the first track after the instrumental intro, it definitely works. I think I appreciate it more than I enjoy it though.

Foregone, Pt. 1 is still really cool to me. The part with three bars instead of four clicks a lot more naturally to me now than when it first released, and I hear enough melody to where I’m happy. Compared to something like Meet Your Maker, Oscillator by Make Them Suffer, or Soft Spine by Spiritbox, which all fucking suck and lack anything interesting for modern core, the title track is B tier at minimum for me.

Part 2 is when my hype for the album turned to worry, and looking back, the song is fine. The production is what sinks it, with the instrumentals just not sounding as natural as they should given the surprisingly good composition, and the autotune and layering just doesn’t work here. Everything vocally feels inconsistent in the mix, both in fullness and in volume, and not only do the cleans feel artificial, the harsh vocals are so hollow that they end up feeling out of place compared to everything else. It could’ve been a great song, and I think I appreciate it more than I did before, but I certainly don’t enjoy it given its abhorrent execution.

Beginning’s pretty good, nice acoustic opener, not too much to say there.

Meet Your Maker and Bleeding Out fucking suck, fuck those tracks. I know MYM has some fast tremolo picking, but it constantly slows itself to a crawl. I’m actually going to do something few do: Argue in Scream’s favor. That song, while kind of filler compared to everything else being 9/10 minimum on Come Clarity, has fast verses, and a wonderful sense of groove everywhere else, preventing it from slowing it to a crawl. The chanting aspect of the chorus (Which beats out children’s choirs and layering any fucking day) makes it wonderful for live play, and I truly think the fact that they dropped it from their sets is what prevented it from getting a good reputation. Meet Your Maker is just an artificial, Bensonified version of that shit right down to the basic lyrics. Even Chris’ incredible solo can’t save the song. Bleeding Out just has all of the same issues as MYM but worse and even more forgettable. With the pre-release previews of every song trying to avoid clean vocals as much as possible, this song really proves the fallacy of what Foregone is. Fuck both of them, the album genuinely would’ve been better with nothing replacing them. No idea how MYM became a single, and I think all of the people who supposedly flocked to it are fucking plants because all the “love” for it dropped after it was forgotten, save for on Reddit.

PLoM is still my favorite song. I’ve spoken enough about it previously, but yeah, melody and genuine-feeling lyrics, possibly the only song in those regards for me. With Foregone just being a diet TJR-Whoracle-Colony trilogy lyrically, that much shows who’s listened to the old shit and who hasn’t.

In the Dark is an ITM song. I like the actual sense of melody present, but dear God, the lyrics and harsh vocals in the verses have aged rather poorly. This is another one that really shows how awful the production is, especially with the pop-in of the guitars in the chorus. Reminds me a ton of the fade-in after the solo in The Mirror’s Truth.

A Dialogue’s opening and riff is just Voices. Don’t get me wrong, they took it from a good song of theirs, and I actually enjoy both a lot, but that needs to be stated. Unfortunately, that and the groove sections are the only good parts of the song. When the pre-release preview dropped, I downloaded it and listened to it nonstop, and I think if the rest of the song was like it, it’d actually be one of my favorites of their modern discography. The bass is pretty audible though, and it’s surprisingly well-produced for this album, but the song ages so much worse and worse as time goes on.

Cynosure’s a pretty cool song, but I never find myself replaying it. I don’t know if that’s because the autotune is a bit too grating for repeat listens but fine for one or if it’s just something else, but it’s just fine. That being said, the drum solo is genuinely one of the very best parts of the album if not the very best. Chris definitely salvages the album guitar-wise, but Foregone would’ve been just as mediocre without Tanner as it would’ve without Chris. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed the album nearly as much without them, as they bring some sorely-needed energy and creativity to the album. I don’t blame Anders for that nearly as much as I blame Björn and Benson though, those two are the true culprits of Foregone’s failures in my eyes.

Let’s lump End the Transmission in with everything I said about MYM and Bleeding Out. Fuck this song too, you’re the only non-robot who enjoys it, Anders.

Listening to the album again, I didn’t realize just how much I fucking hate the production. We shit on Howard a lot for his decisions, and I do think that he’s brought the band in a horrible direction, but I would genuinely take his production on ITM or even Battles over this. His style does not work with this material, he simply does not get heavier music, and I think that ITM was the perfect storm between Battles and Foregone to make it work… For a 6/10 album, anyways. There are so many amateurish touches and decisions on Foregone, and unlike something like Siren Charms, which also has shit production, that at least felt like there was a little care put into it. Nothing with the production feels inspired, everything detracts from what could’ve been. Sure, there are some moments where the layering or autotune work— I think PLoM would’ve been complete fucking garbage vocally without that— but otherwise everything Benson touches, he fucks with a crowbar-bent, maggot-infested chode. Anders and Björn (And Jesper, but he’s not here) produced Come Clarity, and it was fantastic. Sure, that was a decade and a half ago, people change, this band is proof, but I believe Anders and Björn would’ve done so much better on their own than Howard did. I still think that Björn’s guitarwork is rather uninspired and lacking in melody, but I already knew, felt, and expressed that. I always disliked Howard’s direction and views on production, but I never outright hated his actual “skill” at production with Battles or ITM, and not with Foregone until now. The album just ages more and more poorly for me, and I wish ten times more than I already did that Anders and Björn would just drop this fucking goon and make an In Flames album again. I’ll say it outright, I don’t care if it’s Siren Charms 2, I just want it to not be Howard Benson Presents: In Flames. If Anders and Björn want to continue in this direction, or even if they don’t, they no longer need him and would be better without him.

This was probably posted at some point, I only stumbled upon it today. Some dude arranged a bunch of early In Flames stuff (up to Clayman) for an acoustic guitar, but it's actually done really well and he even tackled the solos and incorporated them tastefully.

Been completely smitten with this video since it first released, it showcases exactly why I fell in love with melodeath the way I did.

There's a video on YouTube somewhere of a dude doing piano versions of various IF songs up to ASOP and it sounds fantastic. Older songs definitely sounded best though. Really does give you an appreciation for the songwriting chops of Jesper and Glenn (Bjorn to a point as well, even more f his output has been mostly disappointing since Jesper left).

I’m assuming you mean this one. Shoutouts to Dorelia Bast’s videos too, always loved those.

 

[Moonshield_]

This was probably posted at some point, I only stumbled upon it today. Some dude arranged a bunch of early In Flames stuff (up to Clayman) for an acoustic guitar, but it's actually done really well and he even tackled the solos and incorporated them tastefully.

Jotun feels like listening to Rodrigo y Gabriela

 

[DE4life]

Aside from the Joey line, The Great Deceiver has aged surprisingly gracefully. It’s one of the only songs I even semi-regularly listen to. I still remember hating it upon release, but I think I was completely wrong about it, and I would’ve been far happier with Foregone if more tracks were like it.

I have to admit I was surprised, coming back to TGD, how solid it is. It's not on the level of anything Pre-Siren Charms to me, but it's certainly playable. Also no clean vocals, which on this album counts as a big positive. If the album had mostly been songs like this I probably would have been more partial to it. My only criticism is the simplicity of the lyrics. Some cool lines like "the sky is on fire, and the angels cry", but also some incredibly clichéd/simple lines like "we are doomed, we are cursed", "nothing but pain, this is the end", "nowhere to run, there's no escape"... come on Anders, at least try. You can do better than that.

State of Slow Decay is still pretty good to me, though it’s definitely lost its replay value now that the novelty of the chorus has worn off. Cool riff, even if it isn’t really theirs, but I will give them credit for incorporating it into the song naturally. In fairness, I do think that Björn wrote it out himself, but that doesn’t make it not ripped off. As a lead single, it absolutely worked, and as the first track after the instrumental intro, it definitely works. I think I appreciate it more than I enjoy it though.

I don't think Bjorn intentionally ripped off Blinded By Fear, but I find it really hard to believe neither he nor anyone else heard those riffs and thought "ayo, that's a bit too similar to Blinded By Fear". At least change it up a little more. Especially as Anders clearly didn't have a way to put any particularly interesting vocal rhythm over those riffs anyway.

Part 2 is when my hype for the album turned to worry, and looking back, the song is fine. The production is what sinks it, with the instrumentals just not sounding as natural as they should given the surprisingly good composition, and the autotune and layering just doesn’t work here. Everything vocally feels inconsistent in the mix, both in fullness and in volume, and not only do the cleans feel artificial, the harsh vocals are so hollow that they end up feeling out of place compared to everything else. It could’ve been a great song, and I think I appreciate it more than I did before, but I certainly don’t enjoy it given its abhorrent execution.

I was never hyped for the album so Part 2 likely didn't make much of an impact either way (can't remember now), but listening to the entire album this one stood out as being a bit better than the rest creatively. Agree that the production and vocals fuck it over pretty hard though. Thanks Howard.

Meet Your Maker and Bleeding Out fucking suck, fuck those tracks. I know MYM has some fast tremolo picking, but it constantly slows itself to a crawl. I’m actually going to do something few do: Argue in Scream’s favor. That song, while kind of filler compared to everything else being 9/10 minimum on Come Clarity, has fast verses, and a wonderful sense of groove everywhere else, preventing it from slowing it to a crawl. The chanting aspect of the chorus (Which beats out children’s choirs and layering any fucking day) makes it wonderful for live play, and I truly think the fact that they dropped it from their sets is what prevented it from getting a good reputation. Meet Your Maker is just an artificial, Bensonified version of that shit right down to the basic lyrics. Even Chris’ incredible solo can’t save the song. Bleeding Out just has all of the same issues as MYM but worse and even more forgettable. With the pre-release previews of every song trying to avoid clean vocals as much as possible, this song really proves the fallacy of what Foregone is. Fuck both of them, the album genuinely would’ve been better with nothing replacing them. No idea how MYM became a single, and I think all of the people who supposedly flocked to it are fucking plants because all the “love” for it dropped after it was forgotten, save for on Reddit.

You know, it's a shame with MYM because I think it had the most potential alongside TGD to be one of the songs on the album that did harken back to the mid-2000s IF era. It almost gets there, but too many poor decisions in terms of structure and production in the end. I fully believe Jesper, if he was still around, would have made that song work. Bleeding Out is just devoid of any merit, really, but I'll stand by the chorus having something about it. It's one of the very few things that stuck in my head from this album before listening to it again. The way they did it just goes wayyy too far into scene metal territory. Also the vocals sound shit, but hey, what's new.

PLoM is still my favorite song. I’ve spoken enough about it previously, but yeah, melody and genuine-feeling lyrics, possibly the only song in those regards for me. With Foregone just being a diet TJR-Whoracle-Colony trilogy lyrically, that much shows who’s listened to the old shit and who hasn’t.

The song has the ingredients, and with a different producer could have been up there with the other ballads for me. I even liked WEWO from SC, so I'm a sucker for these types of songs from IF. Just too much vocal fakery in this one for me to handle. I'll be honest, I don't really like the lyrics. They're just one long set of cliché'd lines from beginning to end. I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if someone told me Howard or one of his cronies wrote them.

A Dialogue’s opening and riff is just Voices. Don’t get me wrong, they took it from a good song of theirs, and I actually enjoy both a lot, but that needs to be stated. Unfortunately, that and the groove sections are the only good parts of the song. When the pre-release preview dropped, I downloaded it and listened to it nonstop, and I think if the rest of the song was like it, it’d actually be one of my favorites of their modern discography. The bass is pretty audible though, and it’s surprisingly well-produced for this album, but the song ages so much worse and worse as time goes on.

I forgot about Dialogue, which I guess shows how much I thought of it. The cleans on that one just irritate me, even though the song itself does have some cool elements instrumentally, even if some of it is self-plagiarized.

Listening to the album again, I didn’t realize just how much I fucking hate the production. We shit on Howard a lot for his decisions, and I do think that he’s brought the band in a horrible direction, but I would genuinely take his production on ITM or even Battles over this. His style does not work with this material, he simply does not get heavier music, and I think that ITM was the perfect storm between Battles and Foregone to make it work… For a 6/10 album, anyways. There are so many amateurish touches and decisions on Foregone, and unlike something like Siren Charms, which also has shit production, that at least felt like there was a little care put into it. Nothing with the production feels inspired, everything detracts from what could’ve been. Sure, there are some moments where the layering or autotune work— I think PLoM would’ve been complete fucking garbage vocally without that— but otherwise everything Benson touches, he fucks with a crowbar-bent, maggot-infested chode. Anders and Björn (And Jesper, but he’s not here) produced Come Clarity, and it was fantastic. Sure, that was a decade and a half ago, people change, this band is proof, but I believe Anders and Björn would’ve done so much better on their own than Howard did. I still think that Björn’s guitarwork is rather uninspired and lacking in melody, but I already knew, felt, and expressed that. I always disliked Howard’s direction and views on production, but I never outright hated his actual “skill” at production with Battles or ITM, and not with Foregone until now. The album just ages more and more poorly for me, and I wish ten times more than I already did that Anders and Björn would just drop this fucking goon and make an In Flames album again. I’ll say it outright, I don’t care if it’s Siren Charms 2, I just want it to not be Howard Benson Presents: In Flames. If Anders and Björn want to continue in this direction, or even if they don’t, they no longer need him and would be better without him.

It's funny because the one thing almost everyone said at the time of release was that the production was great. Some people on here were even saying it was better than DotL. I wouldn't say I hate the entire production, but there are parts of it I dislike - especially when it comes to the vocals. I agree regardless that Howard drags In Flames down, and your vitriol towards him warms my cold, black heart. As far as Anders and Bjorn doing better by themselves... I am not sure on that tbh ASOP and SC were both disasters. SOAPF was good for the vibe they were going for, but that production wouldn't work for a real heavy metal album. Then there's Clayman 2020, and I don't even know who we assign blame to for that abomination. Anders has produced decent sounding metal for other bands, but when it comes to In Flames he seems to make poor decisions - even going back as far as Reroute and STYE. They need to swallow their pride and give Fredrik another shot.

I’m assuming you mean this one. Shoutouts to Dorelia Bast’s videos too, always loved those.

Yes, that's the one. Only disappointment is that it doesn't last for longer.

 

[GraemeSinclair]

I hate In the Dark, it just irritates me from beginning to end.

It's interesting how different people's perceptions are, for me it's probably a serious contender for the best post-Clayman In Flames song.

It grabbed me instantly from the first time I heard it and I've never become bored of it. I think it has a great chunky groove, the best use of low growls I've heard on an IF studio recording since Colony (completely undiluted by any higher screams), a strong folky acoustic melody with later refrains on harmonised electric guitars that captures the essence of the In Flames sound, a very catchy clean chorus that doesn't sound overproduced like Bleeding Out, Meet Your Maker or Dialogue and a solo with genuine singalong quality like the best from their classic catalogue (especially that shift at 03:14, although I also enjoy Björn's initial melodic runs at the start of the solo).

Absolutely not trying to convince you to share my point of view, I just find it interesting that we love a lot of the same material from the band's older catalogue, and also dislike SC/Battles/House etc. for similar reasons, but have completely contrasting takes on this.

Side Note: Did anyone listen to Anders' ambient electronic solo album that came out today? I didn't know he had an electronica side project with two records out already (which I imagine were probably discussed on here at the time). I had a listen through while writing this post, and I thought it sounded cool for what it was, but I feel like ambient music like that without a strong sense of melody kinda goes in one ear and out the other for me. In a day's time, I probably won't be able to recall anything about the tracks.

 

[DE4life]

It's interesting how different people's perceptions are, for me it's probably a serious contender for the best post-Clayman In Flames song.

It grabbed me instantly from the first time I heard it and I've never become bored of it. I think it has a great chunky groove, the best use of low growls I've heard on an IF studio recording since Colony (completely undiluted by any higher screams), a strong folky acoustic melody with later refrains on harmonised electric guitars that captures the essence of the In Flames sound, a very catchy clean chorus that doesn't sound overproduced like Bleeding Out, Meet Your Maker or Dialogue and a solo with genuine singalong quality like the best from their classic catalogue (especially that shift at 03:14, although I also enjoy Björn's initial melodic runs at the start of the solo).

Absolutely not trying to convince you to share my point of view, I just find it interesting that we love a lot of the same material from the band's older catalogue, and also dislike SC/Battles/House etc. for similar reasons, but have completely contrasting takes on this.

Side Note: Did anyone listen to Anders' ambient electronic solo album that came out today? I didn't know he had an electronica side project with two records out already (which I imagine were probably discussed on here at the time). I had a listen through while writing this post, and I thought it sounded cool for what it was, but I feel like ambient music like that without a strong sense of melody kinda goes in one ear and out the other for me. In a day's time, I probably won't be able to recall anything about the tracks.

Well, that's quite okay. If we were talking a legitimately bad song like 'In This Life' then I'd be ready to throw virtual hands, but I don't class In the Dark as one of those kinds of songs, just one that I don't personally like at all.

The first part of the song kind of reminds me of Bottled with those riffs, which is the first problem. It isn't exactly the same but close enough that I start twitching uncomfortably. I'm honestly not a huge fan of those really low growled vocals. I don't mind them on the odd line, but they don't sound good to me in a prolonged stretch. Also, as aforementioned, I do not like the way the production deals with these vocals - too central for my liking. I will say that 00:41 - 01:00 is a decent little section. I also like 01:26 - 01:33. Then those vocals from Anders which sometimes barely sound like him, similar issue to PLoM. Singalong chorus seems to go against what the song has been building to up until that point, and even instrumentally there's a clash between the doomier riffs and Anders upbeat clean vocals. This would, in my view, have been better growled - but we gotta have dat singalong chorus for the crowd, I guess.

Straight after the first chorus there's another decent section from 02:02 - 02:11 - then we're back to the exact same riffs as before with the same vocal rhythm, just different lyrics. Same problem with the chorus as before. First half of the solo just seems aimlessly upbeat and out of sync with the vibe of the song, whereas the second half of the solo is actually quite nice. Then we're back to waving your hands in the air muddafukkas as we sing along with Anders and autotune machine.

So yeah, maybe saying I hated the entire song was an exaggeration on my part. There are brief parts of the track I do think are good, particularly the second half of the solo. What I mainly have a problem with is the verse riffs and vocals, which I find really boring, and the singalong chorus which seems out of place on a composition that's otherwise quite doom-ish.

 

[DE4life]

In regards to if Anything Suspicious, I know of it, but not my kind of thing personally. I wouldn't know how to judge it as I just don't listen to that kind of music.

 

[Xpyro125]

I mean, it just feels like a tried and true ITM track to me. I like it well enough, but it definitely isn’t as good to me as I felt it was when the album first released.

IAS is cool, I like it well enough, but I did genuinely forget that name. When you mentioned a new album, I wasn’t sure if it was that or Nolavær— Turns out that album just featured IAS instead of having Anders as a full fledged member, so it is just that I guess. Didn’t realize there was a new album though, the iTunes previews of it are interesting though, so I’ll give it a listen soon. I liked Lullabies and the Nolavær album quite a bit, though I do agree that they didn’t stick with me.

It never really occurred to me, but it is fascinating to think about what a post-rock In Flames song would be. Closest we have is Liberation, but that’s a ways away from post-rock. I think it could absolutely work, personally, but much like them ever doing something like shoegaze, that’s nothing short of a pipe dream.

 

[DE4life]

I've always said they should have continued down the SOAPF path. There was a lot to explore there, and the production/mixing actually made Anders' vocals sound really good - despite neither clean or harsh vocals, in fact, being particularly great. It hid a lot of his weaknesses without needing to absolutely murder his vocals with ProTools. SOAPF production could still be tweaked a little depending on the vibe they were going for, but it's a shame they went in a totally different direction for SC and then knelt at the altar of Benson after that. Darkest fucking timeline shit.

 

[Gums]

I can't believe you subjected yourself to that again. What is even the point?
The album is absolute horseshit. Why wouldn't you try listening to something else? What about the other albums that are out there, that aren't albums that you've already listened to multiple times and didn't care for? IT MAKES NO SENSE! You are trying to make yourself like the album.. for what?

 

[Gums]

In Flames makes cheesy, garbage, child's music, one album after another. And because we have people who don't listen to anything else.. and are desperate for In Flames to make something decent.. they listen again and again, hoping for some magic.. straining so hard to hear some good parts. For fucks sakes people! Do you not realize there are thousands of better choices out there? Good music.. not recorded by Howard Benson, with fake and forced vocals and completely mediocre instruments. What the fuck!

 

[Gums]

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.

Convenient of you to skip over the cleans! And you don't like the growls.. but still listen to the album again.

Absolute nonsense..

 

[Xpyro125]

Sometimes I like listening to things again to maybe see if there was anything I may have missed, like a backing melody, or something with the production that might interest me, or even just to see if I might enjoy them more after some time. SOAPF was an album I didn’t like upon my first listen, and aside from songs like Jotun, Episode 666, and Jester Script Transfigured, I didn’t care all too much for Whoracle at first, but now they’re both albums I absolutely love. I loved Colony at first, eventually grew out of it, then grew back to loving it again. Same sort of thing with Clayman, just not nearly as much love now as I have for Colony. Back when ITM came out, I had it, TJR, and Reroute within close proximity of each other rating-wise. I was far more into alt metal than than I am now, and it’s an album that’s simply fallen off a fucking cliff for me— Not so much in the style, but in the execution of it. Even Siren Charms is an album I’ve grown to appreciate in spite of me thinking it’s objectively pretty goddamn bad for an In Flames album. It’s simply interesting seeing how my opinion might change, especially since In Flames is my favorite band. Sometimes I find more minute differences that I make note of compositionally, it’s just fun.

That being said, I came back with even less fondness for Foregone than I came in with— Which was mainly just due to Chris and Tanner anyways. I didn’t expect to find that the production was somehow not just worse than I expected, but downright intern-esque type amateurish, though that’s how it goes sometimes. It wasn’t fun listening to it again, but that’s just the roll of the dice sometimes. I just don’t find as much enjoyment listening to new metal anyways since newer melodeath, metalcore, nu metal, hardcore and alt metal just draw more and more from the blandest tropes of downtuned, “heavy”, melody-lacking modern metalcore, but I’m not that into anything like power metal, doom metal, sludge, or glam, so a lot of the time the metal I listen to is just repeats. And I don’t mind that, since there is still quite a bit of rock (And black metal) that’s surprisingly adventurous these days. I’m not holding out much hope for In Flames making something adventurous like SOAPF again or experimental at all, but I do hope they simply make something that I like— More melody, less Howard Benson.

 

[Gums]

Yeah but newsflash.. there is no missing melody or deeper layered goldmine underneath the plastic trash that is Foregone! Everybody knows that. Whoracle is a classic album with many layers of guitar.. so yes, you can listen to it over and over again and hear something new. That is what makes it great. Foregone is the exact opposite! If you know it is basic and trash the first time you listen to it, you don't keep listening over and over. That makes no sense at all. You are just letting Bjorn and Benson slap you in the face repeatedly with their nutsacks.

 

[Xpyro125]

A lot of the music I’ve come around on is simpler and less technical, sometimes there’s beauty in that. I wanted to see if maybe there was some beauty in Foregone that I missed, but there was not. We’ll call it a life lesson in the name of science.

 

[DE4life]

Sometimes I like listening to things again to maybe see if there was anything I may have missed, like a backing melody, or something with the production that might interest me, or even just to see if I might enjoy them more after some time. SOAPF was an album I didn’t like upon my first listen, and aside from songs like Jotun, Episode 666, and Jester Script Transfigured, I didn’t care all too much for Whoracle at first, but now they’re both albums I absolutely love. I loved Colony at first, eventually grew out of it, then grew back to loving it again. Same sort of thing with Clayman, just not nearly as much love now as I have for Colony. Back when ITM came out, I had it, TJR, and Reroute within close proximity of each other rating-wise. I was far more into alt metal than than I am now, and it’s an album that’s simply fallen off a fucking cliff for me— Not so much in the style, but in the execution of it. Even Siren Charms is an album I’ve grown to appreciate in spite of me thinking it’s objectively pretty goddamn bad for an In Flames album. It’s simply interesting seeing how my opinion might change, especially since In Flames is my favorite band. Sometimes I find more minute differences that I make note of compositionally, it’s just fun.

That being said, I came back with even less fondness for Foregone than I came in with— Which was mainly just due to Chris and Tanner anyways. I didn’t expect to find that the production was somehow not just worse than I expected, but downright intern-esque type amateurish, though that’s how it goes sometimes. It wasn’t fun listening to it again, but that’s just the roll of the dice sometimes. I just don’t find as much enjoyment listening to new metal anyways since newer melodeath, metalcore, nu metal, hardcore and alt metal just draw more and more from the blandest tropes of downtuned, “heavy”, melody-lacking modern metalcore, but I’m not that into anything like power metal, doom metal, sludge, or glam, so a lot of the time the metal I listen to is just repeats. And I don’t mind that, since there is still quite a bit of rock (And black metal) that’s surprisingly adventurous these days. I’m not holding out much hope for In Flames making something adventurous like SOAPF again or experimental at all, but I do hope they simply make something that I like— More melody, less Howard Benson.

Yeah, I only listened to the majority of these songs on the day of the album release and never again. It was the first IF album where I just had absolutely zero desire to listen to any of it again, even when it was new. Foregone still gets praise in certain areas, so I figured I'd give an hour to see if I'd been too hasty in discarding it the first time around. I like to engage with people on the band, including new releases, and Foregone is the only album I feel like I can't say much about because I really don't remember much about the songs, other than that they did nothing for me when the album came out.

As it turns out, my initial impressions remain the same. There's just nothing there for me. At this point that's probably just going to be the way it is until they leave Benson - but at this rate it seems like they'll be with him until they give it up as a band, in which case there's a good chance the band have nothing left for me as a fan. C'est la vie - In Flames haven't been my go-to band for a long time, so it's not something I'll lose sleep over. I'll likely forget what most of the songs sound like again by next week, so, wasting an hour's time today re-listening to the album was probably a futile exercise. Never mind.

 

[Gums]

You already knew that there wasn't. It's Howard Bensen music FFS! If you were after simple, less technical music, there is nothing wrong with that. There are a multitude of options out there for you that are going to beat the pants off of Foregone.

 

[Gums]

You had ZERO DESIRE to listen to it again.. and you still did!