New album Foregone out February 2023

[The Grayfox]

"I only saw him play uninspired, mediocre solos twice during the pandemic. It was depressing. In more ways than one."

 

[galvanized]

If he only saw Bjorn twice during the 2 years that was totally his choice. Sweden was pretty free when it came to lockdowns.

For all we know Bjorn was secretly rocking with the THE guys while Anders sat at home making Minecraft music in depression.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Bjorn was in the Tuboyz and Rahult Rawhides. No time for socialization when there's music to be made...

 

[TheJestersDoor]

I reckon we'll get a new single around the 6th of August, that's when In Flames's festival is on and their socials are saying they've got "some surprises in store". Probably a new single, album announcement, and maybe a throwback/deep cut set like they did at their last festival.

 

[DE4life]

One of my favourite IF articles, from Jan 2002

https://blabbermouth.net/news/in-flames-speak-out-against-fans-narrow-mindedness

Just an epic, massive rant against the fans when a statement refers to fans shitting their pants you know it's a classic. Apparently they posted that statement on this forum itself back in 2002. Damn, if only they'd do something similar nowadays. They'd get rekt.

 

[eochaid]

They were really burnt.

 

[Ilias7]

New single, guys!

 

[TheJestersDoor]

I have to wait half an hour for the UK to hit midnight

 

[CladInShadows971]

This is actually really cool. It's definitely heavy and has some pretty good leads.

Thrashy chorus caught me off guard!

 

[Ilias7]

I like it. It has interesting guitar leads and it is 100% screaming. Which was their last song with no cleans?

Nice melodic intro. Some heavy riffing on the verses and Anders is using his low growls once again. The chorus is giving me a Brush the Dust Away feeling with some cool guitar work in the end (it doesn't sound like Bjorn to be honest). There is something like an unfinished solo that had some potential and some weird soft guitar work before the final chorus. Basic structure, but a great song.

 

[TheJestersDoor]

Okay well I'm very pleasantly surprised as I didn't expect the follow up single to be like this. I like SoSD but this is better. Great tune and Anders sounds real pissed off in the verses. Simple structure but there's a lot of layers going on, and some real nice guitar work. Drums once again are solid, especially when they pick up pace in the second verse.

The production sounds big, still not a fan of the guitar tone but overall it sounds better than the last 3 albums by a mile

 

[ThePhobiac]

Preview sounds very good to me. I was afraid it would be a This Is Our House or The Truth situation where the second single reveals that the album is gonna be pretty eh. Not the case, apparently.

Benson aside, I wonder if this could be album where IF actually gets back on track.

 

[mindd]

Uhhh why is the solo neutered again... Overall, sounds pretty fun, I like this more than SoSD.
This somehow reminds me of ASOP, except with very different vocals.

 

[mindd]

Interesting how they dropped this without any hints or hype or really anything on social media.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Heard the song. It's pretty great, I think. It's so weird to hear a modern In Flames song without an obligatory clean-sung chorus. It feels Reroute-ish in that way. Really interesting guitar work and drum patterns in this one.

I will say that while I don't think Broderick had any creative input for this record, Bjorn probably upped his songwriting game because he realized "oh shit, someone who was in Megadeth is now in this band and we can't keep writing shit like In This Life and Here Until Forever."

 

[ThePhobiac]

Second listen and man, "Bend the truth to fit your opinion / another excuse, another lie" is actually a really great hook.

Quote me three years from now and laugh but behind the sleek production and Jesper's palpable absence, parts of this give me that mid-era In Flames vibe and I'm really digging it.

 

[The Grayfox]

Pretty decent song. Once again the low point being the solo. If Bjorn was going to phone it in so much he should've just let Chris do it.

 

[The Grayfox]

Also the In Flames subreddit is very, very funny.

"Sounds like Clayman" and "solo amazing" are some of the comedic gold bits you can find there.

 

[CladInShadows971]

The thing that's been driving me insane lately is people on YouTube / Reddit and even some journalists who interviewed THE referring to RTR and even more recent albums when talking about "old In Flames" or "returning to their roots".

 

[Xpyro125]

People said the same about Niclas, that he'd write more as time went on, but he never did. The best he got was Wallflower, and in a recent track-by-track interview of Battles that I posted with Anders and Bjorn they never once mention anything about Niclas writing even parts of the song, let alone the entire thing

Looking at the credits for Battles, he also wrote parts of Drained, The End, Like Sand, Here Until Forever, and Greatest Greed. I'm surprised he didn't write for In My Room -- the verses of that song are straight out of the Passenger album and have a distinct Engelin vibe.

But yeah, lol. I guess we'll have to wait for the documentary that comes out twenty years from now that exposes everything that's been going on behind the scenes since the band's formation. These dudes are so cagey.

I will say that I started trusting writing credits less than I used to when I read an interview with Mikael Stanne where the interviewer said "So 'Auctioned' on the Projector album, which Anders Jivarp wrote according to the credits," and Mikael said "No, that was me, I wrote that song."

You know, save for the title track and "Save Me", Engelin really got all the songs with better guitarwork. Sounds about right. The riff in "I Am Above" is ripped right from part of "In Splendour" by Engel, but at least it's got an awesome riff.

The simplest answer imo is that he's simply signed an NDA and the band are the ones that have to announce his departure; and thus he's unable to confirm it independently.

Departure in this context is probably a wide gamut; stretching from simply not being invited to play with them to termination of any agreement(s). I wouldn't be surprised if he's under agreement with IF for live shows, where remuneration and terms for such services are defined for another X years and neither party is incentivized to terminate this.

The thing is, if they're on good enough terms to allow Niclas to not fulfil contractual agreements and go and form a completely new band which he does play and tour with, then surely they'd just agree to terminate whatever remains of his deal and they'd go their own separate ways? Otherwise there would be a legal dispute going on which would likely preclude Niclas from being able to form and play in a new band until it was resolved. It's been nearly 3 years now, so there's no reason to think if he had signed an NDA and it was up to the band to announce it that they'd wait this long, especially when Broderick has been committed to IF for some time now and is even listed as an official member of the band on socials.

There's something unusual beneath the surface, which I think stems from Niclas being creatively unfulfilled in In Flames and forming The Halo Effect. As these guys are all friends it muddies the water a bit in terms of lashing out legally, but from Anders' comments on THE in that recent interview it seems like that friendship has at the very least been strained by what has happened there.

THE's documentary accidentally let slip that Engelin's not in In Flames anymore. Hell, I think I saw that in one of the previews on their socials back in December or something. A contractual thing is 100% the most likely answer, as that seems to be the sort of thing that tends to happen with these guys. Euge was always a part of Cyhra, but they had to be pretty much tight-lipped about it since he still had contractual shit with Shining that prevented him from being talked about or given any sort of big credits on Letters. I'd be more surprised if it wasn't contractual shit with Niclas, albeit different contractual shit. That, and everything seems to pussyfoot around any sort of drama in order to save face, which kinda just makes sense for image reasons, especially after everything got played up with Jesper's departure.