New album Foregone out February 2023

[DE4life]

OK, listened. I'm somewhat of a modern Arch Enemy fan and I don't hear any of that here. It does remind me of some melodic metal band but I honestly can't think of who, which means they probably aren't particularly memorable. Anyway...

Positives: Anders' growls are pretty good. Better than I expected them to be by this stage of his career. No cleans which is nice. Chorus reminds me of something that could have been on Come Clarity - think Vacuum or Pacing Death's Trail, just with worse production obviously. It's a metal song, regardless of quality, and it's broken the first single heavy, second single pop garbage pattern that's been going on since Siren Charms. Drumming is good, I like Tanner.

Negatives: Production is average. Not terrible, just average. Lyrics are pretty generic for the most part (but I'd rather Anders writes about this shit than about how his heart is broken for the 1000th time). 'Joey was right, this is the Final Countdown' is a horrifically lame line. I legit might use that vocal remover I downloaded recently to remove that line from the song. The solo, if you can even call it that, is typical generic Bjorn #405. Let Broderick do the solos.

Despite the block of text under 'negative' I don't think it's too bad. 6.5/10 range.

 

[DE4life]

People talking about this sounding like Clayman or 'the old days' are simply wrong. I'm listening to the instrumental of the song now and the verses are straight up Siren Charms. If you've listened to the SC instrumental mix you'll hear it. There's also heavy similarities to the verses of "The End". Main difference is slightly better production and more energetic drums. Chorus is definitely Come Clarity-esque. Solo is a post-SOAPF Bjorn special.

 

[DE4life]

Also taking my Joey is Gone copy of Grand Deceiver and replacing the original version with it. I actually couldn't edit out the entire line as the 'dooownnn' scream blends into the chorus, so it's basically now just "Manklnd too unkind to be renowned... this is the final countdown". Sounds better.

 

[galvanized]

Mentioning Joey might be a Howard Benson thing.

Bunch of boomers sitting around talking about how IF could be the next big band out of Sweden like ABBA and Europe. Probably listening to those albums every day because some lamer wanted to add some “Swedish” flavor to the environment.

 

[eochaid]

Anyone mentioning Clayman knows shit about that album and the band. They know of it because of the remaster and probably think that's the peak of their melodeath era.

They aren't even able to mention TJR or Whoracle. That's fucking funny.

Now, if these two songs were the first that I hear from this band, I wouldn't be caring to listen to anything else or digging into their discography.

 

[DE4life]

Mentioning Joey might be a Howard Benson thing.

Bunch of boomers sitting around talking about how IF could be the next big band out of Sweden like ABBA and Europe. Probably listening to those albums every day because some lamer wanted to add some “Swedish” flavor to the environment.

Most of us have ripped on Anders' lyrics in the past, but this line is unquestionably the dumbest of all time. Like, it isn't even close. It sounds so out of place and ridiculous. Why do they always have to do something stupid, even when putting out somewhat OK metal songs? With the last one it was blatant ATG ripoff, with this one it's Joey. They must be doing it on purpose at this point just to troll us.

 

[DE4life]

Anyone mentioning Clayman knows shit about that album and the band. They know of it because of the remaster and probably think that's the peak of their melodeath era.

They aren't even able to mention TJR or Whoracle. That's fucking funny.

Now, if these two songs were the first that I hear from this band, I wouldn't be caring to listen to anything else or digging into their discography.

If people say Come Clarity, I can accept that to a degree. Vocals and chorus do sound a bit like they could've come off CC album. Not the whole song, but just bits of it. The rest is really just typical modern IF. The better side of modern IF, but still nothing special.

 

[eochaid]

They probably feel edgy by mentioning Clayman.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Nah the worst line IF has ever done is "but think, as I rape your mother" imo. Just kinda immature.

As far as it sounding like Clayman, it's mostly that the chorus feels like, as DE said, a Come Clarity chorus, which itself had many stylistic throwbacks to Clayman/Colony (Pacing Death's Trail's chorus is classic late-90's/early'00's). And the level of lead guitar wankery feels very classic-era In Flames to me.

I don't even rate Clayman that highly, but mostly just trying to describe that it feels very mid-era IF to me, which I define as Colony/Clayman/Reroute.

 

[eochaid]

For me, it sounds like typical Bjorn from the past albums but faster.

 

[DE4life]

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

Sounds like an Ode to Ciko

 

[ThePhobiac]

I think the reason a lot of people leave out TJR and Whoracle when they talk about classic IF is because at this point, those are just two albums out of thirteen (going on fourteen), and at this point represents just a small sliver of their discography. TJR is still my favorite album by them but even I have to admit that only one other IF album sounds anything remotely like it. Whereas you can find traces of Colony/Clayman in Reroute, CC, ASOP, SOAPF, and yes, even Battles and ITM if you can get past the shitty production.

For me, it sounds like typical Bjorn from the past albums but faster.

That's basically what it is. That said, Clayman is basically Bjorn Unleashed. It's Guitar-Wank: The Album.

 

[DE4life]

The more I listen to the song, it just doesn't feel some of these lyrics were even written by Anders. I know they probably were, but the Joey line, "mankind too unkind to be renowned" and "the sky is on fire and the angels cry" is like nothing he's written before. Or at least, not in a really, really long time. It's not a bad thing necessarily as his lyrics in the past decade or so have been pretty bland at best, but it's just weird hearing stuff like that from modern IF.

 

[eochaid]

The more I listen to the song, it just doesn't feel some of these lyrics were even written by Anders. I know they probably were, but the Joey line, "mankind too unkind to be renowned" and "the sky is on fire and the angels cry" is like nothing he's written before. Or at least, not in a really, really long time. It's not a bad thing necessarily as his lyrics in the past decade or so have been pretty bland at best, but it's just weird hearing stuff like that from modern IF.

"It's in my hands, the sky
So bright it's burning
It's for me to decide
If flames, will reach heaven tonight."

Not the same but similar.

I think the reason a lot of people leave out TJR and Whoracle when they talk about classic IF is because at this point, those are just two albums out of thirteen (going on fourteen), and at this point represents just a small sliver of their discography.

Or because they knew about in flames at a point where those albums were not appealing to them. Imagine starting with SOAPF and then going back the TJR. For a lot of people, that will be a no. Even albums like R2R and CC would be a no. And, for that people, anything prior to CLayman must be like the Pleistocene, they know that it exists but know shit about it.

 

[DE4life]

"It's in my hands, the sky
So bright it's burning
It's for me to decide
If flames, will reach heaven tonight."

Not the same but similar.

That came to mind for me as well, but we're talking 16 years ago when Anders still seemed to give a shit about his lyrics. Haven't really seen any lyrics like that since Come Clarity.

 

[eochaid]

He doesn't care or he really doesn't have anything to say.

 

[mindd]

Welp, I personally know one human being whose first IF songs were Take This Life and... ...(This is our) House. They liked them both, and seemed to enjoy the Siren Charms stuff and a bit of SOAPF I've shown them, but won't touch the Jester Race-Clayman stuff at all. I'm sure that if they listened to this and to some of the oldies, they would've said that those are basically the same style.

 

[DE4life]

He doesn't care or he really doesn't have anything to say.

He did warn us about this on Bottled...

Welp, I personally know one human being whose first IF songs were Take This Life and... ...(This is our) House. They liked them both, and seemed to enjoy the Siren Charms stuff and a bit of SOAPF I've shown them, but won't touch the Jester Race-Clayman stuff at all. I'm sure that if they listened to this and to some of the oldies, they would've said that those are basically the same style.

Tragic

 

[galvanized]

Pros
-Intro riff is good
-Drumming is good. Stands out in a way I haven’t heard from IF in a while.
-Fast pace is good
-Harsh vocals

Cons
-Guitar riffs all boring except for the intro riff that comes up several times. They really milked that one.
-Solo doesn’t offend me but too short.
-Vocals sound kind of dry and bland. Not much meat.
-Lyrics are lame. Sorry if this song is about his wife.
-I thought the name was a Soilwork rip off but actually that one is Black Star Deceiver.

Not sure about final score at this point.

 

[ThePhobiac]

I honestly think the guitars are a highlight of this song. That part at 2:15 has been stuck in my head all day. If you listen closely you can hear some slight arpeggiating in the right channel at one point during that riff, which is something Bjorn has a tendency to do.