New album Foregone out February 2023

[The Grayfox]

You only need to listen to Anders trying to sing clean live to understand why they don't play Stay With Me live much. There's a reason that layers and layers of backing tracks are used when he sings. He isn't a good singer and he knows it. His energy live is good and his growls/screams have improved quite a bit recently, but his cleans? No thanks.

 

[eochaid]

Let's say it clear. Anders singing Stay With Me live was embarrassing. And that's one of the reasons of why I criticize him. He shouldn't be doing at the studio things that go far beyond his skills. At least, not until he seriously takes lessons to become a decent singer. A thing that he will never do because fans are condescending or directly deaf.

 

[Xpyro125]

Opening night of the US tour setlist:

The Great Deceiver
Fear Is the Weakness
Cloud Connected
Stand Ablaze
Behind Space
Graveland
Episode 666
Scorn
Only for the Weak
State of Slow Decay
Wallflower
Deliver Us
The End
The Mirror's Truth
I Am Above
Take This Life
My Sweet Shadow


I don't hate it if I'm being honest. It could be much worse.

Honestly, aside from "Scorn" and "The End", I really like this setlist. I'm probably gonna get to go see them next month, and if this is what I'm getting, then I'll be really happy with it.

Wait, holy shit, "Episode 666" is being played live? That's fucking awesome!

Dead Alone is easily in the top 3 worst songs of IF if we exclude LS. Always skipped it.

I completely disagree with this take, but I respect it.

Is that intro something new or something so old that I can't even remember? Sounds like IF to me but IDK

I've scoured the ends of the Earth for all things IF for a few years now, and I've never heard the intro, but it's fucking beautiful. I really hope it's something that'll be on the new album and not just the same mistake THE made with their intro and outro.

SC is a self-contained oddity, for better or worse. I don't think it has any staples or any songs that is particularly a blast live - most certainly not monsters in the ballroom. I am actually happy that the songs they most often played from that (monsters, eg, paralyzed) are not played, because they were either mediocre (monsters) or they already had very similar songs to that, just better (eg, paralyzed). The best songs from SC, excluding the bonus tracks, are all moody. They are chill to listen to but you don't necessarily want to hear it live all the time, especially when the band has such a new song like Stay With Me, which baffles me how it's avoiding their setlists.

Aside from "Everything's Gone", I can't really think of any other SC song I'd want to hear live. Maybe the bonus tracks, but that's never happening.

I'd love to hear them play "Stay With Me" more. It's a wonderful song that worked incredibly well when they paired up with an orchestra. They also played "Here Until Forever" in the same set with that orchestra, but that wasn't really as good, so we don't need to discuss that further.

Sorry I'm replying to old posts, work's just been kicking my ass lately.

 

[The Grayfox]

A lot of people dislike Scorn it seems. I don't love it, but I'm a fan of songs coming back into a setlist after a long-ish break. I'd much prefer Ordinary Story or Zombie Inc in it's place though.

 

[galvanized]

Why do people dislike Scorn? I don’t get it.

 

[Cobra8472]

That new intro is great. Wouldn't be surprised if it's a track off the new album

 

[eochaid]

To me, Scorn feels rushed. Don't know why.

But I like it.

 

[DE4life]

It seems to be newer fans that don't like Scorn, for whatever reason - even if they generally like the older stuff. Perception of most older fans (people who were into IF around the time Colony/Clayman came out) as far as I know is very much positive for Scorn. I think it's good, not up there with the top tier Colony songs, but right below on the next, still excellent level.

 

[CladInShadows971]

Scorn is great

 

[ThePhobiac]

Scorn is just a fun and energetic track. I used to think it was kinda just there, but in recent years I've become a big fan of it. It encapsulates the sound of their golden era pretty well.

 

[Jester Slave]

Because... Come on! You've heard that live! There's no way that you can think that performance was not terribly wrong .

Anders was shit, but that was before he went to a vocal trainer. He sounds much better nowadays.

Why do people dislike Scorn? I don’t get it.

Because it's shit live. I don't mean it sounds shit, it's just not a good song for live. I don't know how anyone can get into it live. It has zero hooks and it has no interesting melodies. IF is at their strongest when they are either heavy, catchy, melodic, or a combination of these. Scorn is like a decent factory work, but you can't compare it to Moonshield (melody) or Fear Is The Weakness (catchy), to name two songs which are not staples.

If we exclude Pallars, Scorn is like the worst song on Colony, fighting it out with Resin and go figure, that is the other track from Colony they seem to favor for some reason, but at least Resin has a nice melody, so you can chill out to that. There are sick solos and melodies all around on that record but they pick Scorn which drives me crazy. People would piss their pants for the Zombie or Coerced solos. You couldn't go wrong with Embody, Ordinary or Colony. The closing songs on the album sound more interesting than Scorn plus they have the added value of either never being played live or a long ass time ago. But no, we get Scorn.

Though now I checked and apparently Scorn was also only played a long ass time ago, so at least it has that.

 

[Xpyro125]

"Scorn" and "Resin" are the only songs off Colony that never clicked for me. I even love "Pallar Anders Visa", though I'm not sure if that's the Colony representation I'd want live if we could only get one live. All the songs Slave listed are what I'd absolutely go crazy for and what are my dream to see live. "Embody the Invisible" feels like it was made for live play too.

It seems to be newer fans that don't like Scorn, for whatever reason - even if they generally like the older stuff. Perception of most older fans (people who were into IF around the time Colony/Clayman came out) as far as I know is very much positive for Scorn. I think it's good, not up there with the top tier Colony songs, but right below on the next, still excellent level.

Yeah, I'm a newer fan who got into the band five or six years ago, so yeah, what you said lines up about right for me. I absolutely love their older stuff (Whoracle has really grown on me this past year), but "Scorn" and "Resin" don't do much for me.

 

[The Grayfox]

I'll agree that Scorn isn't great live. I do maintain that Resin is easily the worst song on Colony though. I think the studio version of Scorn is pretty good.

 

[eochaid]

Anders was shit, but that was before he went to a vocal trainer. He sounds much better nowadays.

Dude, he went to a vocal trainer before the even recorded that album.

 

[eochaid]

"IF are playing SA at Brinhallwhatever because of THE".

"IT WAS A SPECIAL VENUE YOU MORONS!"

"Well, now they're playing SA in the whole tour".

"THEY ARE ALL SPECIAL VENUES YOU MORONS!"

 

[Ilias7]

New single Foregone pt1 on September 15. Coming from an account that leaks stuff like that on reddit and it is like 99% right.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Yeah, I saw that too on that same leak site. Can't wait to hear it. Great year for Swedish cultural exports.

 

[Jester Slave]

Dude, he went to a vocal trainer before the even recorded that album.

Really? I remember him being shit for most of the tour and the live DVD being extremely meh - though it wasn't all on him -, but with Battles he was more adventurous. Yes, Battles was pro-tools galore but if my memory serves me right, he was surprisingly OK on the tour. He started growling again and whatnot. Yes, his cleans still sucked but oh well.

"IF are playing SA at Brinhallwhatever because of THE".

"IT WAS A SPECIAL VENUE YOU MORONS!"

"Well, now they're playing SA in the whole tour".

"THEY ARE ALL SPECIAL VENUES YOU MORONS!"

Fair enough, but it WAS a special venue. And as I said, it falls in line with their philosophy of recent years. But you know what? They only play SA because of THE, there you go. What would it even change for anyone?

New single Foregone pt1 on September 15. Coming from an account that leaks stuff like that on reddit and it is like 99% right.

If these fuckers actually named a song pt1 which they last did on LS then I am in trouble.

 

[DE4life]

If Foregone pt2 is acoustic with female vocals I'm done.

 

[Jester Slave]

If it's going to be as big of a fucking banger as Everlost pt. 2 then I gladly take the hit.