Is the album title written in Comic Sans?I was thinking that the album art looks okay, but the whole Heavy Metal Band Mascot thing is a bit lame with the giant jester dude, and the concept of humanity running out of time (with the literal clocks on the cover) is really overdone and kinda lame. But then I realized
New album Foregone out February 2023
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ThePhobiac
be at ease
The greatest In Flames album of all time (imho) has comic sans on the cover. Can't have it all, I guess.
Sister Of Destruction
#teamjesterslave
- Jul 20, 2018
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The Grayfox
#MusicTheoryBro
Somehow I have to agree with this because there isn't a single song on Siren Charms that I like. At least Wallflower is passable for me. But not by much. I think both albums are pretty terrible.
I can (try to) listen to SC and think "this is bad". I cannot listen to Battles. I just can't. It's not bad. It's ugly.
Battles is worse because it's a fucking fake and half of it not even written by the band. At least SC is original, albeit an original piece of shit.
Battles is fake but 75% of what they have done in the last 20 years had been artificial and basically poser music. So nothing is new. They jump from one band wagon to the next but 3-4 years late. Nu-metal and trying to be Korn, hardcore/emo (Come Clarity, literally even hired the same artist the entire American hardcore scene had been using since 2002 to do their artwork), modern metal (some faint tones of deathcore/djent), pretend to be U2 in Berlin, pretend to be The Offspring in LA, now they are pretending to be At The Gates because they read the Metal Encyclopedia. At least I like ATG and the early bands they inspired.
ThePhobiac
be at ease
As someone who actually listened to Korn before I got into In Flames, I personally never heard any similarities between the two bands. I do remember my MSN chat group universally hating Come Clarity because it was apparently emo, though. As someone with a lot of exposure to emo music at the time (was never a fan, but I knew people who were), again, I never heard the similarities.
In my experience, by the time R2R came out, it was taken as fact that IF was chasing trends and a new release just meant figuring out who they were trying to copy.
In my experience, by the time R2R came out, it was taken as fact that IF was chasing trends and a new release just meant figuring out who they were trying to copy.
Xpyro125
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- Dec 1, 2021
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I pretty much agree with Battles being worse than Siren Charms. I like more of the songs from SC (At least recently) than from Battles, I think the sound took more risks and is genuinely okay compared to Battles' sound just being fucking toothless, and it feels like what they wanted to do through and through, whereas Battles is the fakest thing involving the band since the "Bullet Ride" ripoffs and one video that basically did "Cloud Connected"'s video verbatim. I'm not going to say that everything from SC paid off or that it's any sort of cohesive or good, but I seriously prefer it over Battles. Each song stands out a hell of a lot more from one another in SC, and they make for better individual listens- Particularly "Everything's Gone", "Through Oblivion", and the bonus tracks. The title track's instrumentation is also bluesy, which I didn't refer to earlier, but it's fucking gorgeous- If only it wasn't ruined by the edgiest lyrics this side of Sweden in 2014. "Paralyzed" is also really nice, though I think it's probably better within an album listen than an individual listen.
Battles is, unfortunately, a guilty pleasure here and there for me, even though I don't want it to be, but that doesn't means it's of much quality. Three uses of the shitty choir effect, simplistic lyrics that range from first to tenth grade (School grade) writing, a ton of autotune (Which was unfortunately needed if you ask me, so I don't personally count it as a bad thing), lack of variety outside of "Wallflower", and fucked direction due to Benson all put it to the bottom of the list for me. I don't think there'll ever be an IF album that I like less than Battles, and I hope there never is.
Battles is, unfortunately, a guilty pleasure here and there for me, even though I don't want it to be, but that doesn't means it's of much quality. Three uses of the shitty choir effect, simplistic lyrics that range from first to tenth grade (School grade) writing, a ton of autotune (Which was unfortunately needed if you ask me, so I don't personally count it as a bad thing), lack of variety outside of "Wallflower", and fucked direction due to Benson all put it to the bottom of the list for me. I don't think there'll ever be an IF album that I like less than Battles, and I hope there never is.
ThePhobiac
be at ease
Yeah, I feel that SC was a genuine attempt to do something different, while Battles felt like a strategic retreat into the style of hard rock that was trending on SiriusXM Octane. The two albums are not comparable, imo.
I see SC the same way I do STYE -- an experimental follow-up on a more traditional-yet-still-trying-new-things IF album (SC after SOAPF, STYE after R2R). They came back strong with CC after an album of experimentation and I was hoping they'd do the same after SC. Seems like we might finally be getting that album soon, but it still annoys me.
Totally echoing your description of the title track (albeit I like the lyrics well enough). One of my all-time favorite IF songs.
I see SC the same way I do STYE -- an experimental follow-up on a more traditional-yet-still-trying-new-things IF album (SC after SOAPF, STYE after R2R). They came back strong with CC after an album of experimentation and I was hoping they'd do the same after SC. Seems like we might finally be getting that album soon, but it still annoys me.
Totally echoing your description of the title track (albeit I like the lyrics well enough). One of my all-time favorite IF songs.
Pallbearer
Passive Member
In a 2014 interview Björn talked about how he let his classic rock/AOR influences come through more when writing SC. And it's common knowledge Anders is a big fan of Depeche Mode. So regardless of one's view of SC at least they created an album inspired by the kind of music they genuinely like.
Battles, on the other hand, very much seems like a product of a band who just got hugely shit on because of their latest effort and in a bout of desperation hired a famous producer to help out in hopes of bouncing back.
Battles, on the other hand, very much seems like a product of a band who just got hugely shit on because of their latest effort and in a bout of desperation hired a famous producer to help out in hopes of bouncing back.
Siren Charms is a half-baked album that needed a lot more time and effort put into it. It feels like it isn't finished. From memory they wrote and recorded the whole thing in something like six weeks, so maybe that's why. There is some good stuff on the album, but it's dragged down by poor production choices, poor structural decisions and a real lack of cohesion between the vocals and the instruments. I don't think the album's potential goes beyond being okay, but it could have been passable if the band and the producer had really taken time to fine-tune the songs.
I said this before. In STYE, Anders pushes the album forwards. But, in SC, despite all the other poor decisions (music, production) he's the main problem. His melodies lack direction, don't match, sometimes, the music, and his voice feels poor, even when he's using studio tools, and time.
The difference with what they did before is that Benson showed him how to properly use autotunes.
The difference with what they did before is that Benson showed him how to properly use autotunes.
Random and on a different topic, but I've just discovered there's another song called 'Cloud Connected' by a band called Metalite.
At first I figured it was an IF cover, as Cloud Connected is quite a unique song title, but no... totally original song. It's basically like Amaranthe with only female vocals though, so I don't think it will be well-liked on this small internet island
At first I figured it was an IF cover, as Cloud Connected is quite a unique song title, but no... totally original song. It's basically like Amaranthe with only female vocals though, so I don't think it will be well-liked on this small internet island
ThePhobiac
be at ease
Pretty fun song. Not really my style but imo an Amaranthe without the screaming is good in theory.
Earlier this year I created a playlist on Spotify that's comprised of everything At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames have ever done, including songs I don't care for. Every single time I've put it on shuffle, I get hit with Battles songs. Just today, the first ten tracks:
Battles (IF)
Siren Charms (IF)
Scythe, Rage and Roses (DT)
The End (IF)
In My Room (IF)
Nothing to No One (DT)
Nightfall by the Shore of Time (DT)
Greatest Greed (IF)
Save Me (IF)
The Fevered Circle (AtG)
Earlier this year I created a playlist on Spotify that's comprised of everything At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames have ever done, including songs I don't care for. Every single time I've put it on shuffle, I get hit with Battles songs. Just today, the first ten tracks:
Battles (IF)
Siren Charms (IF)
Scythe, Rage and Roses (DT)
The End (IF)
In My Room (IF)
Nothing to No One (DT)
Nightfall by the Shore of Time (DT)
Greatest Greed (IF)
Save Me (IF)
The Fevered Circle (AtG)
That's interesting. Now, I have my own IF playlist in Spotify but, before of that, I used to enter the band's own channel and hit play. This might have been, maybe three or four months. And, here comes the interesting part, while playing it randomly, I've never heard a song from SC.
As you can guess, four months include a good amount of hours. Think that, anytime that I take the dog out for a walk, I'm listening to music and, during that period, In Flames was, mostly, the only thing that I was listening at.
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