New album Foregone out February 2023

[DE4life]

Meanwhile I'm still slumming it boomer style with good old mp3's

 

[eochaid]

Well. I tend to upload my mp3 files to the phone. But, during those months, the phone was failing. And, now, for bands that I really like, I try to listen to them at Sporify (sometimes) because, even if it's just a small quantity, they make some money from it.

 

[Xpyro125]

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.

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.

Pretty much agree with both of these. I think I take equal issue with the instrumentation and vocals in SC simply because I'm not really sure what exactly went so wrong there. That being said, I'll always take a passionate, creative risk over safe, poppy bullshit. It's not to say I'm exactly opposed to a poppier sound- Fandigo by Callejon is the one album I really like from them. I just think that you need to do it really well and really precisely without going too far for it to be fantastic.

 

[Vermyn]

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)

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.

Only thing good that came out of battles was Bjorn’s solo from In My Room. That’s it. You’re right. The rest is plastic garbage.

 

[Sister Of Destruction]

Wallflower has an amazing intro , the lyrics are not bad too also ,, Us Against the World " is great song, riffs are catchy and Anders way of screaming is a little bit different compared to the rest of the album's songs

 

[Jester Slave]

 

[galvanized]

Sounds pretty good live. I like the members head banging.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Sounds like there's some clean singing in the chorus, judging by the backing track, but very subtle. I knew there was some more melody going on there than was at first apparent. I think that method, rather than making cleans the focus, works very well.

 

[mindd]

Oh man, Tanner slays Stand Ablaze!
I'm really glad they've hired that guy, he likes these songs and has fun playing them (and does not suck at it). And he seems to be a genuinely nice person from what I've seen on his posts and heard from people who've met him. Mah boi Tanner.

 

[Xpyro125]

So a tab for "Foregone Pt. 1" came out recently, and I downloaded it today. We were right on the money with the acoustic part being too short- It doesn't just lack any sort of cohesion/transition, it's straight up missing one bar, which shifts everything forward a bar as well. No idea how the band and producers let that happen, but here we are. For context with the photo: The verse should start at bar 41, and so on.

 

[eochaid]

Well. Breaking the "rules" is not something bad as long as it works. And, of it works or not depends on the person listening to it.

In my opinion, acoustic breaks are never long enough but, if we considere what Bjorn has been doing with the acoustic parts for the past four albums, that is, repeating the same pattern once and once again through the songs, then, is it that bad that this one is short? I'm not sure about it.

 

[Sister Of Destruction]

When i heard solo from ,, Foregone " especially first part of the solo i just knew it that Chris is playing that, his style and way of playing is much faster than Bjorns boring solos

 

[galvanized]

So a tab for "Foregone Pt. 1" came out recently, and I downloaded it today. We were right on the money with the acoustic part being too short- It doesn't just lack any sort of cohesion/transition, it's straight up missing one bar, which shifts everything forward a bar as well. No idea how the band and producers let that happen, but here we are. For context with the photo: The verse should start at bar 41, and so on.

View attachment 31932

I actually like it truncated like that. Gives a sense of urgency, which I think was their intent.

 

[DE4life]

The fact a 4 second acoustic passage warrants this much scrutiny kind of lends credence to the idea the song itself isn't all that creative. Compare, for example, to the acoustic section of Alias...

 

[Jester Slave]

I don't get the fuss about perfection either. Unless you want to make a pop hit, you are free to bend the rules. It doesn't really stick out while listening to it either. A slow accoustic part being interrupted by heaviness - it's fine. I'd say it's a tight little song.

I've found two things interesting in the live performance: 1. bassist guy has a mic stand 2. Anders announced it as Foregone, not Foregone pt1.

 

[DE4life]

Bryce has been doing backing vocals since the ITM tour. He only does them for songs from 2019 onwards though.

 

[Xpyro125]

I love the acoustic part overall, and it's not so much that I want it to be extended to be that much longer, I just wish that it was extended for another bar so that it wouldn't have been cut off so abruptly.

The song's absolutely fantastic though, I've kept it on repeat even more than SOSD. I'm a bit more excited for this album now than I was before.

 

[Jester Slave]

Cutting it abruptly was probbaly deliberate, as it is not unheard of in music. I do get it that you'd rather enjoyed that part longer, but at this point I am happy whenever IF steps out of their comfort zone, as they have done so many by the numbers songs.

 

[ThePhobiac]

So a tab for "Foregone Pt. 1" came out recently, and I downloaded it today. We were right on the money with the acoustic part being too short- It doesn't just lack any sort of cohesion/transition, it's straight up missing one bar, which shifts everything forward a bar as well. No idea how the band and producers let that happen, but here we are. For context with the photo: The verse should start at bar 41, and so on.

View attachment 31932

I think doing it this way preserves the momentum of the song -- adding an extra bar would be nice, but you'd lose that sense of urgency going into the verse imo. I don't think it was an error. I've written songs with abrupt transitions like that and it results in the whole song being shifted onto different bars.

 

[ThePhobiac]

The fact a 4 second acoustic passage warrants this much scrutiny kind of lends credence to the idea the song itself isn't all that creative. Compare, for example, to the acoustic section of Alias...

TBF I think this is an apples and oranges comparison -- kinda like Moonshield, the acoustic part in Alias is one half of an extended bridge (in lieu of, say, a solo), while the part in Foregone is just a quick transition that gives the song an extra dimension.

I think it would have been neat if, instead of the solos, Foregone's bridge had been a long acoustic passage (fast strumming, subdued but still busy drums, maybe some slap bass, and a bluesy acoustic solo). But maybe that's what Foregone Pt. 2 will be like.