New album Foregone out February 2023

I need to listen to it with a proper good set of headphones but the riffs are great. Feel like the chorus would have hit harder screamed but the guitars in the chorus are amazing! Solo is... Different!
 
I've just listened to Meet Your Maker. Some cool riffs and screams, I can hear the F(r)iend vibes too and I agree with you guys that the chorus feels incompatible with the rest of the song. To be honest, I find the solo interestingly different.
 
The chorus is incompatible I agree but in a vacuum I really like it. If Anders screamed it then it fits in the song.
 
I really dislike the abuse of autotune, just makes the vocals sound fake and lifeless. The same problem Anders has had since day one of teaming up with Benson. The chorus would be fine with a proper singer, but yeah, in a vacuum. As part of this song it doesn't really fit.
 
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I was listening to it the other day and was trying to imagine Foregone Pt. 2 with the singing style from In My Head. For all his lack of talent there's a certain charm to Anders' old cleans that I think could've benefited these new songs.
 
That passenger album really flew under the radar, it's got some real good songs on it. Carnival Diaries is great.

The UK Amazon reviews for the album are great. There's an English artist called Passenger and these people thought they were buying an album from him... they're either angry or confused about what they actually received :rofl:
 
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This one is my favourite, as the guy actually thinks this is the English Passenger and they just switched to metal for some reason :D

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Question for people who don't like the cleans in this song: would they work if the singer was someone other than Anders? Seeing some negative reaction to the chorus in this one and I'm wondering whether it's his voice specifically or the vocal melodies themselves that's bothering people. I can imagine Bjorn Strid doing vocals on this song and it would work well imo.
 
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For me, it's the fact that Anders can't sing. I'm not trying to be a dick, but its all studio magic and you can hear it. Call me an elitist, but autotune has no place in metal. That chorus would've sounded much better screamed or with a guest vocalist. Someone like Bjorn Strid as you said, who can sing. Even some hybrid clean/screams would've been good. Or something like Anders used to do in the Colony/Clayman days (Coerced Coexistence style). But this overproduced, autotuned bullshit just ruins it for me. I'll never understand bands/artists doing this shit because when you play it live, it's going to be apparent that you can't actually do it.

Long story short; way, way, WAY too polished for my tastes.
 
I totally get it. The autotune just adds a veneer of inauthenticity that's hard to look past.

Just heard the song. Solid and yeah, definitely feels a bit STYE-ish, albeit with more fluid guitarwork. That lead in the chorus is really cool. Enjoyed the solos, as well (and the rhythm sections beneath them). Again, I actually like the chorus in this one a lot, despite the autotune. The only things I don't like all that much are the lyrics and the parts where the music recedes in favor of...stock sound effects? They shouldn't do that, imo.

But then, they had that shitty electrical current sound effect on The Jester Race's title track, so it's nothing new, lol.
 
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Heard it. It's shit.

After few decent or at least interesting songs we're back to "generic eeeevil riff"+"whiny autotune chorus" formula.

Out of this whole song I guess I'm OK with part of the solo and some short bridge segments here and there.

It is a song nobody would care about for more than 5 sec if not for In Flames name. It is so funny when I read - wow growls are brutal, wow that riff. Yeah guys, growls and chuggs are like, the basic stuff of every song in the genre. It is not something extra you should be so impressed with.

Aaaand while I'm writing this I already forgot the song.
 
So after a few more listen, here's my final thoughts of the song:

Probably my favorite part of this song is intro, really cool death metal vibes to it. Sounds like F(r)iend as we all said but with death metal twist to it. When I first listened to it I was kinda shocked, didn't really expected to it. Verse kinda reminds me The End verse, same kind of vocals but harsher I guess, guitars are similar too. Starting of the pre chorus is pretty cool, nice transition. Then it goes to the pre chorus which reminded me ITM title track ("wonder where I'll hit the ground" part). Still going good in my opinion. I really like the leads around the chorus, reminds me System's synth lead part. Vocal wise think it closer to We Will Remember. I still think its not really compatible with the song but I'm getting used to it, could've been better. Some really cool growls at the second verse and before the solo. Solo feels really different, definitely written by Chris, first part of the solo at least. Not the kind of solo I like but its okay, I like the second part of the solo which is more melodic. I think solo reminded me "Move Through Me" with the structure. 2 different parts one is more melodic etc.

We heard half of the new album so I'm gonna rate the new songs:
State of slow Decay - 9 / 10 - My favorite so far
The Great Deceiver - 7.5 / 10
Foregone Part 1 - 8 / 10
Foregone Part 2 - 8.5 / 10
Meet Your Maker 7 / 10

Looking forward to hearing the full album, hopefully soon.
 
Yeah, for me it'd go:

Foregone Pt. 1
Meet Your Maker
State of Slow Decay
The Great Deceiver
Foregone Pt. 2

Recency bias might be a factor here, but I really like the guitar work in this song (especially in the bridge), how the song alternates between various speeds, and I actually like the chorus despite the layering and autotune (can't say the same for SOSD or Foregone Pt. 2).

And I have to say Anders' screams/growls sound really good here, and I'm kind of surprised I picked up on that, because normally I don't care that much. Especially before the last chorus -- he has the same mid-range growl as on TJR/Whoracle, but as far as control and technique is concerned there's no comparison. The last time his screams/growls were this good, imo, was STYE.
 
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Worth noting that F(r)iend is one of my least favourite songs from STYE and the older era in general, so my original comment on the similarities wasn't a positive for me :D
 
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