New album Foregone out February 2023

[Xpyro125]

December Flower, live from yesterday at Dalhalla Brinner (starts at 1:50):

I'm fucking living for the guy who's jumping up and having the time of his life there. The crowd seriously disappoints me- Even if you don't know the song, it's so fucking cool that you guys should at least be bopping to the solo.

Foreskin is a back to the roots album only if you consider IF a generic US melodeath/metalcore band from mid 00s somewhat influenced by the Swedish scene of the late 90s-early 00s.

In that case generic melodeath light riffing and ATG drums can be considered a return to something. HB produced and autotuned Anders still fucks up even that line of thinking.

In general, my interest for IF is at an all time low after this album.

100%.

In terms of tiers SC and Battles definitely come at the bottom for me. Something like:

[TJR / Whoracle / Colony / Clayman]

[Reroute / Come Clarity / SOAPF / Lunar-Sub]

[STYE / ASOP / ITM / Foregone]

[Siren Charms / Battles]

Ah, shit, here I go.

S: Come Clarity, SoaPF, Whoracle
A: TJR, Colony, Clayman, Subterranean, maybe SC and/or ITM depending on the day
B: Reroute, STYE, maybe Foregone depending on the day
C: Lunar (I could make peace with the production if the songwriting was Subterranean-level), ASOP (It has sadly grown on me a bit)
D:
F: Battles

Here is my opinion about the post ASOP records :

1. Foregone -> Only one song doesn’t do it for me, « End of Transmission », plus I really am a fan of SOSD/Foregone pt.1/In the Dark/Meet your Maker/Bleeding Out and all the remaining songs in fact.

BIG production too.

Great Artwork.

8/10

2. I the Mask -> Some very catchy songs like ITM/Call my Name/I am Above/Follow me/In this Life/Voices/All the Pain. Bad and average songs too with House/Burn/We will Remember/Deep Inside.

Plus nice crunchy production.

Amazing Artwork.

7/10

3. Siren Charms -> A few songs I really enjoy in this one with Dead Eyes/With Eyes Wide Open/Through Oblivion/Rusted Nails/In Plain View but too much awful songs like Filtered Truth/Paralyzed/When the World Explodes/Monsters in the Ballroom)

Weird Production.

Weird but classy artwork.

6.5/10

4. Sounds of a Playground Fading -> Too much bad/boring/filler songs such as Liberation/Enter Tragedy/Jester’s Door/Darker Times/The Attic that tend to spoil the album which has nevertheless some good ones like A New Dawn/Fear is the Weakness/Ropes/Where the Dead Ships Dwell/The Puzzle (the outro in this song is genius to me)/All for me

Production is not metal enough to make the good songs really shine.

Average artwork.

6/10

5. Battles (The End/The Truth are nice but that’s about it)

Weak production.

Weak artwork.

4/10

Oh, yay, post-Jesper rankings.

1. Sounds of a Playground Fading- Wow, that's a surprise. My top three favorite IF albums constantly go back and forth, but my most solid ranking is CC, SoaPF, then Whoracle. The album's fucking wonderful, but while I do quite "The Attic" and "Jester's Door" and acknowledge their purpose in the album, I can't help but feel like they're far too pace-breaking for everyone else. Otherwise, the bridge section in "All For Me" where Anders' vocals are at their absolute worst in sound, I can't think of a single moment from this album I don't like. That, and it's capped off with "A New Dawn" and "Liberation". That's just wonderful. It's a top tier IF album for me, even without Jesper, who is and always will be my favorite guitarist of all time, and it fucking sucks that SoaPF proves that Bjorn can craft an incredible album instrumentally.

2. Siren Charms- It's not good. Not at all. That being said, I dunno, I just really like this album. Unlike Battles, where it's a guilty pleasure when I'm in a pop mood, I just genuinely enjoy this album. Everyone here's said everything about the rushed nature of it and the communication issues there (Bjorn didn't even know there was going to be a feature on WTWE until the day Feldt recorded for it), so I won't go into that. The only songs I don't like are "Dead Eyes" and "Filtered Truth". The album definitely decays in quality as it goes on (Unless if you count the two bonus tracks, those are the absolute best songs from SC), and it never feels complete, but I love it. I often listen to an instrumental version of the title track because it's one of my favorite pieces of music from post-2000s IF (And because as much as I love Anders as a vocalist, the whiny nature of the lyrics and vocals here ruin the song). Even "Rusted Nail" is really cool to me, and I don't mind it peaking in the first half because there's always a different approach and little touches at each version of each part of the structure that I absolutely love. I'm sure that we would've gotten more stuff like that if the album wasn't rushed, but I don't really mind.

3. I, the Mask- I think even just a year ago this would've been above SC, but it's fallen out of favor a bit for me. It's great, yeah, but between Benson being Benson and just not feeling songs like "Follow Me", "Burn", and even "Call My Name" nearly as much as when I loved them, I just don't listen to the album as much as I used to, even with me making peace with "In This Life". We will not talk about "House". I will not. We don't talk about it.

4. Foregone- The more time goes on, the lower my opinion of this album sinks, same as with ITM. Difference here is that I can still appreciate and love ITM's desire to be more melodic and slightly poppy/alt metal-y. I do actually quite like IF striking that balance, and I really just wanted them to consider that sense of melody when getting heavier in a later release. They did not. I'll be completely honest when I say that I don't like much modern metalcore/deathcore, the sense of discarding melody to promote heaviness for the sake of heaviness (Bonus points for downtuning your guitar to double drop G or going on a downtuned eight string) is one of the biggest things in music that I'm against, and while some bands like Spiritbox, Polaris, and Sleep Token can pull off that kind of heaviness, that's because they actually keep the fucking sense of melody. Even worse than that with Foregone, it just sounds American. I don't normally mind that, but the Swedish style of melody is genuinely one of my favorite things in music ever, having completely changed the game on how I understand music ever since I discovered the band in 2016. Sure, it has a few moments where it's melodic, like the slap in the face opener that's genuinely lovely, Peak Light of Mind, TGD, and "In the Dark", but that's it for that. I was hyped for A Dialogue pre-release, but that groove metal section was short and only occurred once. "Cynosure" is pretty fucking cool though. Aside from those and part one of the title track, I just don't listen to any of the songs ever (And even then, a couple of the songs I listed don't get too many listens from me). Foregone is the biggest example I have of why you shouldn't go heavy for the sake of heaviness, even dethroning No Halos in Hell by Cyhra as the king of disillusionment in that regard. My interest in IF's future endeavors is even lower than it was for Cyhra after No Halos and the pre-release singles for TVT came out.

5. Battles- It's objectively atrocious. I hate it. When I'm not in the mood for 2010s pop and can't deal with objectively shitty music, I hate it. I hate that I love it when I'm in the mood for 2010s pop and am fine with objectively shitty music. "Drained", "Wallflower", and "Save Me" are the only songs I don't have any guilt for enjoying. It's one of the only albums in general that I refuse to recommend to friends, even if they'd love it. "In My Room", "Before I Fall", and "Underneath My Skin" would be in contention for the worst IF song if "House" didn't exist. "The Truth" has the worst lyrics I've seen in an IF song. The bonus tracks have aged seriously poorly for me, as while I used to enjoy them more than the rest of the album, somehow I just don't enjoy them ever now. I constantly forget that "Like Sand" existed. I could go on and on, and I do want to, but I also just want to do better things with my life. And honestly, that perfectly encapsulates Battles and my hatred for it.

Though "Through My Eyes" has grown on me slightly, and I have always quite enjoyed the title track.

 

[DE4life]

The frustrating thing with Siren Charms is that it does have potential. The songs that sound complete - WEWO and Through Oblivion, for example - are perfectly fine. I'd even say I like those tracks in spite of Anders' questionable vocal skills. The rest, however, just feel like they needed a lot more work put into them. The verses especially. Production is also something that needed a lot more attention given to it. Even if the band had done all of this, I don't think I'd rate the album very highly, but I wouldn't be lumping it in alongside Battles anyway.

Speaking of which, fuck it, let's talk Battles.

Drained is one of those songs, like All For Me, that everyone seems to like except me. I have genuinely attempted to listen to it to try and understand why people like it, but I still don't get it. The first 55 seconds or so are fine, it actually reminds me a lot of Discover Me Like Emptiness from STYE. Then you have some generic alt-metal riffs, Anders yelling some juvenile lyrics about his heart being broken. The whole "you ripped da heart out" chorus just makes me want to slam my head into the desk. This encapsulates the fake, Benson-inspired bullshit that Battles is all about. A typical wanky Bjorn solo, then that stupid chorus again. No sir, I don't like it.

I remember hearing The End when it first came out and really enjoying it. I thought IF might be going in the right direction again. From memory it was the first single from Battles. Production was a bit weak, but it sounded like a lesser SOAPF-style track. I still think it's a decent song, just a shame the production is so muted.

Like Sand... Like Shit. Pointless, whiny nonsense.

The Truth is a bit of a guilty pleasure. It's an okay pop-rock track, it just has nothing to do with In Flames.

In My Room... I actually don't mind this one either. Lyrics are stupid, but that aside it's got an okay groove and Bjorn's best solo in recent times. Doesn't sound like In Flames, but then that could be the tagline of this album.

Before I Fall... I think was my favourite Battles track when the album first dropped. I still think the chorus is a solid IF-style earworm, just ruined by the excessive autotune and, again, limp production. Guitars are being bullied by the vocals and it drains the chorus of the power it should have. Anders also sounds like crap in the verses.

I hate how the prodiction sounds on Through My Eyes. It's so fucking anaemic. The guitars sound laughably wimpy. The autotuning on this one is awful. Just awful. I don't even know what to say about the guitar solo at 02:23 - why is it so many decibels higher than everything else? What were they thinking?

You know, I'm prepared to be ridiculed for this, but I've never had a problem with the title track. I really like the chorus. The riffs are simple but catchy. The production fits the song. Anders is obviously being autotuned, but it's not horribly excessive. I should be clear that this sounds like it was written for another band, and it's In Flames covering some unknown pop-punk outfit, but I dig it. There's another song I feel the same way about on this album, but we'll get there.

Here Until Forever, lmao. It's just so bad. At the same time, that stupid chorus did get stuck in my head for a while after I saw it live. It sounds objectively terrible though.

Underneath My Skin is emptiness personified. A nothing track that is the antithesis of music. What are those vocal melodies meant to be? They are all over the place. The guitars do absolutely zilch until 02:29 when we get a solo from Bjorn which feels wildly out of place.

Wallflower is alright. Niclas did a good job with this one. It's not one I listen to regularly or anything, but it feels like they went back to the TCP formula and refined it into something much more focused and clever. A rare example on this album of Anders actually writing something decent lyrics wise in the chorus. Shame about the autotune, but it is what it is. 04:01 - 05:30 is a nice passage. I really like how, unlike TCP, this song evolves throughout, rather than being a borefest for 6 minutes and having a decent ending.

Save Me I could deal with if it wasn't for the autotune, which is just ridiculous on this track. It's a bit like Scream in that there's a lot of good stuff here, but the chorus ruins it.

Greatest Greed isn't too bad either - within the context of the album. Feels like, along with The End, this is the closest they got to finding a decent sound for this album. The "ohhoohhhoohhhh" stuff is cringy, but I do like the riffs on this one.

Us Against the World is, like Battles, the other song I have a strange soft spot for. Again, it sounds like In Flames covering a different band, but I don't think it's bad.

In retrospect, I think I might actually agree with @eochaid and put Battles above Foregone, lmao. It's still a fake piece of shit, but it's a fake piece of shit I can occasionally get something out of. As has often been the case with IF, the production and autotuning of the vocals is what absolutely buries it. That and most of the songs sounding nothing like In Flames.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Underneath My Skin is bad, but I think it perfectly illustrates how production completely ruins parts of songs (if not whole songs) that might otherwise be decent. If the part starting at 2:34 had Fredrik Nordstrom production, it would fit perfectly on Colony (think Insipid 2000). And that's not me trying to defend the song -- I can't stand it. But the sound is so flaccid that it ruins an otherwise surprisingly great moment.

Some Battles thoughts...

Drained reminds me of Adema, which was the first "metal" band I ever listened to. But Adema does Adema better than In Flames does Adema. Instrumentally it's pretty good, but Anders drags it down for sure.

I kind of like In My Room tbh. If you squint (with your ears) it almost has a SOAPF quality to it.

Before I Fall is still my favorite track off Battles. For some reason it reminds me of this, which elevates the song for me quite a bit:

The title track is a guilty pleasure. I've said this before but it makes me picture the video for Green Day's "Walking Contradiction" but with the IF band members.

Here Until Forever is the worst song the band has ever put out. I will not force myself to like Bring Me The Horizon just because In Flames is playing it.

I don't like Wallflower and I'm a little miffed that it's become a staple of their live set. It has a Passenger-like quality, which I appreciate, but Anders ruins it with painfully on-the-nose lyrics and cheesy vocal melodies.

I do have a strange nostalgia for the album, and these days I would put it on par with I, the Mask. Mostly because Battles does have a sort of poppy and colorful identity, whereas ITM is a little colorless and lacks that certain charm, even though the songs are generally stronger. It might be the album art for both that makes me think that way. Album art has a huge impact on how I feel about an album, lol.

 

[The Grayfox]

Battles (title track) is one of the few songs from that album that I can stand, along with Wallflower. The catchy chorus is enough to keep me entertained. The rest of the album can eat shit. And ALL of Siren Charms can also eat shit. I tried again today. I listened to snippets of In Plain View, With Eyes Wide Open, Through Oblivion and Monsters in the Ballroom and I just can't do it. It is so bad.

S: The Jester Race
A: Whoracle, Colony, Clayman
B: Lunar Strain, Subterranean, Sounds of a Playground Fading, Soundtrack to your Escape
C: Reroute to Remain, Come Clarity, A Sense of Purpose
D: Battles, I, The Mask, Foregone
E: Metallica's "St. Anger", Machine Head's "Supercharger", Iced Earth's "The Glorious Burden"
F: --
""
""
""
Z: Siren Charms

 

[DE4life]

The other nice thing about the Battles title track is that it's short. It does what it needs to do and then dips. In the context of that album, this is a good thing.

In SC context Monsters is actually an okay track. Up-tempo and Anders does some decent screams on it. For whatever reason I have never liked it though.

Become the Sky would have been a good track if done during the SOAPF sessions. I think it has a lot of potential, but ultimately ends up sounding like a Battles prototype song, albeit a better Battles song, if such a description even makes sense.

 

[eochaid]

The only virtue of Battles is that the songs are easy to remember. I only listened to the album twice and I can remember almost all of the songs. So, in that sense, I guess, they got that right. It's kind of what Jake wants to do with THE with less success.

 

[Xpyro125]

Become the Sky would have been a good track if done during the SOAPF sessions. I think it has a lot of potential, but ultimately ends up sounding like a Battles prototype song, albeit a better Battles song, if such a description even makes sense.

I think Become the Sky would be one of their best [Post-Clayman] songs if the chorus didn't completely kill the momentum of the song. I quite like the chorus, don't get me wrong, but the verses and everything before just blow it out of the water.

 

[DE4life]

We're dealing with an abnormal heatwave here in the UK at the moment, so I figured I might as well put myself in a suitable location. Always fun to cruise around Los Santos in GTA V in VR with SOAPF on the radio unfortunately it doesn't end well, but there's something poetic about crashing head first into a concrete wall and dying as Anders is singing "we are ghosts in a concrete world".



Also despite the video showing a gap in the bike frame at the bottom and the camera slightly zooming in and out when I turn my head, you don't see any of that in VR. Experience is smooth.

 

[Midas]

Hello guys, it has been a while. I've been diagnosed with Schizophrenia so I am literally a psycho. More specifically, I hear voices that aren't real, but imaginary.
I've been hospitalized for it and am now taking medicines to fight it. Imagine voices that threatens to harm or kill your family and others or to make the world explode if I don't do this or if I do this and that. It is VERY unpleasant.
This disease is one I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. It is plain torture.
Anyway, leaving this.

I'm very happy to see you people still active.
DE4life, ciko_gfb, eochaid, and all of you old fuckers. *Hugs* A hello to the new people, nice to meet you. Now then...

I have yet to listen to Foregone, but from what I have read, I am excited, and that is saying much.

I've always been of the opinion that they (the members of In Flames) should do what they want, even if it ends up with me not liking the result.
I will now start to listen to their album stream over on YouTube.

1. [The Beginning To All Things That Will End]
A nice intro. I am a fan of the strings - a very nice start to the album.
Score: 8/10

2. [State of Slow Decay] - Score: 8/10
I love Anders's growling, makes me think back to the live version of F(r)iend.

v- Below is F(r)iend from Sticky Fingers. The growls are at ... Just listen to all of it, he sounds great. -v



3. [Meet Your Maker] - Score: 8/10
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooaaaaaam!! I'm a cow?!
I like it. Good riffs. I like the solos too. Glad Björn isn't using the wah-pedal for every solo.
Sorry Björn, I know you like the wah. :3

4. [Bleeding Out] - Score: 7/10

5. [Foregone Part I] - Score: 8/10
BLASTBEATS OF THE DRUMS is sounding great. Actually, the drums overall sound really good. None of that MIDI sound.

6. [Foregone Part II] - Score: 8/10

7. [Pure Light of Mind] - Score: 7/10

8. [The Great Deceiver] - Score: 7/10

9. [In The Dark] - Score: 6/10

10. [A Dialogue in B Flat Minor] - 6/10

11. [Cynosure] - 7/10
Ouch, the distortion effect on Anders's voice doesn't sound too good at the start of the song.
Still a pretty good song.

12. [End The Transmission] - 6/10
Hoped for a banger of a song but my hopes was not met.
-
Overall album Score: 8/10
It is up there with Whoracle, Come Clarity, and Clayman. (My opinion.)
-
I also want to remind everyone of this gem from the deluxe version of Siren Charms:

I can't believe they restricted this gem as a deluxe track. Should've been on the base album.

 

[DE4life]

Hey bro, it's good to see you back. Sorry to hear that you've been struggling, but hopefully you're in a better place now and the medicine is doing what it needs to do. I won't even pretend to understand what you're doing through, but if you're on the right path then that's cool.

I feel like I should hate the chorus to Become the Sky, but for some reason I actually quite like it. The rest of the song... well, it's generally better than most of SC, but that's not a high barometer.

 

[Moonshield_]

Nice song but not as good as « With Eyes Wide Open », « Dead Eyes » , « Through Oblivion », « Siren Charms » or « Rusted Nail » (the five songs actually making the album worth it to me)

 

[DE4life]

The melodic section of Dead Eyes about 3/4 into the song is one of the few moments in Siren Charms when Bjorn and/or Niclas wake up and do something useful with their guitars. It actually briefly sounds like In Flames. Doesn't last long, but it's something.

 

[Midas]

Thank you DE for your comment. I am feeling pretty good at the moment.

I cooked up something a few days ago. It lacks bass at the moment, and it needs more layers, and the intro choir is kind of pointless, so I may remove it.
Maybe replace it with something that makes the build-up more epic.

I know this is an IF forum, but screw it. - Suggestions on riffs and whatelse is very welcomed.
The tuning on the guitars is Drop D, so not as dark as IF. IF plays in Drop A Sharp (#)
Current name is Rafe, which has no meaning, I just mashed letters.

Rafe.mp3

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[The Grayfox]

So there’s a Reddit thread right now about perfect albums with no weak tracks…



What an asshole lol

 

[Midas]

Oh wow. ASOP is decent, but in my opinion it isn't perfect.
I think I'd pick Siren Charms and Battles as perfect albums. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I'm kidding.
If I'd pick any IF album to be at least near perfection, I think I would put The Jester Race to be that album.
It has some downs, to me it is a 9/10. Then again, I don't chase perfection. BUT overall, I know a band that to me is very close to it.
That band is FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE. Never heard of them? Listen to this masterpiece:

 

[The Grayfox]

For me, The Jester Race isn't just In Flames' greatest album, but it is a seminal album in the melodic death metal genre as a whole. I would say it's top 3 best MDM albums ever. And everyone is going to have their opinions and what they like/dislike but man it sure is a hot take to say ASOP is a perfect album. To be completely honest, sometimes I forget ASOP even exists because I never listen to it and don't have much of a desire to either. Songs like Disconnected, The Mirror's Truth, The Chosen Pessimist... those are songs that I genuinely think are some of the worst they've ever done. And then half of the album just sounds like filler to me. Even by newer In Flames' standards, I think it sucks. SOAPF is much, much better.

FA is a good band. I used to listen to them more but haven't in a while. Extremely talented regardless.

 

[DE4life]

Eh, there are some truly bizarre takes on Reddit. I don't see how anybody with a working brain and ears could objectively say ASOP is the perfect album. Subjectively I guess you could consider it the perfect album, but even then... I'd reconsider. It means you think terrible vocals, wimpy, weak guitar tone and whiny lyrics are the peak of music. I mean, sure bro, you do you... but in reality, no.

In terms of perfect IF album, I don't know. I like the entirety of TJR, Whoracle, Colony and Clayman - not a single song on any of these that I dislike, just some that I like more than others. Strongest overall for me is hard to say, as it's too close between them to be meaningful if I say I prefer one over the other.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Welcome back, @Midas I dig the song you posted. Trying to think of what that main riff reminds me of -- Pantera, maybe? My only suggestion would be maybe adding distortion on that clean lead in what I think is the chorus, but you may have already tried it.

As far as perfect, I mean, even TJR peters out toward the end. Wayfarer gets a bit too guitar-wanky for me in its second half, and Dead God In Me doesn't have quite the same vibe as the songs that preceded it and, imo, doesn't really work all that well as a closing track. And Anders' performance is underwhelming, though he's far enough in the background that he may as well just be white noise.

If you put a gun to my head I would say Colony is the closest you'll get to a perfect IF album, but even that album is prone to homogeneity and Bjorn going a little too hard with the Van Halen worship -- understandable as it may be after being stuck behind the drum kit for two albums.

 

[The Grayfox]

Eh, I think Colony has more weak tracks than TJR does personally. I’d take Wayfaerer over Pallar Anders Visa and Dead God In Me over Resin any day. And I’d certainly take anything on TJR over songs like Insipid 2000. Don’t get me wrong, I like Colony. It has some great songs — Zombie Inc., Embody, etc. but I will always pick TJR and Whoracle over it. Something about the production and mix of Colony bothers me as well.

 

[DE4life]

Thank you DE for your comment. I am feeling pretty good at the moment.

I cooked up something a few days ago. It lacks bass at the moment, and it needs more layers, and the intro choir is kind of pointless, so I may remove it.
Maybe replace it with something that makes the build-up more epic.

I know this is an IF forum, but screw it. - Suggestions on riffs and whatelse is very welcomed.
The tuning on the guitars is Drop D, so not as dark as IF. IF plays in Drop A Sharp (#)
Current name is Rafe, which has no meaning, I just mashed letters.

Rafe.mp3

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/c01s...nder.mp4?rlkey=c9lebbfdo6syulohfd8emhgay&dl=0

Just listened to your track, the start reminds me a bit of the start of one of SC's heavier tracks, then as @ThePhobiac mentioned, it transitions into a Pantera 'Walk' type of riff. I like the gothic touches after that. Overall it's a pretty interesting piece, it'd be cool to hear how you refine it going forward.