New album Foregone out February 2023

[eochaid]

Karl Naslund has died .

 

[mindd]

Well, that sucks. Always sad when people pass, no matter how good or bad they were, even more so when they had a part in making something you appreciate.

And just 30 years since Lunar Strain... I may not be the biggest fan of the album, even though I like it, but you can't deny that without it there wouldn't be In Flames as it was.

Anyway, I wonder, what did he do with his life after Lunar Strain? He wasn't musically active any more, right?

 

[ThePhobiac]

"A very talented lead guitarist! Today he runs some restaurants here in the city (Gothenburg). Our time together in IN FLAMES didn't last very long."

I wanted more Carl Karl Naslund lore, but not like this. RIP.

 

[DE4life]

Anyway, I wonder, what did he do with his life after Lunar Strain? He wasn't musically active any more, right?

He knew he was already at the mountain peak and it could only be downhill from there. RIP.

 

[DE4life]

I randomly found this thread on another forum talking about the Clayman remaster:

So In Flames just re-recorded Clayman (the song)...

What do you think? Personally, I hate it. Which is funny because I actually like modern IF but being accustomed to the gritty sound of the original (which I've always kinda hated) this just feels wrong. :lol:

sevenstring.org

Firstly, good to know we weren't the only ones who hated these remakes. They are pretty much universally panned throughout the thread as being total shit.

Some funny stuff in there though.

I actually love Battles. Both the songwriting and production but this song just feels rushed production-wise.

I can't imagine "loving" anything about Battles, let alone the utterly simplistic songwriting and wafer-thin, wimpy production.

all they've proved with this exercise is that there is far, far more to a good song than the notes you play. It's a triumvirate of the notes, the performance and the production which captures the performance. I think the latter two have utterly failed here, taking a good song and making it sound awful.

Indeed so. If Clayman had never been released and modern IF released that album note-for-note nowadays, it'd be nowhere near as good because of Benson and the band as a whole being much more shit now. The Clayman remakes proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Foregone proved they could still fake being a metal band by copying other band styles, but that's about it.

I wish the current lineup would just take on another name and that Jesper, Peter, Daniel, Glen, and some singer would just get together and write some badass music again.

Funny how this dude's wish basically came true with THE, swapping Glen for Engelin and the singer being Stanne.

I can't believe these guys are still around. I lost interest after The Jester Race.

Lmao, for people who don't think fans like this exist, there you go. Lost interest after The Jester Race. OK.

So controversial... I never liked Clayman... I lost interest in this band because of how let down I was by this album. The new recording sounds like a pop song guitarist recording to a metronome... Listening to both back to back, I prefer the new recording, but still dislike the music. I think the new guitar tone fits the style of the album better, even if it is more lifeless and less edgy.

I'm not even sure what to make of this. Never liked Clayman, but presumably the stuff before that, yet you prefer the new recording? Dafuq. Also a lifeless guitar tone without edge fits the album better? The original album? Bizarre comment.

The Whoracle/Colony/Clayman-era is peak In Flames, IMO.

I mean, yes, but why leave out TJR?

Wow, really bad. Yet also the best thing I've heard from them since....Clayman (which I don't even really like).

Lol. The Clayman remake better than everything on Reroute and CC... yeah, sure.

I still think Lunar Strain and Subterranean were peak In Flames, but I know that's a pretty unusual opinion to have. One of the first albums I got as a kid was a cd release of those two together. I remember then getting Jester Race and being totally disappointed. They got too sugary I guess

I can only imagine Slave's response to this. Look, I like Lunar and Sub too, but the peak of In Flames? They were demos and it's not like TJR is a significant leap from Subterranean.

Ordinary Story was exactly my first "WTF" moment with In Flames. But then the rest of Colony was so good it kind of made up for it. Clayman was them saying "nah, we were onto something with Ordinary Story, let's dial that up 50% on this next album." (facepalm) If it weren't for the pretty strong riffs in a lot of places, Clayman would be unlistenable.

And people think me, Eochaid and A88 are elitists this guy puts us to shame.

Well, anyway, a lot of that thread makes me feel like a Ciko-esque fanboy.

 

[Xpyro125]

Honestly, when it comes to Battles, I can genuinely see there being something to enjoy if you 1. Love pop metal (And I’ll be honest, I actually kinda do), and 2. Haven’t heard/don’t like anything actually good from In Flames. Number 2 is usually the dealbreaker, the sheer legacy of unfathomably better music is just too blinding for me to ignore.

As for anyone who prefers the re-recordings… No, you’re either just contrarian to be contrarian, or you’re a psy-op.

 

[GraemeSinclair]

I watched a recording of Alias on YouTube from the show I was at a couple of weeks ago. Like most of ASOP, it's not one of my favourites, I've heard it live quite a lot and I can take or leave it, but (as has been mentioned on here of late) if it had the kind of vocals Anders is using live at the moment on the studio recording, I would probably listen to it and enjoy it a lot more.

Anyway, the reason I mentioned is because after listening to it, I decided to work out the acoustic interlude on guitar. I'd never had the notion to do so before, but it's one of the most fun guitar parts I've ever learned, and I've spent far more time than I would have imagined noodling through it since.

 

[DE4life]

The acoustic interlude in Alias is pretty nice indeed. A cool throwback to something you'd hear on Lunar Strain. Quite weird to have that in the middle of what is a very typical commercial IF track for the period, but somehow it just works. I have to believe that was Jesper's work - the guy just gets how song structure and transitions work. It's something that gets noticeably worse after he leaves. SOAPF isn't too bad, but it's also pretty straightforward in terms of arrangements, with New Dawn as the only song that really presents a challenge on that album.

Siren Charms is where Jesper's absence in this regard is really felt. So many parts of that album, structurally, just fail to flow correctly. When The World Explodes is a good example of this. The Nightwish-style chorus just feels so out of place, like it was spliced in from a totally different song. Whilst Jesper was in the band, this simply wasn't an issue and I do think he played a big part in how smooth IF's songs flowed during the period he was in the band. Recruiting Benson did help in this regard, but only in the sense of everything becoming much simpler and not requiring any significant effort as structurally the songs of the Benson era are mostly incredibly basic. Wallflower is an exception but from memory it was one of the few songs of the period that Engelin was largely responsible for, so, that's probably why.