New album Foregone out February 2023

[GraemeSinclair]

I've wanted to hear Jotun live for 19 years, more than any other song except perhaps December Flower. If it comes back on this leg of touring and I miss out by accident of geography, it'll be a sore one unless it sticks around long enough for their next pass through Scotland. I absolutely loved hearing Food for the Gods last year, but Jotun is on another level.

Crawl Through Knives is, for my money, the best song on Come Clarity and one of their best overall, but I don't really like how in all the live performances I've heard, Anders seems to sing the high harmony line in the chorus rather than what is, to my ears at least, the main melody.

 

[mindd]

Aaaand they played absolutely nothing interesting, same boring setlist.

 

[Xpyro125]

Apparently the setlist on the 1st had FFTG and Coerced Coexistence— Which honestly, I don’t remember the last time I’ve heard about them playing it live.
Edit: they played CC in 2024, so I guess never mind on that front.

But Graveland? MYM?

Even worse, most of the setlist has the problem of being filled with more mid-paced songs. I like Paralyzed more than I probably should, but Everything’s Gone is infinitely better for live play, especially with Anders’ not great singing voice live.

It can be worse, nothing from Battles made it into the setlist, but I remember the show I went to having a far better setlist. Huge mixed bag here.

 

[The Grayfox]

They're in desperate need of a setlist overhaul. I had hopes that the Spotify playlist was a hint of what this tour's set could look like, but obviously that wasn't the case. Don't get me wrong, Food for the Gods and Coerced Coexistence are great songs, but it's time to mix it up a bit. And Graveland? Again? Why in the fuck do they keep going back to this song instead of playing something else from TJR? Jesus Christ.

 

[eochaid]

When are they going to start the touring cycle for the new album?

 

[DE4life]

They're just extremely boring middle aged guys. It's evident in their setlists, their music and their interviews.

 

[Moonshield_]

The interview thing is what bothers me the most because they used to be my childhood heroes but now Anders sounds so bored in any interview he gives

 

[DE4life]

To be honest Anders has almost always been like that. I don't think he really likes doing interviews, but knows it's part of the game

Bjorn is more disappointing to me. Used to give some really interested takes on things - nowadays just says bullshit like "don't listen to new music anymore,", "haven't listened to Halo Effect", "anyone can play our simple music even random american bros" and spouts the catchphrases about "every album is a snapshot of where we were", "In Flames is melody and aggression", etc.

Been a long time since Anders or Bjorn said anything worth a damn, honestly. Similarly been a long time since they released any music worth a damn. Still, if they're making a living and comfortable then I'm not going to shit on them for it. I call them boring but hey, most people their age are boring (there are exceptions, obviously, but those two aren't exceptions).

Maybe when I get to their age I'll be a boring fuck too. I hope not, but time is a fearsome enemy.

 

[eochaid]

Hey. I'm not boring. Just a little. But I'm putting my best effort to not be.

Now, seriously. A lot of people their (my) age are boring because they have a wrong idea of what is to be an adult. But that people is not in a metal band. Metal is supposed to he exciting and challenging, not a reflection of an outdated idea of what is the middle-age.

 

[DE4life]

Indeed, there are exceptions in any age group and I hope to be one of them! I can say for sure I'll never be attending dinner parties, sipping wine and talking middle class bullshit. I'd rather jump off a bridge.

In fairness to Anders and Bjorn, people from that part of the world aren't exactly the most wild and unpredictable. You do expect a little bit of going against the norm in a metal band though, rather than California vibes with "big name" producer and tours where the same songs are infinitely regurgitated. I get that they're lazy but how is it not mind numbingly boring playing the same stuff over and over again? You'd think just for their own sanity if nothing else they'd occasionally mix things up - and I'm not talking about the Borgholm Brinner sets.

 

[eochaid]

I get it. They're doing what is to be (traditionally) expected from 50 years old dudes.

Maybe, they need to refresh their minds and behave as they (most likely) did during their teen ages. Remember again how a "young" mind thinks and behaves.

 

[GraemeSinclair]

You guys getting your Anders action figures?

 

[Xpyro125]

I almost accidentally hit report instead of like. Feels fitting.

Also, his facial expression looks like it would if he finally heard Battles the same way we do.

 

[eochaid]

That's Josh Brolin with a beard.

 

[DE4life]

Is that real? Why did they make it look like he just realised he shit himself? Also the rip in the trousers, just perfect. 50 year old man trying to fit in with the trends. Exactly accurate.

With that said, I will buy if a Hardman Anders variant is released.

 

[DE4life]

Also lol. Good on him for ripping on Trump and offending this MAGA idiot, but getting offended over the lack of crowd reaction to an old song... bro, this is just called reaping what you sow. If you'd pretended to give a shit about the old albums from 2002 - 2022 maybe the current fanbase would care more too.

 

[The Grayfox]

Yeah, it's stupid. They ignored their back catalog for so long that they're surprised there's no reaction when they play the songs? Idiot.

 

[eochaid]

I wonder why people who has approached the band during the past ten years would care about anything pre 2000. It's not like they're expecting to see them being played live and it's not as if they look as being made by the same band.

 

[DE4life]

Sometimes I feel like the reason they play the same songs so often is because they're afraid to play anything outside of those songs - mainly because their sound has been so schizophrenic over the years. It's like, people will know Take This Life and react to it - but would they react to Vacuum or Vanishing Light? Would their newer fans actually know those songs? Would they know stuff like Suburban Me, Transparent, In Search For I? And that's their 2000s material. What they've released in the past decade (or just over if you include SC) has very little in common with those mid-2000s albums, so outside of da hitz would there be any major reaction to other songs from those albums or would people just be confused?

As far as the pre-2000s albums - no chance. Everything pre-1999 got dumped like a sack of shit after Reroute, and even Colony only had a handful of songs played from it after 2002. Of course the modern audience is not going to care about those songs, and nor should the band expect them too. Randomly saying "if you don't like The jester Race you don't know us", as Anders has occasionally said over the years, rings hollow when you observe their treatment of the older albums in general. Even as far as both Anders and Bjorn talking about how the songs are basically shit because they weren't written to be played live - despite being played live successfully during the time period and growing their popularity enormously. For songs that are apparently dumpster fires live, they somehow managed to grow their fanbase like no other MDM band of that era. Must have just been because they looked so cool on stage.

 

[ThePhobiac]

Is that real?

Fake, most likely. I've seen a lot of those kinds of images on Instagram in the past week or so.