It's cool if you're a tourist. If you live here though London is just London. There's some cool stuff there, but there's cool stuff elsewhere too. I certainly wouldn't want to live in London and gigs being there is a nuisance rather than a good thing.
Like every country I guess. Madrid is cool to visit from time to time and attend some events there, but not because is the capital. That means nothing as a person. Just a designed place for the government to be
A capital should be easily accessible for every country, except monstrous ones like the USA or Russia.
Anders should be able to write lyrics without coming across like a 15 year old scene girl. Sometimes things don't work out how we would like them.
I'm going to see Anders, Bjorn, and their American crew this time. Hoping for a half-decent setlist. Also, been listening ITM more since the show in Belgrade was announced. Still holds up pretty well. There's a good little IF album hiding in there behind cheap production tricks and few fillers.
I would guess that I've already listened to some songs on ITM more than any of the songs off SC or Battles. It's not a great IF album by any stretch, but it's OK. A bit of a step down from SOAPF, but I think a lot of that comes down to production.
SOAPF's strength over ITM is that its filler tracks are much-much better than ITM's. ITM's strength over SOAPF is that it features better and stronger vocal performance. This does not mean melodies as well, because Deliver Us has one of the best post-CC chorus melody out there. As for Anders writing through the lense of a 15 years old: what should he write about? He does coming of age and contemplating about our mortality lyrics as well. He also does neutral lyrics about our environment, which is probably among the very very few IF motifs which stood the test of time of the band. Whether it's TJR or SC, Anders is talking about wastelands. Not on topic: I was reading some Hungarian comments under the ticket sale announcement for the IF show, and it was funny to read comments like "yeah, they are definitely not their old self. Something changed after Soundtrack, but I still like them nevertheless." Basically saying that IF is not what they used to be can mean so many things for so many people, that I think ultimately it is a big praise for the band, that they are still relevant and that so many people can like and hate them at the same time.
Anders can write about whatever he wants, just do it properly, not like extracts from a teenager's angst-ridden diary. He's proven he can write excellent lyrics (in fact ITM is better in this regard) so it's not an issue with talent. It's just laziness and/or a poor attempt to appeal to a demographic that simply aren't ever going to be that interested in In Flames. As far as the "when IF changed" debate, that's something I can't really be bothered with. They changed significantly after Lunar Strain. They changed significantly after Whoracle. They changed significantly after Clayman. If we're talking a point where they stopped being guitar-based and became more vocal-driven then it's from Reroute onwards. That's about as much as I can say about it. I don't care if they change, evolve, devolve, whatever - I just want it to be good. If a modern IF album is enjoyable I'll still praise it. CC, SOAPF. ITM - all solid. If a modern IF album is shit I'll say so too. They've been changing their entire career so to try and pinpoint a specific point is nonsense really. Especially if STYE is being considered the line in the sand. How is STYE in any way similar to Clayman or Whoracle ffs? It's totally different so to say "something changed" after Soundtrack is baffling to me.
Hey long time no see... https://www.facebook.com/210892312768745/posts/733594277165210/?d=n&substory_index=0
WHAT IS THE OFFICIAL IF DUSCUSSION THREAD NOW?! We usually switch, when a new record is being released, but this one seems to be just a song.
Hello, I found this forum after searching for In Flames stuff online and I've been reading a bit these past few days. I don't know anyone who enjoys this kind of music so it's been fun reading other opinions about the band. I think there were really cool modern In Flames songs in I, the Mask (Deep Inside, Stay With Me, the title song...) and it was better than the past two albums. Sadly, the new Clayman album was terrible but hopefully it was because of the covid situation and they had to rush things but who knows. Watching live performances I hope they throw away the clean chorus stuff that it's been going on in the last few albums and go back to growling/screaming because it makes no sense if Anders is going to growl live anyway. Anyway I just wanted to say hi even if there is not much to talk about at the moment.
Welcome. very kind of you to give them the benefit of the doubt on Clayman and COVID. Unfortunately I really don’t think COVID affected it. They purposely went with a mastering engineer who became famous for optimizing recordings for small speakers. Like radios and phones. The complete opposite of what Clayman is known for. I don’t know what they were thinking, even Bjorn seemed subtly embarrassed during interviews because he kept repeating the same talking points. I think they were forced at knifepoint. Anders’ knife.
Interestingly, I found an old copy of a metal magazine in my country, where there was an interview with Bjorn in 2019,just before ITM was released. He was asked how does he know if a riff he writes is good for In Flames and he replied that he asks himself two questions: Is it easy to play? Is it easy to make it sound good? If the answer is yes, the riff is good.
