In Flames, the infamous gothenburg band. I started listening to them about 5 years ago at the pinnacle of my angst ridden youth, and unfortunately I have to credit them for introducing me to metal. With that said, let's get to the fucking point here: Their new EP is a long way from melodic death metal and is essentially a hard rock album drenched in Gothenburg soup.
The album sounds like a slightly less technical version of the second half of Come Clarity injected with a shit-ton of melody (yes, even more). There was something about CC that made me cringe while i was listening to it, something about the way the vocals rode the riffs for the longest time possible until you wanted to scrape your fucking ears off because anders wouldn't stop shoving his dick in them. This album still does that, but it's not quite as painful (yet). The version of abnegation on this EP is WAY FUCKING BETTER than the other one, but it still isn't quality metal. We all know In Flames will never be as good as they once were, (which wasn't something to aspire to, but rather something from which they could have built off of) but for some reason i keep coming back to see what they're churning out. However, There is one thing about this EP that does feel right, and that is the flow throughout the songs. There is more consistency vocally because Anders is far more melodic, and the album as a whole seems to grate on your ears less. But let's get down to specifics.
As for Anders Friden, who the fuck is this guy kidding, his vocals are all raspy melody and there are no balls left on this man's body. His harsh vocals are just weak and sound WAY too forced, like he's trying to get people to think he's extreme and badass, yet still appeal to the emo crowd. Lyrically this man just fails. He'll have a catchy sentence here or there but overall the metaphors run into each other and come out all jumbled and fail to accomplish much of anything coherent or meaningful that hasn't been said a thousand times before in a much better way. There are some new elements vocally that make it sound like someone else is doing backing vocals on Abnegation when he says "I clench you" (whatever that means). There is also a similar effect on Tilt. The harsh vocals are just empty of conviction and full of what should be pain, misery, or despair but just sound emo as shit because he trails off each phrase with a half-whine "euhhh" that makes him sound absolutely retarded. When he's not doing his halfscream-halfyell singing he's trying to growl like Bjorn Strid (why anyone would aspire to sound like this i have no fucking clue) and he's failing at that. Overall the vocal experience is sometimes pleasurable as Anders at least manages to make things catchy while being a giant twat and mucking up everything else.
When the turd behind the microphone shuts up this becomes more enjoyable, albeit very immature sounding. Yet ALWAYS the riffs are partially obscured by electronics that add next to nothing and vocals that DETER from the sound. The riffs sound hard-rock inspired all over the place and never really go anywhere brutal or mesmerizing, only performing the most detestable Maiden worship. There are parts of Tilt and Eraser that sound ALMOST like the band that wrote Colony, but they are few and far between and quickly become consumed by whiny Underoath inspired vocals. The quiet part of Abnegation is totally pointless and every little thing they churn out to try to change the pace of their songs just goes nowhere and ends up bringing back the chorus (with more intensity?). The riffing on Eraser is pretty solid i guess for an in flames song, and then at 2 minutes in there is a 25 second solo where ANDERS KEEPS HIS MOUTH SHUT and it is pretty sweet, but also slow, uninspiring, and largely unimpressive by solo standards. From 2:25 to 2:43 on Tilt they do almost the same thing. On this track Anders actually shuts up near the end too, which is nice. The thing about the leads is that they just make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, which isn't entirely what i want my metal to do, but it's like kicking a puppy for pissing on your rug (although in this case it's more like a 17 yr old arthritic poodle who should be put down).
There is much less bass in the production than on CC, but I can't really hear it, never really could, and don't really give a shit. In Flames have never been known for their drumming or their bass work. The drums seem to be fairly competent, maybe better than they used to be, but not exactly very beneficial to the music either. The band seems to be content with letting Anders lead the way at the forefront of the production, which is a sad, sad decision as far as I'm concerned.
GOOD METAL THIS IS NOT
Highlights - If i had to pick, I'd go with Eraser