Review IN FLAMES ‘Foregone’

In Flames are among the pioneers of the Gothenburg metal sound and it is their early albums like ‘Whoracle’ and especially ‘Clayman’ with which the band cemented their position in melodic death metal.

Even though In Flames never released a bad album, they continuously developed their sound over the years. Melodies played a bigger and bigger role in the soundscape of the five-piece and overall the modern metal(core) elements became more prominent.
Four years after ‘I, the Mask’, In Flames now have their new effort ‘Foregone’ in the starting blocks and one can be curious what kind of surprises the band holds up this time.

‘Foregone’ contains twelve songs, whereby ‘The Beginning of All Things That Will End’ can rather be considered as a kind of intro. It is an acoustic opening of the album. So, if you expected a blast right at the beginning, you’ll be proven wrong here. However, the first stunner is not long in coming.

‘State of Slow Decay’, already released as a single, shows that the band still has connections to their roots. ‘State of Decay’ is fast and heavy. In Flames don’t make any compromises and remind us of the earlier glories, also because frontman Anders Fridén returns to guttural vocals. Together with melodic guitar lines and a catchy chorus the song has everything you expect from In Flames.

The roaring beginning of ‘Meet the Maker, along with the whipping guitar riffs proves that the journey continues at a high level. A tad more melodic than the previous song, ‘Meet the Maker’ nevertheless slams out of the speakers with full force.

‘Bleeding Out’, on the other hand, comes around the corner catchier before the band pulls out all the stops again with the brutal ‘Foregone Pt.1’ and ‘Foregone Pt.2’. While the first part is aggressive and powerful, In Flames focuses on the more atmospheric expression of their sound in the second section.

Loud and more oldschool Gothenburg-style is the ingenious ‘The Great Deceiver’ and the following ‘In the Dark’. Especially the first mentioned track is one of the best on the entire record. Speed, hooks and riff power play together perfectly and a thunderous masterpiece is created that one would like to experience live.

‘In the Dark’ is in no way inferior, but is a bit slower, has an acoustic break and creates an eerie atmosphere.

With ‘A Dialogue in b Flat Minor’ the modern aspect of In Flames comes to the surface again before the record slowly comes to an end with ‘Cynosure’ and ‘End of Transmission’.

‘Foregone’ is the long awaited new In Flames album. It is a strong release that I would not have expected at this level of intensity. The five singles have already created an expectation and it is very positive that these songs are not the exception, but represent ‘Foregone’ in a great fashion. ‘Foregone’ is 100% In Flames and the fact that the approach tends a bit more to the early and uncompromising days is very good for the sound of the disc.