In Flames - Foregone (Nuclear Blast)

I know the cool kids say we shouldn’t like In Flames any more, but ya know what? I don’t care. And whilst I’ll be the first to admit their last couple of albums have washed over me eliciting almost zero response – surely the worst reaction of all – I have to say their new offering, Foregone, is affecting me in all the right areas…

The addition of American axepert Chris Broderick might have something to do with it, I dunno; maybe it’s just the fact that for the first time in a long time the band have managed to capture something of the lightning in a bottle that powered thair ‘classic’ material and harness it to the more modern tropes that have become their recent trademark. The result is their best album in years, and, although it won’t please everyone, it’s going to bring a smile to a lot of faces and a fair bit of pain to the necks at the bottom of those smiles…

There’s a real sense of urgency about tracks like The Great Deceiver; Vocalist Anders Fridén has stated elsewhere about the feeling of rage and isolation triggered by the lockdowns, and the piss and vinegar in his vocals here sounds very authentic indeed. When juxtaposed with his ‘clean’ voice, Fridén brings a very real sense of anger to the game that’s been missing in action for me in some of the band’s more recent outings.

Bleeding Out and In The Dark are pretty good too – the latter featuring some very nifty guitar work from Broderick and Bjorn Gelotte – and, if Howard Benson‘s production is still ultra glossy when at times you wish there was just a little more grit under the fingernails (for some reason A Dialogue In b Flat Minor makes me feel like this the most), the sheer power of riffage gets the upper hand throughout the album as a whole. Which has to be a good thing.

In toto Foregone probably isn’t enough to convince those outliers still wishing that the band would release The Jester Race every couple of years; But as a standalone album it’s pretty bloody listenable, and it’s definitely an album that’s worth a listen if you’ve ever had some time for this band.