u/SpoonyBard5709

I listened to Gates of Ishtar – Dawn Of Flames on my morning walk today. I fucking love that record.

But it kind of made something click for me about early In Flames (Jester Race - Whoracle era), they were great at utilizing restraint.

Dawn Of Flames is amazing, but it’s a full on onslaught. There are a few pockets where they slow down and a couple cool piano parts, but it’s mostly 1000000 BPM, speedy mcspeederson in terms of tempo.

A lot of early melodeath (and a ton of metal bands in general) just go full on fucking pedal to the metal. Blast beats, nonstop riffing, etc. Sometimes it works…but it often gets exhausting as hell when there’s no breathing room.

In Flames at their peak actually understood that you don’t need to be fast all the time. They’ll drop into mid tempo rock grooves, slow things down, let riffs sit while still building atmosphere with those sweet melodic leads. I’ll use Whoracle as an example. Tracks like “Gyroscope” and “Jester Script Transfigured” have great pacing and are super balanced. Then when they thrash again on “Morphing Into Primal”, it actually hits hard instead of just blending into the chaos.

Space is the difference. It’s not just “melody + death metal,” it’s knowing when to not to go hard and when to hold back. That balance is why those records still stand out in my opinion. I’m gonna go listen to Whoracle now.

I listened to Gates of Ishtar – Dawn Of Flames on my morning walk today. I fucking love that record.

But it kind of made something click for me about early In Flames (Jester Race - Whoracle era), they were great at utilizing restraint.

Dawn Of Flames is amazing, but it’s a full on onslaught. There are a few pockets where they slow down and a couple cool piano parts, but it’s mostly 1000000 BPM, speedy mcspeederson in terms of tempo.

A lot of early melodeath (and a ton of metal bands in general) just go full on fucking pedal to the metal. Blast beats, nonstop riffing, etc. Sometimes it works…but it often gets exhausting as hell when there’s no breathing room.

In Flames at their peak actually understood that you don’t need to be fast all the time. They’ll drop into mid tempo rock grooves, slow things down, let riffs sit while still building atmosphere with those sweet melodic leads. I’ll use Whoracle as an example. Tracks like “Gyroscope” and “Jester Script Transfigured” have great pacing and are super balanced. Then when they thrash again on “Morphing Into Primal”, it actually hits hard instead of just blending into the chaos.

Space is the difference. It’s not just “melody + death metal,” it’s knowing when to not to go hard and when to hold back. That balance is why those records still stand out in my opinion. I’m gonna go listen to Whoracle now.

I have to spend 8 hours at work tomorrow doing dishes. Audiobooks generally bounce off of me, but I think the action and fast pacing of S&S might help me slog through the day. I’ve read the bulk of the classics (Howard, Wagner, Moorecock), but if there are particularly good audio representations of those books I’m not opposed to revisiting.

Is the best way to really get the fundamentals for the genre down just to play and learn as many Sabbath riffs as possible?

The weather is getting nice where I live and I’m looking for a good option for practicing while sitting outside on my patio, maybe while crushing a few beers. Does anyone have experience with this? Would this be a solid option for what I’m looking for? I’m not sure if it matters but I play mostly melodic death metal and heavy thrash. Thanks in advance for any input or suggestions.

I think it’s his best vocal performance on any of their records. Not only does his singing sound cleaner than ever, his screams are arguably more solid as well. His cadences are clever and there are some straight hooks (I’m looking at “Weeping Tones” and “Bad Bodies” here). Crazy to think that this late in their run that they’re still making bangers like this.

I remember this being an outtake or demo, I think potentially from the Versions sessions, but can’t find any trace of it. Does anyone have a cache of rarities/demos/outtakes other than the LP from the box set? Some of my favorite songs from PTW are “Wreck Itself Taking You With Me” and “Purple Sabbath” which are non-album releases and it makes me wonder what other gems I might be missing out on.

Also, Peace In Place is flawless.