A Short History of the Band In Flames
July 24th, 2009. Published under Music. No Comments.
Gothenburg Sweden saw the birth of a band called “In Flames” in 1990. The conception of “In Flames” has been a record setting, influential occurrence. The tendrils of their melodic death metal musical style has turned the metal scene on it’s ear both locally in Gothenburg as well as internationally.
Founding member Jesper Stromblad was in a band called Ceremonial Oath then and formed “In Flames” as an experiment. The experiment was to see if melodically harmonized guitar riffs could be successfully blended with “screaming” and “death growl” vocal styles popular on the death metal and hardcore scenes. The result was, to say the least, dramatically effective.
In 1993, Stromblad left Ceremonial Oath behind and focused on In Flames specifically. He recruited guitarist Glen Ljungstrom and bassist Johann Larsson. This was the original In Flames lineup. Stromblad covered drums, vocals and guitars as well.
Together, these three musicians recorded a demo and submitted it to Wrong Again Records. In order to get the deal, Stromblad lied and said the trio had 13 other songs ready. The label owner offered them a record deal on the phone and melodic death metal or melodeath as it was fondly called, was born to the world.
Their first studio release, Lunar Strain, came in 1994 bearing the vocals of Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquility) by invitation. Later that same year, In Flames released Subterranean, an EP. Still without a regular vocalist, Henke Foss was asked to provide the vocal content. The EP was an instant success and led to a new, more prolific record deal with Nuclear Blast.
Discography
Lunar Strain 1990-0993
Subterranean (EP) 1994
The Jester Race (1995)
Whoracle (1997)
Colony (1999)
Clayman (2000)
Reroute to Remain (2002)
Soundtrack to Your Escape (2004)
Come Clarity (2005)
A Sense of Purpose (2008)
Musical style, influences and awards
The style of music In Flames is infamous for is melodic death metal, or melodeath. This genre was born in their hometown of Gothenburg Sweden, so they are said to be the father of melodic death metal. Stromblad’s idea was to combine guitar work like that of Iron Maiden’s Dave Murray and Adrian Smith with death metal.
The band originally would record two harmonized lead guitars over a rhythm guitar line. Having only two guitarists, this was nearly impossible to recreate in a live setting. In Flames then began to record in studio with the live performance in mind. The addition of keyboards was a dramatic move for In Flames and cost them a great deal of their “heavy” fan base, yet they plodded onward.
Many current bands cite In Flames as a major influence on their music. Among these are As I Lay Dying, Bloodstain Child and Still Remains.
In Flames has won four (4) Grammis Awards (Sweden’s version of the Grammy). In 2005, they won the Grammis for Best Hard Rock/Metal Album for Soundtrack to Your Escape. In Flames was the first metal band to EVER win the Swedish Export Award, which was their 2nd Grammis. The band has also won the Best Hard Rock/Metal Album Grammis for Come Clarity in 2007 and for A Sense of Purpose in 2009. Additionally, In Flames has been awarded the Metalhammer Golden God’s “Best International Band” award in 2008.
Their accepted symbol is a Jester head.
Rock on, my friends, rock on!
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