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In Flames Information
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'In Flames' is a Swedish melodic death metal band from the city of Gothenburg which is considered by many one of the referentials from the genre.
Biography
In Flames began when three members of Ceremonial Oath - Jesper Strömblad, Johan Larsson and Glenn Ljungström - quit the band in order to start a musical project of their own. They recorded a short demo which was sent to a few recording labels. The owner of Wrong Again Records thought the band had promise, and soon closed a recording deal with them. From this deal surfaced In Flames' first album - entitled Lunar Strain - which relied on death grunts for vocals and aggressive instrumental work, at times combined with acoustic sections. The album obtained success on the Swedish underground scene and received positive critics from the specialized press. However, In Flames soon became known to most of Europe with the release of the EP from 1995 Subterranean. The EP attracted the attention of the Nuclear Blast label, which offered them a contract for an European release on the same year.
In Flames' line-up underwent constant changes throughout their early career. Their first stable line-up was composed by the founding members (Strömblad, Larsson and Ljungström), with Anders Fridén on vocals and Björn Gelotte on drums. With this line-up, they proceeded to record the album The Jester Race, which made the band known to the world, especially in Europe and Japan. A short tour with Kreator followed.
Due to the band's increasing success, Johan Larsson and guitarist Glenn Ljungström - who were already part of other established bands - decided to quit In Flames due to the difficulties of sharing time between different projects. Their last contribution to the band was the album Whoracle, from 1997. Peter Iwers and Niklas Engelin were then invited to accompany In Flames in the joint tour with Dimmu Borgir that followed Whoracle's release. This line-up worked rather well, and by the end of the tour the musicians became permanent members of In Flames. Together they travelled Europe and made the band's first concert outside of Europe, in Japan.
However, by the end of that tour, Niklas Engelin quit the band due to musical differences. Drummer Björn Gelotte assumed the guitars and Sacrilige's Daniel Svensson assumed the drums. This line-up recorded Colony, and a partial world tour followed.
2000 saw the release of Clayman. By this time, the band had already become widely known, and played with bands of major recognition such as Dream Theater, Slipknot and Testament. Peter Iwers' first daughter was born, and he temporarily left the band, being substitude by Dick Löwgren for a year. When he came back to the band, the live album The Tokyo Showdown was recorded.
After their rise to fame, however, In Flames began to lose some of the style that initially characterized the band. The specific reason for that is unknown, but most relate it to the changes happening in the European musical scenario at the time, and to Anders Fridén. However, Björn Gelotte has stated the experimental use of different producers has altered their sound, specifically after "Clayman".
In Flames proceeded to release two more albums - Reroute to Remain and Soundtrack to Your Escape. In Flames will be releasing their eight studio album, titled Come Clarity, on Febuary 3rd 2006 in Europe, and on Febuary 7th 2006 in the United States. A DVD box set was released, Used and Abused... In Live We Trust on September 20th 2005 and the band toured on the 2005 Ozzfest.
In Flames' contribution to melodic death metal
Along with Dark Tranquillity, Sentenced and At The Gates, In Flames are widely thought of as some of the first practitioners, if not inventors of the melodic death metal genre. It is true that Carcass's Heartwork featured some excellent examples of this music and was released before In Flames had put out their first album, but In Flames truly made it happen. This is first visible in its most evolved form on tracks such as "Episode 666" and "Gyroscope".
Whether or not they can be credited with the invention of this genre, it cannot be argued that they produced some very important albums that solidified the form of melodic death metal. The Jester Race was the earliest, and along with Whoracle, is considered one of the most significant archetypes.
Bands such as Arch Enemy name In Flames as a vital influence.
Line-up
* Anders Fridén - Vocals
* Jesper Strömblad - Guitar
* Björn Gelotte - Guitar
* Peter Iwers - Bass
* Daniel Svensson - Drums
Former members
Vocals
* Mikael Stanne (1993 - 1994)
* Henrik Forss (1995)
* Joakim Göthberg (1995)
Guitars
* Glenn Ljungström (1990 - 1997)
* Niclas Engelin (touring 1997 - 1998)
* Anders Iwers (1990 - 1992)
* Carl Né¤slund (1993 - 1994)
Bass
* Johan Larsson (1990 - 1997)
Drums
* Anders Jivarp (1995)
* Daniel Erlandsson (1995)
Discography
Albums
* Lunar Strain (1994)
* Subterranean (EP, 1995)
* The Jester Race (1996)
* Black-Ash Inheritance (EP, 1997)
* Whoracle (1997)
* Colony (1999)
* Clayman (2000)
* The Tokyo Showdown (Live, 2001)
* Reroute To Remain (2002)
* Trigger (EP, 2003)
* Soundtrack To Your Escape (2004)
* Used and Abused: In Live We Trust (Live DVD, 2005)
* Come Clarity (2006)
Singles
* Promo Demo '93 (Demo, 1993)
* Cloud Connected (2002)
* The Quiet Place (2004)
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