In Flames

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{{infobox band | band_name = In Flames | image = Image:In Flames.JPG | years_active = 1990 – present | origin = Gothenburg, Sweden | music_genre = Melodic death metal | record_label = Nuclear Blast, Ferret Records | current_members = Anders Fridén
Jesper Strömblad
Björn Gelotte
Peter Iwers
Daniel Svensson}}

In Flames is a Swedish melodic death metal band from the city of Gothenburg. While they by no means created the genre, their heavy influence on it is not disputed.

In Flames' line-up underwent constant changes throughout their early career. Their first stable line-up was composed by the founding members Jesper Strömblad, Johan Larsson and Glenn 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.

In the United States and among fans of Death Metal, In Flames is perhaps best known for their albums The Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony and Clayman. However, the group came to mainstream attention with Reroute to Remain, Soundtrack To Your Escape and their most recent studio album Come Clarity.

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History

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 (with Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquillity contributing vocal duties as a favor to the band) - 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 the same year. 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. He was replaced by Dick Löwgren for a year. When he came back to the band, the live album The Tokyo Showdown was recorded. In 2002, Reroute To Remain was the first release of In Flames not produced in the Studio Fredman. This album was the first real experimental album that the band made. And their seventh album, Soundtrack To Your Escape, in 2004, followed this way.

A DVD box set was released in September 2005 entitled Used and Abused... In Live We Trust. The band toured on the 2005 Ozzfest on the main stages and supported Motörhead on its 30th anniversary tour in Autumn 2005. The band sold over 1 million records all over the world before the release of Come Clarity. This album, released in early2006, was the most successful album of the band. It was on the top of the chart in Sweden and in Finland in its first week of sales.

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Influence

Along with Dark Tranquillity, At The Gates and Sentenced, 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, but In Flames is sometimes said to have truly fashioned the genre as it exists today. Advocates of this theory claim this is notable in its most evolved form on songs such as "Episode 666" and "Jotun". In any case, bands such as Arch Enemy name In Flames as a vital influence. (note that arch enemy includes a guitarist from carcass itself, thus pointing to the continuation and refinement by In Flames of the genres early concepts)

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Awards

In Flames were honored with the "Swedish Music Export" prize at Sweden's "Grammis" awards, which were held February 7 2006 at Cirkus in Stockholm. In Flames were the first metal band ever to win this award. "Thanks to In Flames, Sweden now has a metal band in the absolute world elite," the Swedish economy minister Thomas Östros said of the award.

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Line-up

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Former members

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Vocals

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Guitars

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Bass

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Drums

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Discography

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Albums

Album Cover Date of Release Title Label US Billboard Peak US sales
Image:InFlames-LunarStrain.jpg August, 1994 Lunar Strain Wrong Again Records - -
Image:202 202.jpg June 15, 1995 Subterranean (MCD) Wrong Again Records - -
Image:InFlamesTheJesterRace.jpg February 20, 1996 The Jester Race Nuclear Blast - -
Image:Blackashinheritance.jpg October 28, 1997 Black-Ash Inheritance (MCD) Nuclear Blast - -
Image:InFlames-Whoracle.jpg November 18, 1997 Whoracle Nuclear Blast - -
Image:InFlames-Colony.jpg June 14, 1999 Colony Nuclear Blast - -
Image:InFlames-Clayman.jpg July 25, 2000 Clayman Nuclear Blast - -
Image:Tokyo showdown.jpg September 4, 2001 The Tokyo Showdown (Live) Nuclear Blast - -
Image:InFlames-RerouteToRemain.jpg September 3, 2002 Reroute to Remain Nuclear Blast - -
Image:In-Flames Trigger-Ep2.jpg June 17, 2003 Trigger (EP) Nuclear Blast - -
Image:InFlames-Soundtrack To Your Escape.jpg April 6, 2004 Soundtrack to Your Escape Nuclear Blast #145 -
Image:Inflamescomeclarity.jpg February 7, 2006 Come Clarity Nuclear Blast (UK), Ferret Records (US) #58 -
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Singles

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DVDs

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External links

es:In Flames fr:In Flames it:In Flames he:אין פליימס nl:In Flames ja:イン・フレイムス pl:In Flames pt:In Flames sl:In Flames fi:In Flames sv:In Flames tr:In Flames

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