{"id":578914,"date":"2026-05-11T23:33:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/578914\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T23:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:33:15","slug":"how-did-in-flames-louder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/578914\/","title":{"rendered":"How did In Flames | Louder"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many years, In Flames were your favourite band’s favourite band. Co-pioneers of the ‘Gothenburg sound’, the very particular strain of melodic death metal that came from that Swedish city, they’ve influenced everyone from Killswitch Engage to Bring Me The Horizon<\/a> – but it took years of hard graft to fully get the international status and credit they deserved. In 2014, ahead of their eleventh studio album Siren Charms, Metal Hammer sat down with frontman Anders Frid\u00e9n for a look back over their journey.<\/p>\n

Despite reports to the contrary, the 90s were an awesome climate for metal. Pantera, Machine Head<\/a>, Sepultura, Korn<\/a>, Emperor, Cannibal Corpse\u2026the list of names to have created genre-defining efforts in that period is as impressive as in any other era you\u2019d care to name. And then there was the noise coming out of Gothenburg.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cGothenburg? It\u2019s just a small city!\u201d laughs In Flames<\/a> frontman Anders Frid\u00e9n as he reflects on the place that birthed his band. \u201cThere weren\u2019t that many people that were part of the metal scene. It was maybe 40 guys\u2026 everybody would jump into each other\u2019s bands and help out. I mean, we had no idea, we were just a bunch of dudes who loved metal!\u201d<\/p>\n

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The small city he\u2019s referring to is the base for one of the most important and influential metal scenes in history. Gothenburg’s modest settings marked the centrepiece of melodic death metal \u2013 a genre which added a dash of NWOBHM gung ho and catchy, chorus-centred song structures to death metal\u2019s pummelling brutality to bridge the divide between \u2018mainstream\u2019 metal and its more extreme cousin like never before.<\/p>\n

We had no idea that the ‘Gothernburg sound’ would go this far<\/p>\n

Anders Frid\u00e9n<\/p>\n

While At The Gates<\/a> were seen as the purists\u2019 choice and Dark Tranquillity a more grandiose option, it was In Flames that closed this gap most successfully and, as debut album Lunar Strain turns 20 this year, their impact is still being felt keenly, two decades on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was exciting!\u201d recalls Anders of that pivotal couple of years in metal\u2019s history. \u201cAt The Gates got a deal with Peaceville and Entombed got a deal with Earache, so it made us realise that [Swedish bands] could actually get out of Sweden. A lot of labels were interested in us and were flying us out and treating us well.<\/p>\n

“When we signed with Nuclear Blast, we didn\u2019t feel that we\u2019d \u2018made it\u2019 or anything, but it was, \u2018Wow, here\u2019s this big opportunity to play to more people and get more tours outside of Sweden.\u2019 When the media started referring to the \u2018Gothenburg sound\u2019 we had no idea that it would go across the Atlantic and would go this far.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"In\n<\/p>\n

In Flames in 2005 (Image credit: Mick Hutson\/Redferns via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The record deal enabled the band to embark on a true golden age that yielded four colossal albums in as many years: 1996\u2019s game-changing The Jester Race, the catchier Whoracle in 97, the more versatile Colony in 99 and, in 2000, the pop-metal masterpiece that is Clayman. While their peers either ground to a halt or struggled to successfully evolve their sound beyond the staple melo-death template, In Flames were still shitting out brilliant songs for fun and forever staying one step ahead of the game \u2013 a trick which Anders notes was essential to their survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never wanted to repeat ourselves,\u201d states the singer. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve done something and, I don\u2019t want to say \u2018perfected it\u2019, but done it well, you don\u2019t then want to do the same melody a thousand times. You want to move further and you want to take your sound as far as possible.<\/p>\n

“Back then, we just tried to make use of the influences we were listening to \u2013 death metal, NWOBHM and the German thrash<\/a> stuff. We put all that into a blender, and out came In Flames, but we can\u2019t just do Jester Race again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When we played in America, fans were like, \u2018Who are you?\u2019<\/p>\n

As In Flames\u2019 penchant for evolution continued and their status grew across Europe, there were evidently ears pricking up further abroad. Ears that belonged to the very kids that would grow up to lead metal\u2019s big and bold mid-00s resurgence, no less. Kickstarted by the arrival of Killswitch Engage<\/a>\u2019s Alive Or Just Breathing in 2002, a flurry of US metalcore bands rose up to become the face of metal\u2019s most exciting rejuvenation in a decade.<\/p>\n

The likes of KsE, Trivium<\/a> and As I Lay Dying were playing to huge crowds around the globe while releasing some of the finest albums of their time \u2013 albums peppered with riffs that shamelessly exposed their Swedish backbones. Meanwhile, despite putting in the legwork \u2013 and ploughing continued success on Europe\u2019s mainland \u2013 In Flames were left looking up and scratching their heads.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like, \u2018Wait for us!\u2019 Ha ha ha!\u201d laughs Anders of the experience of seeing the very bands they\u2019d influenced conquer the planet. \u201cWhen we played in America and we played with those bands, their fans were like, \u2018Who are you?\u2019 We were like, \u2018What? You\u2019ve never heard of us?!\u2019 I dunno why\u2026 it\u2019s all about timing and luck and where you are. Exposure, record companies, European versus American\u2026 I don\u2019t know!\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite their lack of media props at the time, In Flames\u2019 influence by no means finishes there. Through the early to mid-00s the Swedes continued to release great material, from Reroute To Remain\u2019s electronica-dabbling delights in 2002 to 2006\u2019s monstrous, metalcore-friendly Come Clarity.<\/p>\n

Indeed, metalcore has, if you haven\u2019t noticed, been experiencing a boom in great, young bands once again as of late, and while many of them will point to the Killswitches and Bullets of this world as a chief influence, there\u2019s another name lying beneath the surface that has proved equally inspirational.<\/p>\n

\u201cI first heard In Flames when I was 16,\u201d remembers Bury Tomorrow<\/a> bassist Davyd Winter-Bates. \u201cA friend gave me Reroute To Remain, and I remember listening to it and honestly feeling like my life was changing. I\u2019d go as far to say that Come Clarity is on par with [KsE\u2019s] The End Of Heartache for \u2018The World\u2019s Greatest Metalcore Album award.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Flames were one of the first bands I heard when I was young and first delving into metal<\/p>\n

Mat Welsh, While She Sleeps<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Flames were one of the first bands I heard when I was young and first delving into metal,\u201d recalls While She Sleeps axeman Mat Welsh, whose band support In Flames across Europe later this month. \u201cI remember seeing them with Slipknot<\/a> in the UK back in 2002, and I\u2019ve been a fan ever since. It\u2019s just those anthemic riffs, man. Riffs that you can sing along to.\u201d<\/p>\n

So then, that\u2019s at least two generations of mainstream-busting bands that have been directly influenced by a band from a \u201csmall\u201d city in the South of Sweden. Is Anders aware of how many bands have been nicking their riffs over the years?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what? I don\u2019t listen for that,\u201d comes the flat response to our question. \u201cI don\u2019t listen to a new band thinking, \u2018Hmmm, can I hear something of my own in this?\u2019 I listen with fresh ears. If we can bring out a [young] band and expose them to our audience, it gives something back, and they have fans that will have never heard of us, so maybe we can \u2018borrow\u2019 some of theirs as well. Ha ha ha!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Anders\n<\/p>\n

Anders on stage in 2025 (Image credit: Venla Shalin\/Redferns via Getty)<\/p>\n

Doubtless that will be exactly what happens when In Flames hit the road once again this autumn in support of new album Siren Charms \u2013 another step for a band that refuse to stand still and another record that, we can only presume, will be influencing more bands for years to come.<\/p>\n

While they may not be headlining arenas on these shores or Stateside, theirs is still an indelible mark left on the ever-changing face of metal, and as far as they\u2019re concerned, given all the circumstances, they\u2019ve done pretty damn well as it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done good, so there\u2019s nothing I feel that we could have done differently,\u201d surmises Anders. \u201cI\u2019ve been touring my ass off and creating music that I like, so if it all ended today, I would be like, \u2018OK, I did something!\u2019 What is really cool is that we were a bunch of guys in a small city in Sweden and, apparently, we influenced a lot of people around the world without even knowing about it. That was a pretty cool thing to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published in 2014<\/p>\n

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