SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT: IN FLAMES – SWEDISH LEGENDS, INSPIRATION FOR A GENERATION OF METAL
Sunday, March 30th, 2008 at 5:38pm by Vince Neilstein
The influence and importance of Gothenburg, Swedish’s In Flames is familiar to devoted metalheads but bears repeating to the rest: along with At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered and refined the sound that would later become known as melodic death metal (or “The Gothenburg Sound”), directly influencing hundreds of bands from their genesis in the early ’90s to the myriad metalcore bands that walk the planet today. By combining death metal with Maiden and Judas Priest-influenced guitars and their own astute songwriting sensibility, Stromblad and co. hit a chord that still rings loud today. The band is now nothing short of an international metal sensation and they continue to take their blistering live show on the road year after year. I’d venture to say to that In Flames, through their unique sense of melody, aggression and songcraft, are more directly influential on today’s metal scene than any other band, even the much-celebrated At the Gates.
It wouldn’t be considered a stretch to call At the Gates one of the most influential bands on metal today. Without At the Gates (and Dark Tranquillity), there would be no In Flames, The Haunted or Soilwork. And without any of those bands, there would be no Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall, and without those bands there wouldn’t be any of the hundreds of mis-labeled metalcore bands that dominate today’s metal charts. Well, maybe the latter part is a good thing. In any case, they were pretty fuckin’ influential and they’ve 
