In Flames was founded in 1990 by Jesper Strömblad as a side project from his then-current death metal band Ceremonial Oath. Jesper formed In Flames in order to write songs with a more melodic and progressive musical direction, which he was unable to do in Ceremonial Oath.

In 1993, Jesper quit Ceremonial Oath due to musical differences and began focusing more on In Flames. That same year, Jesper (guitar, drums, keyboards) recruited Glenn Ljungström (guitar), and Johan Larsson (bass) to form the first official In Flames line-up.

The trio recorded a three song demo and sent it to Wrong Again Records In order to increase their chances of being offered a record deal, the trio lied to the owner of the record label by telling him that they already had 13 songs done.
The owner of Wrong Again Records, seeing promise in the band, offered In Flames a record deal over the phone

During 1993, In Flames wrote, recorded, and self-produced their debut studio album, Lunar Strain, in ... read more »