Jesper Strömblad

Jesper Strömblad — born in Sweden in 1972 — is the founder of In Flames and the principal composer of the phase that created the Gothenburg sound. He put the band together in 1990, and the formula that would define an entire subgenre is his: guitars harmonised in two voices, with melodies of Scandinavian folk inflection, played over a death metal base with guttural vocals. That combination — clear melody over extreme aggression — is what came to be called melodic death metal, and The Jester Race (1996), Whoracle (1997), Colony (1999) and Clayman (2000) are its founding documents. The model influenced a whole generation. Alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames made Gothenburg the centre of gravity of 1990s European metal, and the vocabulary Strömblad established would reappear later in much of the American metalcore of the 2000s. He also took part in founding HammerFall in the early 1990s, before concentrating on In Flames. He left the band in 2010, stating publicly that alcoholism prevented him from meeting the group's obligations — a decision unusual for the frankness with which it was announced. He remained active in other projects in the following years.