Flames of Fire is a heavy metal band from Sweden, Norway & Finland formed by Christian Liljegren (Narnia, The Waymaker, Audiovision) and Mats-Åke Andersson (Zaragorn), together with Jani Stefanovic (The Waymaker, Solution .45 & Miseration), Per Schelander (House of Shakira, Astrakhan, ex. Royal Hunt & Pain of Salvation) & Stephen Carlson (Brotthogg, Peter Carlsohn’s The Rise, Tales, Viva)
Their self-titled debut album is scheduled to be released March 19th. 2022 via Melodic Metal Records. The video for ‘Gloria’ can be watched below.
The band was formed in spring of 2021, but the story goes back to 1987. In their hometown, Jönköping, Christian Liljegren and Mats-Åke Andersson met for the first time outside a burger chain called O’Briens. Christian was then 16 years old and fronted the band Venture and Mats-Åke was 21, guitarist and composer in legendary local band called Zaragon.
Zaragon was active between 1984-1988 style-wise strongly influenced by Rainbow, MSG, Iron Maiden early Europe. They were close to a record deal but bad decisions and a bad management made nothing happen. Zaragon did some fine recordings with Ragne & Styrbjörn Wahlqvist from Heavy Load.
That meeting in 1987 had a great impact on both. It was the passion, fire and energy for the music, that really connected these hard rock & heavy metal lovers. Both watched the concerts in 1986-1987 with Europe and Madison – two bands they both loved, as well as Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force, Michael Schenker, Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Iron Maiden & Alcatrazz. The meeting developed into a friendship that lasts until this day, even though the years went by and a lot happened along the way.
Then 10 years later, in 1997, Mats-Åke composed an intro that Christian’s new band Narnia used for their first tour, promoting their debut album Awakening. Narnia’s guitarist CJ Grimmark also helped Mats-Åke with some demos. Every time Christian & Mats-Åke met, it was all about the musical fire, the passion and also the will to bring something more than the music. Long phone calls ended with a desire to do something together. Both still loved hard rock and heavy metal, with soaring vocals and lots of twin guitars like Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy. Mats-Åke had tons of ideas, as did Christian.
Mats-Åke was amazed by the sound and production by Jani Stefanovic from Solution .45, The Waymaker, ex. Divinefire. So, they asked Jani if he was willing to produce and co- wrote songs together with them, as he is a very talented songwriter, guitarist and drummer and also gifted arranging keyboards and string arrangements.
To really get the twin guitar sound, Christian suggested guitarist Stephen Carlson, who worked close with Christian on his solo album Melodic Passion, as Stephen also is a good co-writer. When searching for the right bass player, in the style Phil Lynnot and Steve Harris, they recruited Per Schelander from House of Shakira, Astrakhan, ex. Royal Hunt, and Pain of Salvation, and the line-up was complete. Per have worked with Christian on the Melodic Passion album as well, so now they had a killer team.
Christian came up with the band name Flames of Fire showing the passion they have, as well as the spiritual dimension to it. Songs just came so naturally, and within 6-7 months they had material for several albums. Guitarist Stephen, who lives in Oppdal, Norway, recorded his parts in his studio, Per Schelander, who lives in Stockholm, tracked the bass parts there, and Christian recorded the vocals in Örebro, with Narnia’s sound engineer, Viktor Stenqvist. Mats-Åke was also involved and along with Christian, he worked out the arrangements. Then Jani put everything together in his studio in Lahtis, Finland, where he lives. So it is all about explosive Scandinavian heavy metal.
To finalize all this, CJ Grimmark from Narnia, handles the mastering of the songs, Jonatan Samuelsson from JONOmedia and the bass player of Narnia helps Flames of Fire with website, webshop, etc., and Danymax Gatica from Chile creates video teasers and promo videos for social media. The distribution is handled by Sound Pollution, a close partner to Melodic Passion Records, the record label behind Flames of Fire, and partners in Japan, North and South America. The metal circle is complete to reach out to the people with great heavy metal!
All members in Flames of Fire are very well experienced in touring around the world and have visited North and South America, India, Japan and of course Europe, and are able to bring Flames of Fire on tour and festival gigs.
Christian and Mats-Åke have tried to capture the spark they felt when they experienced hard rock and heavy metal for the first time in 1970’s and 1980’s. You can really hear that fire in Christian’s voice and in the music in a way that is not common today. Flames of Fire’s 1st single and video, Gloria, is set for release December 17th, 2021. The song is an up-tempo song in the vein of classic heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden, Stryper, and Crimson Glory, that used a lot of twin guitars. Soaring vocal style like Ronnie James Dio, Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford that Christian like a lot, but of course with his own flavor added to the songs. The album is planned to be released March 19th, 2022.
Video for ‘Gloria’
Both Jani Stefanovic and Stephen Carlson are both very talented guitarist but also different styles, as Jani has a more modern approach, while Stephen is more into classic hard rock style from 1970-1980’s. Flames of Fire wanted to mix these styles, to make the sound unique, and is very pleased with the result.
The band has had a very inspiring time making the songs and is now very excited for the release in March and to meet the fans live. (Depending on the current Covid-19-situation, of course.)
We really believe these songs will get you as a listener in a good mode. says Christian, and concludes:
Don’t miss to check out Flames of Fire!
Line-up:
Christian Liljegren – Vocals
Mats-Åke Andersson – Guitars, composer
Jani Stefanovic – Guitars, keyboards, drums & producer Stephen Carlson – Guitars
Per Schelander – Bass
Social Media: Facebook / Pre-order album / Merchandise