In Flames Publicly Beefing with Original Vocalist Henke Forss

Say the name “Henke Forss” aloud, and 99.9% of the population will respond, “Gesundheit!” But “Henke Forss” is more than just the sound of foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa — it’s also the name of In Flames’ original vocalist, who fronted the band on their 1995 EP, Subterranean. Forss is notable today mostly because he alleges that he’s been denied songwriting credits for his contributions to that release, a subject Björn Gelotte addressed during a a recent interview with EMP Rock Invasion:

“Stuff like this happens all the time. ‘Cause in the past In Flames wasn’t really a band, it was more of a project. And if you know our history, you know that we had a couple of different singers. Mikael [Stanne] from Dark Tranquillity was one of them, and Henke Forss, I don’t know where he was from, but he was another singer. And Anders [Fridén, currentIn Flames vocalist] was in Dark Tranquillity at the time. So it was all a big inbred circus, basically, in Gothenburg. And so, members come and go, and some people are content with what they did, and some are not. It’s interesting [that Henke would come forward 20 years later with these claims]. If he did that, that’s kind of… I don’t know.”

Forss, of course, has a Google alert for his name, and upon being notified Gelotte’s quote, issued a statement of his own to Blabbermouth, which reads, in part:

“I’m not surprised Björn doesn’t realize up on his high horse that I’ve been trying to claim my rights for the songs I co-wrote for over 10 years.”

And In Flames’ smartest response to Forss’ response would probably have been not to respond. But I guess they couldn’t help themselves (hey, I can relate), so instead they posted this on their Facebook page:And, hey, nobody lousy Photoshop jobs are funnier than I do. But this is no laughing matter. Really. The band should not be making light of a missed opportunity to also make a horrible pun:Insofar as Forss’ claims go… well… I have no idea. I hope it’s not true because it would be swell if the only thing we could hold against In Flames was the fact that they’ve burned out. But it might be a matter for the Swedish courts to decide.