The Inner Mounting Flame is the debut studio album by jazz-rock fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra, recorded in August 1971 and released later that year by Columbia Records. After their formation, the group performed several gigs before they entered the studio to record their first album featuring all original material written by guitarist John McLaughlin. The album is credited to both Mahavishnu Orchestra and John McLaughlin.
Release and reception
The Inner Mounting Flame was released in 1971.
</blockquote>
In a retrospective review for Allmusic, Richard S. Ginell wrote that The Inner Mounting Flame "is the album that made John McLaughlin a semi-household name, a furious, high-energy, yet rigorously conceived meeting of virtuosos that, for all intents and purposes, defined the fusion of jazz and rock a year after Miles Davis' Bitches Brew breakthrough".