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Magnus Karlsson (born 26 November 1973) is a
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
heavy metal songwriter, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He is currently a session musician and songwriter of the band Primal Fear, as well as for other projects like his own ''Free Fall''.


Biography

Magnus attended school to study classical guitar when he was 10 years old. Later on he was very much into "The New Wave of British Heavy Metal" of bands such as
Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
, Dio,
Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
and
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
. His influences as a guitarist were
Steve Morse Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple from 1994 to 2022. Morse has also enjoyed a successful solo career and was briefly a member of ...
,
Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...
and
Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with respe ...
. He has played in various metal and fusion bands early on and developed a style which mixes metal and folk music. His first critically acclaimed musical project was with the band Last Tribe, which has released three full-length albums. In 2004, Magnus started to work as a session musician in a project put together by
Frontiers Records Frontiers Music – formerly Frontiers Records – is an Italian record label, predominantly producing hard rock. It was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples. History In 1996, Serafino Perugino started working in the m ...
, which had the intention to have two acclaimed heavy metal vocalists singing together as a duet. The project ended up featuring powerhouse vocalists
Russell Allen Russell Allen (born July 19, 1971) is an American singer best known as the vocalist of the progressive metal band Symphony X. He has also worked with the supergroups Star One, Allen-Lande, Level 10, and as one of fourteen vocalists in the pr ...
(
Symphony X Symphony X is an American progressive metal band from Middletown, New Jersey. Founded in 1994, the band consists of guitarist Michael Romeo, keyboardist Michael Pinnella, drummer Jason Rullo, lead vocalist Russell Allen and bassist Michael Lep ...
) and
Jørn Lande Jørn Marumsrud Lande (born May 31, 1968) is a Norwegian hard rock and heavy metal singer and songwriter. He is known for his work with the bands Ark, Beyond Twilight, Millenium, Vagabond, The Snakes, and most notably with power metal band Ma ...
(ex- Masterplan) and was simply called
Allen/Lande Allen/___ is a set of collaborative metal supergroup projects by Symphony X vocalist Russell Allen. The first collaboration, Allen/Lande was formed in 2005 by Italian record company Frontiers, though none of the members are Italian. It takes ...
. The project released its first three albums with all music and the majority of lyrics written by Magnus Karlsson, featuring a variety of hard rock and heavy metal songs with a progressive metal touch. In the same year he also started to write music for a project with singer
Tony Harnell Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...
(
TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
), drummer
John Macaluso John Macaluso (born January 21, 1968) is an American drummer who has played for bands such as Ark, TNT, and Yngwie Malmsteen. Born in Commack, New York, Macaluso started playing drums at age 11. He has recorded over 200 records and played multi ...
(
Ark Ark or ARK may refer to: Biblical narratives and religion Hebrew word ''teva'' * Noah's Ark, a massive vessel said to have been built to save the world's animals from a flood * Ark of bulrushes, the boat of the infant Moses Hebrew ''aron'' * ...
, TNT,
Yngwie Malmsteen Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning ov ...
) and bassist Fabrizio Grossi (Steve Vai) that would later on become the band Starbreaker. In 2008, he worked with Magnum vocalist
Bob Catley Robert Adrian Catley is an English singer and musician, best known by his stage name as Bob Catley. He is the lead singer of the British rock band Magnum. He is also a solo artist. Biography Early years (1947–1972) Born in Aldershot on ...
on his solo album ''Immortal'' writing all the songs himself . The same year, Magnus joined German metal band Primal Fear making a big contribution to the band's songwriting. He also teamed up with the band's bassist and leader
Mat Sinner Mat Sinner (born Matthias Lasch; 16 October 1964 in Stuttgart, West Germany) is a bassist, vocalist, and record producer from Stuttgart, Germany. Sinner has been involved in numerous bands and projects throughout his musical career. His main ...
to work in a number of projects released by
Frontiers Records Frontiers Music – formerly Frontiers Records – is an Italian record label, predominantly producing hard rock. It was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples. History In 1996, Serafino Perugino started working in the m ...
, such as
Kiske/Somerville Kiske/Somerville is a melodic heavy metal duet project, put together in late 2009 by Frontiers Records. The project features vocalist Michael Kiske (Helloween, Unisonic, Place Vendome) collaborating with American singer Amanda Somerville ( ...
(another singer-duet project, featuring ex-
Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weik ...
singer
Michael Kiske Michael Kiske (born January 24, 1968) is a German singer and lead vocalist for the German power metal band Helloween. Kiske has released four solo albums, two albums with the hard rock band Unisonic, has participated on various metal and rock ...
and American singer and vocal coach
Amanda Somerville Amanda Somerville (born March 7, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands. Biography Personal life Somerville was ...
) and the first solo album by Primal Fear frontman
Ralf Scheepers Ralf Scheepers (born 5 February 1965) is the vocalist for the German heavy metal band Primal Fear. He has a relatively high-pitched tenor-esque singing voice and sometimes uses a shriek reminiscent of Judas Priest's Rob Halford, although it is ...
. In 2013 it was announced that Magnus Karlsson would release his first solo musical project called ''Free Fall'' on 11 June in North America and 14 June in Europe by Frontiers Records. It features many guest singers who worked with Magnus before, including Russell Allen, Ralf Scheepers, Tony Harnell, Rickard Bengtsson (former bandmate from Last Tribe),
Mark Boals Mark Robert Boals (born December 5, 1958) is an American heavy metal vocalist and occasional bassist, best known for his vocals with Yngwie Malmsteen. He is currently a member of the band Foundry. Boals' first album with Malmsteen, 1986's '' ...
(who worked with Magnus in the project The Codex), Mike Andersson (who worked with Magnus in the project Planet Alliance) and other guests like
David Readman David Readman (born 6 July 1970) is an English singer best known as the vocalist of hard rock band Pink Cream 69 and former vocalist of progressive metal band Adagio. He released a solo album in 2007 and was part of German guitarist Alex Bey ...
(
Pink Cream 69 Pink Cream 69 is a German hard rock/ heavy metal band founded in 1987 in Karlsruhe by Andi Deris, Dennis Ward, Kosta Zafiriou and Alfred Koffler. The band gained their first contract by winning music magazine ''Metal Hammer''s newcomer compe ...
,
Voodoo Circle Voodoo Circle, also known as Alex Beyrodt's Voodoo Circle, is a German hard rock band founded in 2008, as a project of Silent Force guitarist Alex Beyrodt (currently also playing with heavy metal band Primal Fear) who had the idea to re-think ...
), Rick Altzi (
At Vance At Vance is a neoclassical/power metal band formed in Germany. They were formed by vocalist Oliver Hartmann (ex-Centers) and guitarist Olaf Lenk (ex-Velvet Viper) in 1998. Biography With the combined credentials of vocalist Oliver Hartmann a ...
, Masterplan) and Herman Saming ( A.C.T). Magnus also sings three tracks on the album himself and Daniel Flores (who also worked with Magnus in the project The Codex) recorded the drums. Magnus also wrote songs for the melodic hard rock project Place Vendome, 'My Guardian Angel' from the album '' Streets of Fire'', 'Break Out' from the album '' Thunder in the Distance'' and 'Falling Star' from the album '' Close to the Sun''. The second Free Fall album has been announced to be released in 2015. It's called ''Kingdom of Roc''k and features the following guests: Jørn Lande, Tony Martin (ex-
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
),
Joe Lynn Turner Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer known for his work in the hard rock bands Rainbow, Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Deep Purple. During his career, Turner fronted and played guitar with pop ro ...
(ex-
Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...
, ex-
Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
), Jakob Samuel (
The Poodles The Poodles were a glam metal/ heavy metal band from Sweden, formed by singer Jakob Samuel (a.k.a. Jake Samuels), bassist Pontus Egberg, guitarist Pontus Norgren and drummer Christian Lundqvist. Their songs include "Metal Will Stand Tall" and " ...
, also worked with Magnus in the band Midnight Sun),
Harry Hess Harry Hess (born July 5, 1968) is a Canadian record producer, singer and guitarist best known as the frontman for the Canadian hard rock band Harem Scarem. Hess has used his recording studio (Vespa Music Group) to work with many famous acts, ...
(
Harem Scarem Harem Scarem is a Canadian hard rock/melodic hard rock band from Toronto, Ontario. Harem Scarem initially (the early 1990s) achieved popularity in their native Canada and Japan. The band was active from 1987 to 2008, and again from 2013 after ...
), Rebecca De La Moite, and once again Tony Harnell, Rick Altzi and David Readman, the last three also sang in the first album. Jaime Salazar (who worked with Magnus on bands Last Tribe, Planet Alliance, Midnight Sun and the Allen/Lande project) recorded the drums. The album's release date is 6 November 2015. In 2017, it was announced another new project featuring songwriting, production and playing from Magnus Karlsson called The Ferrymen. The self-titled album also features drummer
Mike Terrana Mike Terrana (born January 21, 1960) is an American hard rock and heavy metal drummer. His first professional work was in 1984 with the MCA band Hanover Fist from Toronto, Canada, after which he recorded and toured with other bands, playing m ...
(
Vision Divine Vision Divine is an Italian power/progressive metal band formed in 1998. History Originally a solo project from Olaf Thörsen (born Carlo Andrea Magnani). Soon, Fabio Lione rejoined him after the first Labyrinth period ("No Limits"), and the ...
,
Avalanch Avalanch is a Spanish heavy metal band formed in Asturias in 1993. Led by composer, producer and guitar player Alberto Rionda, the band has released nine studio albums, plus a handful of compilations, DVDs and English versions of their works ...
) and singer
Ronnie Romero Ronald Romero (born 20 November 1981) is a Chilean singer and lyricist best known as the lead vocalist of the rock bands Lords of Black, Rainbow, The Ferrymen, Michael Schenker Group, and Sunstorm. He is set to represent Bulgaria at the Eurovis ...
(
Lords of Black Lords of Black is a Spanish heavy metal band formed in Madrid in 2014 by guitarist Tony Hernando and singer Ronnie Romero. History First album: 2014 In 2014, guitarist Tony Hernando founded Lords of Black together with vocalist Ronnie Romero. ...
,
Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...
). In 2018, Magnus and Tony Harnell reunited to record the third album of Starbreaker which is titled ''Dysphoria'' and was released on January 25, 2019. It also features bassist Jonni Lightfoot and drummer Anders Köllerfors.


Heart Healer

''Heart Healer'' is a project with the intention to create the first
metal opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been a ...
only with female singers, with Magnus Karlsson on songwriting and production. Self-named album '' Heart Healer'' released on 12 March 2021 via
Frontiers Records Frontiers Music – formerly Frontiers Records – is an Italian record label, predominantly producing hard rock. It was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples. History In 1996, Serafino Perugino started working in the m ...
. Current band members: Magnus Karlsson, Erika Sävström Engman, Daniel Tengberg, Anders Köllerfors The invited singers are Adrienne Cowan (Seven Spires,
Sascha Paeth Sascha Paeth (born 9 September 1970 in Wolfsburg, West Germany) is a German guitarist, bassist, musical producer, and mixer known for working with heavy metal bands such as Avantasia, Edguy, Angra, Shaaman, Rhapsody of Fire, Kamelot, After For ...
's Masters of Ceremony,
Avantasia Avantasia is a German supergroup metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and musicians and it consists of concept ...
,
Winds of Plague Winds of Plague is an American deathcore band from Upland, California. Formed in 2002, the band is known for being one of the few deathcore bands to incorporate symphonic elements into their music. The band's name is derived from a section of ...
), Netta Laurenne (Smackbound, Laurenne/Louhimo), Youmna Jreissati (Ostura),
Ailyn Pilar María Del Carmen Mónica Giménez García (born 29 May 1982), known professionally as Ailyn Giménez or simply Ailyn, is a Spanish singer. She is the current vocalist of Her Chariot Awaits and the former vocalist of the Norwegian symph ...
( Her Chariot Awaits, ex-
Sirenia The Sirenia (), commonly referred to as sea-cows or sirenians, are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. The Sirenia currently comprise two distinct f ...
), Noora Louhimo ( Battle Beast), Margarita Monet (
Edge of Paradise Edge of Paradise is an American rock music, rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 2011. The band currently consists of Margarita Monet (vocals/keys), Dave Bates (guitars), David Ruiz (guitars), Jamie Moreno (dru ...
) and
Anette Olzon Anette Ingegerd Olsson (born 21 June 1971), known by the stage name Anette Olzon, is a Swedish singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish from 2007 to 2012. She is also the vocalist of Swedish class ...
(
The Dark Element The Dark Element is a Swedish/Finnish symphonic metal band formed by former Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon and former Sonata Arctica guitarist Jani Liimatainen. History In 2016, Frontiers Records offered Jani Liimatainen to record and publis ...
, ex-
Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...
). The album's plot follows the title character (performed by Cowan) after she wakes up with no memory and with the ability to heal people with the touch of her bare hands, though that comes at the gradual cost of her own strength. As the story progresses, she meets people willing to help her, use her powers or hunt her. The album has been released on CD, color vinyl and digital formats. On 25 January 2021, a video for "Into the Unknown" was released. Karlsson explained in his words, "my interest in orchestral music has been growing increasingly during the years. I wanted to mix the epic and dramatic orchestral sound with metal and produce something without any limits and rules. At the end of 2019, I started to work on ideas and tried new sounds and arrangements with the goal to create something dramatic, epic, and beautiful. This is easily my biggest and most demanding work ever. First the music with big arrangements and orchestra. Then all the singers and the need to find the right parts for everyone to make it as good as possible. Finally, mixing it all together in an interesting story about the 'heart healer'. I have to say, if I didn’t work with such great and professional people it would be impossible to make this happen!”


Discography


Magnus Karlsson's Free Fall

* ''
Free Fall In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on i ...
'' (2013) * '' Kingdom of Rock'' (2015) * ''We Are The Night'' (2020)


Midnight Sun

* ''Nemesis'' (1999) * ''Metal Machine'' (2001)


Last Tribe

* ''The Ritual'' (2001) * ''Witch Dance'' (2002) * ''The Uncrowned'' (2003)


Starbreaker

* '' Starbreaker'' (2005) * '' Love's Dying Wish'' (2008) * ''Dysphoria'' (2019)


Allen/Lande

* '' The Battle'' (2005) * '' The Revenge'' (2007) * '' The Showdown'' (2010)


Tony O'Hora

* ''Escape into the Sun'' (2006)


Greenhouse

* ''Glass of Beer'' (2006)


Planet Alliance

* ''Planet Alliance'' (2006)


The Codex

* ''The Codex'' (2007)


Bob Catley

* ''
Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...
'' (2008)


Primal Fear

*'' New Religion'' (2007) – ''lead guitars on track 3'' *'' 16.6'' (2009) *''
Unbreakable Unbreakable may refer to: * '' Unbreakable: My Story, My Way'', a book written by Jenni Rivera * Unbreakable (horse) (1935–1962), a Thoroughbred racehorse and sire Film and television * ''Unbreakable'' (film series), a trilogy directed by M ...
'' (2012) *''
Delivering The Black '' Delivering the Black ''is the tenth studio album from German heavy metal band Primal Fear, which was released on 24 January 2014 via Frontiers Records. Music videos were made for "When Death Comes Knocking", "King for a Day" and "Alive & on ...
'' (2014) *''
Rulebreaker Rulebreaker is the eleventh studio album from the German heavy metal band Primal Fear. The album was released on January 22, 2016. It is the first album to have Francesco Jovino on drums. It also marks the return of original guitarist, Tom Naum ...
'' (2016) *''
Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...
'' (2018) *''
Metal Commando ''Metal Commando'' is the thirteenth studio album by German heavy metal band Primal Fear. The album was released on 24 July 2020 via Nuclear Blast. It is also the first album with drummer Michael Ehré. Track listing Personnel All info ...
'' (2020)


Place Vendome

*'' Streets of Fire'' (2009) *'' Close to the Sun'' (2017) – ''guitar solo on track 8''


Kiske/Somerville

*''
Kiske/Somerville Kiske/Somerville is a melodic heavy metal duet project, put together in late 2009 by Frontiers Records. The project features vocalist Michael Kiske (Helloween, Unisonic, Place Vendome) collaborating with American singer Amanda Somerville ( ...
'' (2010) *''
City of Heroes ''City of Heroes'' (''CoH'') was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game which was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCSOFT. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004, and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on Febru ...
'' (2015)


Ralf Scheepers

*''
Scheepers Scheepers is a Dutch and Afrikaans occupational surname meaning "shepherd's" in Middle Dutch.
'' (2011)


Kimball Jamison

*''Kimball Jamison'' (2011)


Phenomena

*''Awakening'' (2012)


The Ferrymen

*''The Ferrymen'' (2017) *''A New Evil'' (2019) *''One More River To Cross'' (2022)


Allen/Olzon

* ''
Worlds Apart'' (2020) * '' Army of Dreamers'' (2022)


Heart Healer

*'' Heart Healer'' (2021)


Anette Olzon

* '' Strong'' (2021)


Ginevra

* ''We Belong To The Stars'' (2022)


References


External links


S-rock.info

Metalunderground.com

Espyrock.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karlsson, Magnus Swedish heavy metal guitarists 1973 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Primal Fear (band) members Allen-Lande members Starbreaker (band) members 21st-century guitarists 21st-century Swedish male musicians Frontiers Records artists