Pär Anders Fridén (born 25 March 1973) is a Swedish vocalist, best known as the lead singer of the melodic death metal band

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990 out of the Swedish death metal, Swedish death metal scene. Their lineup has changed several times, with vocalist Anders Frid ...

. He was also the vocalist of

Dark Tranquillity Dark Tranquillity is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Gothenburg. They are considered one of the pioneering acts of the Swedish death metal, Gothenburg metal scene, which also includes bands such as In Flames and At the Gates - regarded a ...

and side project

Passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

Career

Early career

Fridén was originally the vocalist for

. He performed on their debut album, Skydancer, but left the band soon after. Two years later he joined In Flames. Coincidentally Mikael Stanne had left In Flames (being only a session player) and switched from

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

to lead vocals in Dark Tranquillity, so the two effectively traded places. Fridén was also the lead vocalist for another band known as Ceremonial Oath with In Flames founder Jesper Strömblad.

1995–present: In Flames

Fridén started with In Flames on the 1996 album '' The Jester Race''. On the album '' Whoracle'', Niklas Sundin (of

) wrote the lyrics following the original synopsis by Fridén. On the 1999 album ''

Colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

'', Fridén composed the lyrics himself, though Sundin still assisted by translating his lyrics from Swedish to English. He is also the vocalist for the band

as a side project. Fridén also has done guest vocals on the album ''The Phantom Novels'', by the metal band ''Grievance''. He is the lead vocalist on the tracks'' Atrocity Upon Deceptions'', ''A Devil's Rhyme'' and ''The Mask of Sin.'' In 2007 Fridén appeared as a guest vocalist on the Japanese bonus track "See the Falling Sky" on Caliban's 2007 album " The Awakening". As well as providing vocals for the track "Dysfunctional Hours" for the 20th anniversary Nuclear Blast Allstars compilation album, '' Out of the Dark''. Andres Friden 2008

His look changed dramatically following the release of

2002 release ''

Reroute to Remain ''Reroute to Remain'' (subtitled: ''Fourteen Songs of Conscious Insanity'', and on reissue: ''Fourteen Songs of Conscious Madness'') is the sixth studio album by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, released in September 2002. The album saw a m ...

''. His previously clean-shaven look was replaced with a beard, and his long hair was put into dreadlocks. His vocal style has also changed, especially on the past three records. His low-tone, harsh death growl has evolved into a higher pitched scream, which is now supplemented by clean vocals and layers of backing vocals. In addition to being a vocalist, Fridén is also a producer, with his most recent efforts being the albums: ''The Undying Darkness'' by Caliban in 2006 and ''Absolute Design'' by the band Engel in 2007. He also co-wrote and performed scream vocals on the song "Self vs Self", which appears on the third album of UK/Australian

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

band

Pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

alongside his bandmates Björn Gelotte and Peter Iwers. In the summer of 2010, Fridén changed his appearance again by cutting off his dreadlocks, which he had grown since the release of ''

''. Fridén founded the ambient/electronic project If Anything, Suspicious in 2021. The project's debut album, ''Lullabies for the Damned'', was released in collaboration with OFFAIR in December 2021.

Discography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friden, Anders 1973 births Swedish death metal musicians Musicians from Gothenburg Swedish heavy metal singers Living people English-language singers from Sweden 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish male singers In Flames members Passenger (Swedish band) members Dark Tranquillity members Ceremonial Oath members