Björn Gelotte (born 27 August 1975) is a Swedish guitarist and songwriter, best known as the guitarist for 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 originally joined the band as the drummer in 1995, and continued in this position during '' The Jester Race'' (1996) and '' Whoracle'' (1997). He switched to his current position on guitar after Niclas Engelin left the band and has played solely guitars since ''

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 ...

'' (1999), sharing lead/rhythm guitar duties with former In Flames guitarist Jesper Strömblad. In March 2004, Gelotte and Strömblad were both ranked No. 70 out of 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of all time by

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original a ...

Other projects

Before joining In Flames, Gelotte was a member of Flesh of Sights. He is currently involved in a side project called All Ends, which he and his former In Flames bandmate Jesper Strömblad write the songs for. Björn's sister is one of the singers for All Ends. Neither of them plan to play in the side project live due to In Flames' demanding schedule. He also played guitar on the track "Self Versus Self" by UK/Australian drum and bass act

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 ...

, along with his bandmates

Anders Fridén 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. He was also the vocalist of Dark Tranquillity and side project Passenger. Career Early career Fridén was ...

and Peter Iwers. Gelotte did several guest appearances, contributing a

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

on the track "Letters From Neverend", from the album ''Schlacht'' by the band

Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

, and performing lead guitar for the song "Force of Hand", from the album ''Atoma'' by the band

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 ...

Equipment

Gelotte uses a Gibson Les Paul Custom and a custom shop Les Paul, both with EMG 81 (bridge) and EMG 85 (neck) active pickups. The custom shop Les Paul has a few changes to the stock model, such as inlay blocks similar to the Les Paul Supreme. He uses a POD XT and other Line 6 equipment, Dunlop custom strings, and Dunlop .88 MM Tortex picks. On In Flames' albums up to Whoracle, both Björn and co-guitarist Jesper Strömblad exclusively tuned their guitars to C standard. From Colony to Reroute to Remain, In Flames started using Drop A# tuning, on some of the tracks, and on all albums since Soundtrack to Your Escape, In Flames have been using drop A# tuning exclusively. An exception to this, however, is seen on

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 ...

, where Björn and Jesper tune their guitars to drop G on the track "Transparent". In 2015,

Epiphone Epiphone () is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in İzmir, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over ...

announced the release of a limited edition Björn Gelotte signature Les Paul Custom. It has a mahogany body and neck, ebony fretboard with pearl block inlays, ebony gloss finish, and gold hardware. This model has a thicker "custom '59" neck profile and includes such premium features as Grover tuning machines, gold covered EMG 81 and 85 active pickups, and comes with a hardshell case with custom screen printing. The headstock inlay is a stylized version of the In Flames "jester head" logo. Guitars: * Gibson Les Paul Custom *

Signature Les Paul Custom * ESP Eclipse Amps * Marshall JVM 410H * Peavey 5150 * EVH 5150 III * Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Effects * Line 6 Pod XT misc * Dunlop strings Custom wound .12, .16, .22, .38, .52, .68 gauge strings (Gelotte's strings have a coating over them because he is allergic to nickel) * Dunlop .88 MM Tortex picks * Dunlop Ultex Sharp Picks

References

External links

In Flames' official website

Ferret Music' In Flames pages

Nuclear Blast' In Flames pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelotte, Bjorn 1975 births 21st-century Swedish drummers 21st-century Swedish guitarists In Flames members Swedish lead guitarists Living people Pendulum (drum and bass band) members Musicians from Gothenburg Swedish heavy metal drummers Swedish heavy metal guitarists Swedish multi-instrumentalists