Fredrik Åkesson

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Fredrik Åkesson


Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name =
Alias = Kulle
Born =
Died =
Origin = Stockholm, Sweden
Instrument = Guitar
Genre = Death metal, Progressive metal, Progressive rock, doom metal
Occupation = Guitarist, Musician, Songwriter
Years_active =
Label =
Associated_acts = Opeth, Talisman, Arch Enemy, Krux, Tiamat
URL = [http://www.fredrikakesson.com Fredrik Åkesson]
Notable_instruments = ESP Signature model
PRS Guitars

Fredrik Åkesson is a Swedish heavy metal guitarist. He is a current member of Opeth and active member of Krux, Monsters of Metal and Talisman.

Fredrik has been playing guitar since the age of 12 and his early musical influences include Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Yngwie Malmsteen and George Lynch.

Marcel Jacob, Talisman mainman did some auditions in 1992 to find a new guitar player, because Jason Bieler left them to play with Saigon Kick and he finally decided to hire Fredrik who was 19 years old at the time.

He spent almost four years with Talisman and after five records he decided to leave them for the very first time to go into a heavier outfit. With the help of Mats Levén, John Levén and Rickard Evensand they formed a band called Eyeball whom later will change their name into Southpaw.

In 1998 his name is part of a couple of releases: the Southpaw's debut album and Clockwise's Naïve. He also recorded with Clockwise a version of the Journey's classic: Send her my Love to be used on a Tribute album that never saw the light of day until today, unfortunately.

In 2003 he comeback to record and tour with Talisman. He recorded 2 new studio efforts: Cats and Dogs (2003) and 7 (2006) plus a live cd called Five Men Live (2005) who also have been released as DVD as World's Best Kept Secret.

In 2004, Åkesson filled in for Tiamat's guitarist Thomas Petersson on tour and was part of the release of "The Church of Tiamat" DVD, released on 2006. Also he recorded with Sabbtail their second album called Night Church, again with Mats Levén.

Then he co wrote with John Norum a couple of tracks that Norum used on his Optimus album: Nailed to the Cross and Forced, where Åkesson played some guitars too.

He also played with melodic death metal band Arch Enemy from 2005 to 2007. He was recruited to Arch Enemy when original guitarist Christopher Amott took an 18-month break from music in 2005.

Åkesson also played on the Krux album "II", released in 2006.

In 2007, He played on the Sweden Rock Festival with the band Krux feacturing Mats Levén, Peter Stjärnvind, Jörgen Sandström and Leif Edling.

On May 17 2007, the progressive death metal band Opeth made the announcement that they would be replacing Peter Lindgren with Fredrik Åkesson. His first tour with the band during the progressive nation tour with dream theater, between the buried and me, and the band 3

In 2008, Opeth released their latest record, "Watershed". All the songs were written by Mikael Åkerfeldt apart from "Porcelain Heart", which was co-written with Åkesson.

Opeth also recorded a promo video for the song "Porcelain Heart". The clip was directed by Lasse Hoile and shot in Vaxholm, Sweden at the Bogesund Castle, built in the 1640s.

Endorsement

Fredrik Åkesson had an endorsement arrangement with ESP Guitars which continued into 2007. He also had his own signature model. [http://www.espguitars.co.jp/oversea/customshop_gallery/fredric.html] Since joining Opeth however, Åkesson switched to PRS Guitars with Marshall JVM 410 amps and cabs.In the "Porcelain Heart" videoclip he can be seen using a PRS Mark Tremonti Signature guitar.

Discography

With Opeth

* "Watershed" (2008)

With Krux

* " II" (2006)
* "Live (DVD)" (2003)
* " Krux " (2003)

With Arch Enemy

* " Live Apocalypse" (DVD, 2006)

=With Tiamat=

* "Church of Tiamat" (DVD, 2005)

With John Norum

* " Optimus " (2005)

With Sabbtail

* "Night Church" (2004)

=With Talisman=

* "7" - 2006
* "Five Men Live" - 2005
* "Cats and Dogs" - 2003
* "BESTerious (Compilation)" - 1996
* "Best of... (Compilation, different from above)" - 1996
* "Life" - 1995
* "Five out of Five (Live in Japan)" - 1994
* "Humanimal" - 1994
* "Humanimal Part II" - 1994
* "Genesis" - 1993

=CD singles and promos With Talisman=

* Frozen (CD Single) (1995)
* All + All (CD Single) (1994)
* Todo y Todo (CD Single) (All + All Latin American market release under nickname Genaro) (1994)
* Colour My XTC (CD Single) (1994)
* Doing Time With My Baby (CD Single) (1994)
* Time after Time (CD Single) (1993)
* Mysterious (This Time is Serious) (CD Single) (1993)

With Human Clay

* "Closing the Book on Human Clay" (2003)
* "Human Clay" (1996)

With Southpaw

* "SouthPaw" (1998)

With Clockwise

* "Naïve" (1998)

External links

* [http://www.fredrikakesson.com Fredrik Åkesson website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/kfredrikakesson Fredrik Åkesson's MySpace]
* [http://www.myspace.com/clockwiseofficial Clockwise official MySpace]