Björn Ove Ingemar "Speed" Strid (born 10 September 1978) is a Swedish singer best known as the frontman of the melodic death metal band Soilwork and the rock band The Night Flight Orchestra.[3] He has also performed with Disarmonia Mundi, Terror 2000,[4] Coldseed, and Act of Denial, among others.
Early life
Strid was born in Helsingborg. He gained the nickname "Speed" from fellow students as a result of the "extreme music" he was known to enjoy.[5]
Career
Strid co-founded the melodic death metal band Soilwork in 1995 under the name Inferior Breed which was later changed to Soilwork once the fledgling band's sound began to take shape. He is the only original member still in the band. Most of Soilwork's lyrics are written by Strid himself.
Strid has also provided vocals for Darkane on their demo recording prior to Lawrence Mackrory joining the band before their debut album. He made a guest appearance on the Destruction track "The Alliance of Hellhoundz" alongside numerous other prominent metal singers, as well as appearing on Zero Tolerance's "Prime Time Mind Surgery", Phoenix-based metal band Howitzer's "245", and Danish band Mercenary's "Redefine Me" from their album The Hours That Remain. He has also recently provided guest vocals for the Seattle-based band Demon Hunter on the track "Collapsing" from their album The World Is a Thorn which was released in March 2010, and also performed on power metal band Kamelot's Poetry for the Poisoned on the track "The Great Pandemonium". He also performed guest vocals on the track "Puppets 2: The Rain" by American metalcore band Motionless in White. In February 2013, Strid began a collaboration with the Russian metal band The Polygon that released the debut EP Stained Anger in 2014. He also performed the choruses on The Moor's single "The Castaway" which was released in July 2014. He also provided vocals on Earthside's song "Crater" from their debut album A Dream in Static.
Vocal style and influences
Strid utilizes a varied vocal style, being able to quickly alternate between more guttural growls and higher screams and clean, harmonious vocals, and has gone on record as saying that Killing Machine (known as Hell Bent for Leather in the US) by Judas Priest is his favorite album,[6] but more recently has cited Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast as his favourite.[1]
Discography
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/The_Night_Flight_Orchestra_Rockharz_2019_09.jpg/220px-The_Night_Flight_Orchestra_Rockharz_2019_09.jpg)
Soilwork
- Studio albums
- Steelbath Suicide (1998)
- The Chainheart Machine (2000)
- A Predator's Portrait (2001)
- Natural Born Chaos (2002)
- Figure Number Five (2003)
- Stabbing the Drama (2005)
- Sworn to a Great Divide (2007)
- The Panic Broadcast (2010)
- The Living Infinite (2013)
- The Ride Majestic (2015)
- Death Resonance (2016)
- Verkligheten (2019)
- Övergivenheten (2022)
Terror 2000
- Studio albums
- Slaughterhouse Supremacy (2000)
- Faster Disaster (2002)
- Terror for Sale (2005)
Disarmonia Mundi
- Studio albums
- Fragments of D-Generation (2004) (guest musician)
- Mind Tricks (2006) (guest musician)
- The Isolation Game (2009) (guest musician)
- Cold Inferno (2015) (guest musician)
Coldseed
- Studio albums
- 2006: Completion Makes the Tragedy
The Night Flight Orchestra
- Studio albums
- Internal Affairs (2012)
- Skyline Whispers (2015)
- Amber Galactic (2017)
- Sometimes the World Ain't Enough (2018)
- Aeromantic (2020)
- Aeromantic II (2021)
Nemesis Alpha
- Studio albums
- Eternal Machines (2019)
Act of Denial
- Studio albums
- Negative (2021)
References
- ^ a b c "Soilwork members - Speed". soilwork.org. Archived from the original on 5 July 2007.
- ^ Attitude Inked: Ep01 - SOILWORK. 31 January 2013. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2015 – via YouTube.
- ^ Karadimitris, Chris (16 February 2015). "Soilwork (Bjorn 'Speed' Strid)". Noisefull. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
- ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Biography: Terror 2000". Allmusic. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
- ^ "Em entrevista exclusiva, Björn Strid fala sobre AOR, projetos, e é claro Summer Breeze Brasil". 3 April 2024.
- ^ "Bjorn Strid". disarmoniamundi.com. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010.
External links
- Björn Strid discography at Discogs
- Biography on soilwork.org (archive)
- Biography on disarmoniamundi.com (archive)
- 2005 interview on metal-temple.com (archive)