Björn Strid

Björn Strid
Björn "Speed" Strid in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Björn Ove Ingemar Strid
Also known as	Speed
Born	(1978-09-10) 10 September 1978 Glumslöv, Sweden[1]
Genres	Melodic death metal, heavy metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass
Years active	1995–present
Associated acts	Soilwork, The Night Flight Orchestra, Disarmonia Mundi, Terror 2000, Coldseed, Omethi, Hespera

Björn Ove Ingemar "Speed" Strid (born 10 September 1978, Helsingborg, Sweden) is a Swedish vocalist who has worked with bands such as I Legion, Disarmonia Mundi, Terror 2000,^[2] Coldseed, The Night Flight Orchestra^[3] and most notably Soilwork.

Life

Strid grew up in Sweden and received the nickname "Speed" from fellow students as a result of the "extreme music" he was known to enjoy. He co-founded 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 member to have stayed with the band for the duration of its existence, and is the only original member still in the band. Most of Soilwork's lyrics are written by Strid himself.

Career

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, WA-based band Demon Hunter on the track "Collapsing" from their album The World Is a Thorn which was released on 9 March 2010, and also performs on power metal band Kamelot's Poetry for the Poisoned in the track "The Great Pandemonium". He also performed guest vocals on the track "Puppets 2: The Rain" by American metalcore band Motionless in White. Since February 2013 Bjorn began collaboration with the Russian modern metal band The Polygon that released 2014 the debut EP "Stained anger". Recently he performed the choruses on The Moor's new single "The Castaway" which was released on 27 July 2014. He also provided vocals on Earthside's song, "Crater", from their critically acclaimed debut album A Dream In Static.

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, which was retitled as Hell Bent for Leather for US release by Judas Priest is his favorite album, but more recently has cited Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast as his favourite.

Björn Strid at Rockharz Open Air 2016

Guest appearances

Björn Strid has provided vocals for the following artists:

References

External links

• Official MySpace
• An interview with Bjorn
• The Night Flight Orchestra on Facebook
• The Night Flight Orchestra's Myspace profile
• The Official Disarmonia Mundi website