Mikael Åkerfeldt
“Mikael Åkerfeldt was my way into starting enjoying growling vocals. It was a way of singing I really couldn’t enjoy much, but his feeling and his way of doing it was a way that kind of kept the door open for me to check out other bands. I really enjoy his vocals so much, both clean and harsh. His voice was so warm and you could believe it in some way.
“Ghost Reveries is a killer album. Jens Bogren is one my favourite mixers, and this was one of the first albums he did that made him famous. With the way of writing, nice harmonic songwriting and harsh vocals, it was something special.
“I first came across Opeth when I was in school. My music teacher, for some reason, said: ‘Check out Opeth – it’s like progressive death metal.’ I was not really into harsh vocals and death metal. There was also a very big death metal thing in the small town where I grew up [Asker, in Norway], and I was not really into it. I’m not saying Opeth is death metal, but that was kind of a crossover that made me open up my mind a little bit.
“You can really hear some Opeth influences in my band Rendezvous Point. For instance at the ending of the Conclusion on the first album [Solar Storm]. You really hear some Opeth vibes there. It’s all about that tasty way of changing stuff up and making long songs without getting boring. They are so authentic when they do the light stuff, and they can also go over to the dark stuff.
“I take a lot of influence from everywhere in my drumming, but I guess I am more the punchy, organic way of playing the more technical stuff. For instance, the ending of the Deliverance song and a lot of stuff on Ghost Reveries are definitely influences. A lot of the death metal drumming sound is not really my kind of sound, but Ghost Reveries and Opeth have such an organic approach sound-wise and also playing-wise.”