ANDERS NYSTRÖM

KATATONIA

Anders Nyström- a guitarist of Swedish suicide metal band KATATONIA and death metal combo BLOODBATH. Formerly known as the founding member of avantgarde black metal act DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE. Between 1995 and 1997 he also played in a well known black thrash act BEWITCHED. So as you can see, Anders is a very versatile and open-minded when it comes to playing. Not surprisingly, his top 10 favorite CDs come from different areas of music.

I. MÖTLEY CRUE "Shout At The Devil"
After saving up pocket money for a couple of months, this was the first album i bought. It was mostly their image who caught my interest. Apart from other glam bands who'd only use tons of make-up and looking all girlie, Mötley Crue fooled around in the beginning with pentagrams, swords, leather, chains, spikes, blood and fire. They looked cool, pretty and dangerous at the same time just as their music.



II. JUDAS PRIEST "Defenders Of The Faith"
Probably the album that has the highest number of plays on my walkman and stereo of all time. The guitar duo Downing and Tipton convinced me I wanted to be a guitar player just like them. Judas Priest became my idols. If there can be one album to define the word heavy metal, it would be this one.




III. METALLICA "Master Of Puppets"
Listening so frequently and exclusively to heavy metal for a number of years kinda made it easier to tap into appreciation for this album. This was a lot more harder and much more metal than anything else, but it also held a melodic musicality in the geniuses of Burton and Hetfield. All doors to the world of thrash metal had opened and not long after I started buying whatever I could get that said "thrash" or "speed" on the sleeves at the local record store.


IV. WHITESNAKE "1987"
The definite party album from the glory days of the 80's. The opening "cokk rokk" anthem "Still Of The Night" has become to mean so much for me that I let the words tatoo'ed on my forearm. There can only be one on the top, there can only be one David Coverdale.





V. THE CURE "Disintegration"
This would be the most personal and important album in my collection. When my outlook on life has been too bleak, it has helped me go though those dark times, so it's not an album I put on very often for it's musical quality, but only in my time of need. I'm at loss for words for some of the feelings this album invokes in me. I've decided that when I die, there will be music from this album played at my funeral.



VI. FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM "Elizium"
Enormous influence on my songwriting. This album goes beyond the average clichés you might think of when it comes to the gothic scene. It holds so much passion and I believe the essence to be nothing but soothing, dark, mystical rock. Great image too.





VII. BATHORY "Hammerheart"
I could easily pick one of the earlier albums as the bigger classic, but when it comes to favorites this album had it's biggest impact on me at the time. It was different and nobody was doing the pagan viking concept having this kind of savage sound. The whole album is very unique with a credible atmosphere. A huge influence on Katatonia as we started out.




VIII. PARADISE LOST "Gothic"
This album took death metal totally off its course, morphed it with doom metal and gave birth to a new subgenre - gothic metal. I believe the first time I heard this album it brought tears to my eyes. Without it, Katatonia would not have sounded like we do. Hell, maybe we wouldn't even exist!





IX. EMPEROR "In The Nightside Eclipse"
The best progressive and classical black metal album still to date. Nothing else hold such an atmosphere of majestic darkness. The whole symphonic and bombastic orchestral thing meeting with raw and evil black metal is a match made in hell.





X. MORBID ANGEL "Domination"
Although I view "Altars Of Madness" as THE classic album of theirs, this one is on the other hand the best death metal album ever released by anyone. It's not only Morbid Angel's, but the entire death metal genre at it's absolute peak. And goes without saying, without Morbid Angel, no Bloodbath.






CV:
Real Name: Anders Nyström
Stage name: Blackheim (or Blakkheim)
Born: 22.04.1975
Function: guitar, programming, vocals
Associated: KATATONIA, BLOODBATH, DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE, BEWITCHED