In Flames guitarist Björn Gelotte recently sat down with Music Radar and revealed the 10 albums that changed his life. Following is an excerpt from the rundown.
Rainbow – Rising (1976)
Gelotte: "I had a mix-tape that was really, really important to me and it had the first three Rainbow albums. Well, I made the mix-tape. My dad had the records. But it was Ritchie Blackmore’s 'Rainbow Rising' and 'Long Live Rock ’N’ Roll', 'Gates Of Babylon', and basically the whole of Rising – that is an incredible album. That is when I started learning about harmonies and stuff, because the vocals and the guitar lines create magic on that record. It’s incredible. That combination of Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, I haven’t heard anything since that hits me that hard.
His voice is just… There are quite a few that are almost there. I mean, [David] Coverdale is incredible as well, back when he was really, really pushing it; early Whitesnake is awesome, too, but back then he was a different kind of singer. And Ronnie was at the absolute top."
Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time (1986)
Gelotte: "Somewhere In Time is where I got into Maiden. I had heard some stuff before, Number Of The Beast, songs like 'Hallowed Be The Name', but it wasn’t until Somewhere In Time that I really got into them. Guitar-wise, it is a little sneaky with keyboards and stuff like that but it just hit me. The cover art is what first gets you with Maiden, even if you had never heard them you would want to hear it because it is incredible.
It was complex enough to make you want to try it and practise, and slowly become a guitar player And it was just the right time in life, as a guitar player at the time it was perfect, two guitar players so you could hear the harmonies, you could pick them out. It wasn’t super-fast, it is not extremely complex. It was complex enough to make you want to try it and practise, and slowly become a guitar player so it was very, very important, and it is always an absolute joy to see them live."
Read the complete rundown here.
