Peter Tägtgren

Occupation(s)Instrument(s)Years active1990–presentMember ofFormerly of

Alf Peter Tägtgren^[1] (born 3 June 1970) is a Swedish musician and record producer. He is the founder, main songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of death metal band Hypocrisy as well as the industrial metal band Pain in which he is the only member. He is also the owner of The Abyss recording studio and the co-founder of Lindemann, a music project between Tägtgren and Rammstein vocalist Till Lindemann. Tägtgren left Lindemann in 2020.^[2][3]

Career

Tägtgren started playing drums at the age of nine and later learned to play guitar, bass and keyboard.

After Tägtgren's first band Conquest disbanded, he emigrated to the United States. There, he became part of the death metal scene after participating in practice sessions with Malevolent Creation's guitarist, Phil Fasciana.

Tägtgren moved back to Sweden and formed the band Hypocrisy. He then signed a recording contract with the independent record label Nuclear Blast.

Although Hypocrisy is his main focus, he has also worked on many other Swedish metal projects. These include Pain (industrial metal), for which he performs all instruments and vocals and composes all songs, Lock Up (grindcore/death metal), in which he was the vocalist, The Abyss (black metal), where he performed drums, bass and vocals, War (black metal), where he performed drums. He also appeared as a live guitarist for the bands Marduk and E-Type, and on the Bloodbath album Nightmares Made Flesh as a vocalist.

Additionally, Tägtgren is a record producer, running The Abyss studio where he mixes and edits works of other Scandinavian bands including Sabaton, Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Amon Amarth, Skyfire, Finnish bands Children of Bodom and Amorphis, and Swiss band Celtic Frost. In 2015, he co-founded the industrial metal band Lindemann with Rammstein lead singer Till Lindemann.^[4]

In a 2017 interview with Noizr Zine, Tägtgren reported that he's working on new material together with his son Sebastian:

"And now, since January, we are sitting in the studio, writing music, and we have like 20 songs or something like that. We don't know what it is for. It's not for Hypocrisy, it's not for Pain, it's for something else. We don't know yet, we're just writing because we really have a good time writing."^[5]

In November 2020, Tägtgren left the musical project Lindemann. ^[6]

Personal life

A year before the recording of his album Dancing with the Dead (2005), Tägtgren's heart stopped beating for two minutes. This event inspired him to write the album.^[7]

Tägtgren is known as "Mayor of Pärlby" as he owns the small village in which he resides (population c. 120 people).^[8] He has been married twice; however, neither marriage lasted. He was quoted as saying, "And my passion for music? It's hard to be in two places at the same time, and women come and women go. Music stays."^[9]

Discography and guest appearances

• Hypocrisy – (vocals, guitars, lyrics, production) – all releases
• Pain – (all instruments, vocals, lyrics, production) – all releases
• Lindemann – (all instruments, production) – all releases
• Electric Hellfire Club (band) – (guest vocals on song Hypochristian)
• The Abyss – The Other Side – (vocals, drums, bass) – 1995
• The Abyss – Summon the Beast – (vocals, drums, bass) – 1996
• Algaion – Vox Clamentis – (drums) – 1996
• Edge of Sanity – Infernal – (lead guitar on "The Bleakness of It All") – 1997
• Therion – A'arab Zaraq – Lucid Dreaming – (lead guitar on "Under Jolly Roger") – 1997
• Lock Up – Pleasures Pave Sewers – (vocals) – 1999
• Bloodbath – Nightmares Made Flesh – (vocals) – 2004
• Kataklysm – Serenity in Fire – (guest vocals on "For All Our Sins") – 2004
• Destruction – Inventor of Evil – (guest vocals on "The Alliance of Hellhoundz") – 2005
• Nuclear Blast All-Stars – Out of the Dark – (guest vocals on "Schizo") – 2007
• Sonic Syndicate – We Rule the Night – (lyrics and co-wrote music with Jonas Kjellgren on "Leave Me Alone") – 2010
• Exodus – Exhibit B: The Human Condition – (backing vocals on "The Sun Is My Destroyer") – 2010
• The Unguided – Nightmareland EP – (guest vocals on "Pathfinder") – 2011
• Turmion Kätilöt – Perstechnique – (guest vocals on "Grand Ball") – 2011
• Sabaton – Carolus Rex – (guest vocals on "Gott mit Uns" and "Twilight of the Thunder God", guitar solo on "Twilight of the Thunder God") – 2012
• Sabaton – The Last Stand – (production) – 2016
• Immortal – Northern Chaos Gods – (production, bass (session)) – 2018

Production credits

References