“I have never been a gear guy but merely interested in the actual playing. I detest foot pedals and racks.” Mattias IA Eklundh said this in an interview that might be the single greatest opening sentence for a gear guide in the history of guitar journalism. He then further specified, in the Freak Guitar biography text: “I’m from Sweden and I do everything backwards. I’m left handed and I use no effects whatsoever. The guitar itself contains so many sounds you can use.” This is the anti-gear-head philosophy in its most complete expression — more radical than Derek Bailey’s pedalless approach, more philosophically committed than Jason Pierce’s four-pedal minimalism, more cheerfully iconoclastic than any other musician in this guide. He has a Caparison Horus guitar in purple. He has a Laney Ironheart amplifier. He detests foot pedals. He uses no effects whatsoever. He has spent twenty-five summers hosting the Freak Guitar Camp in the woods of Sweden for dedicated guitar players from all over the world. He was featured playing trademark-style solos on the first four Soilwork albums. His two Freak Guitar solo albums are on Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label. UK Guitarist called him “faster than Malmsteen, smoother than Michael Lee Firkins and, dammit, better than Vai.” He detests foot pedals. He uses no effects whatsoever. The guitar contains so many sounds you can use.
Mattias Bernt Johannes Eklundh — known as IA (after the Swedish initials of his first and middle names) — was born on October 6, 1969, in Gothenburg, Sweden. He began drumming at age six. He began playing guitar at thirteen, starting on “a dreadful Duke Telecaster copy that was impossible to tune” and then acquiring “a Vantage Flying V that was slightly better” — spending “an entire summer looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame with the guitar between my legs, riffing my brains out after Kill ‘Em All with Metallica was released.” He joined Danish metal band Fate as lead guitarist after Frozen Eyes split up, appearing on their 1990 album Scratch ‘n Sniff. He returned to Sweden and formed Freak Kitchen in 1992. He has named Frank Zappa and Ace Frehley of Kiss as his two major musical influences — one of the stranger influence pairings in this guide — but his record collection spans gypsy jazz, Miles Davis, Slayer, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Django Reinhardt, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Van Halen, and “tons more.” He plays left-handed. He uses no effects. He is one of the most original guitarists in the history of progressive metal, and his originality is inseparable from the specific creative freedom that his rejection of effects and gear complexity has given him. When you don’t have effects to hide behind, you have to find the music in the guitar and in your hands. He found it.
Background: Gothenburg, Drums at Six, Kill ‘Em All Summer, Fate Denmark, Freak Kitchen 1992, Soilwork Solos
The specific combination of Frank Zappa and Ace Frehley as primary influences is the biographical key to understanding Mattias IA Eklundh’s approach. Ace Frehley — the original Kiss guitarist whose specific combination of blues-rock directness, flashy showmanship, and specific pentatonic lead vocabulary provided the foundational American hard rock guitar experience for an entire generation of European kids who grew up watching Kiss in full makeup — represents the visceral, emotional, physically engaging dimension of rock guitar. The specific feeling of a powerful chord or solo played with maximum commitment: this is the Frehley element. Frank Zappa — the American composer and bandleader whose specific combination of experimental composition, satirical lyrics, astonishing musical range, and the specific guitar playing of his “brown shirts” (the specific Zappa guitar tone achieved through modified Strats and specific amp setups) represents the compositional sophistication, the musical range, the refusal to be limited by genre conventions: this is the Zappa element. The combination of these two — Frehley’s direct rock power and Zappa’s compositional freedom — produces a guitarist who is simultaneously technically extraordinary and emotionally direct, experimental and accessible, progressive and fun.
His specific practice in the kill ’em all summer — “spent an entire summer looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame with the guitar between my legs, riffing my brains out after Kill ‘Em All with Metallica was released” — captures the specific experience of discovery and immersion that defines early guitar learning. The physical description (Hunchback of Notre Dame posture) reflects the reality of early practice without proper technique education: the hours of playing before good posture is established. The Kill ‘Em All reference places his guitar awakening in the specific 1983-84 moment when thrash metal was introducing a generation of young Europeans to the possibilities of extreme guitar playing.
The Soilwork connection is one of the less-celebrated but more significant contributions in his career. Appearing on the first four Soilwork albums as guest soloist — contributing his “trademark-style solos” to the Swedish melodic death metal band’s formative recordings — connected his specific guitar vocabulary to one of the more commercially successful Scandinavian metal traditions of the early 2000s. Soilwork’s intersection of melodic death metal and more accessible rock elements is a natural home for Eklundh’s approach, which combines technical precision with strong melodic sensibility.
The annual Freak Guitar Camp — twenty-five summers in the woods of Sweden for dedicated guitar players from all over the world — is the most specifically Eklundh expression of his approach to the guitar community: not a commercial enterprise (or not primarily) but a gathering of like-minded musicians who want to learn about and celebrate the specific approach to guitar playing that his career represents. “My true annual highlight” — the description of the Camp — is the most genuine biographical statement available about what matters to him in his guitar life.
The Rig: Mattias IA Eklundh’s Guitars, Amps, and Effects
Guitars
Caparison Horus (Primary Guitar, Purple, “Jerk” Video Documentation): Mattias IA Eklundh’s primary documented guitar is a purple Caparison Horus — confirmed by Equipboard: “In the video for Freak Kitchen’s ‘Jerk’, Mattias can be seen playing a purple Caparison Horus.” Caparison is a Japanese guitar company known for their high-quality, unconventionally designed instruments — the Horus being a specific model in their range with a distinctive asymmetric body design and high-quality components throughout. The purple finish reflects the same color preference that defines Mark Holcomb’s (Series 2 #172) Holcomb Burst — “I’ve always loved purple” is apparently a universal statement among progressive metal guitarists — but while Holcomb’s purple is a classier, darker shade on a PRS, Eklundh’s purple is on a Japanese custom guitar with an entirely different design aesthetic.
Caparison guitars are associated with technically demanding players who want Japanese construction quality, unconventional design, and specific tonal character from high-quality hardware and pickups. The company’s instruments have been used by Mattias IA Eklundh, Andy James, and other technically oriented players who prioritize playability and construction quality over brand prestige or collector value. The Caparison’s specific character — tight, precise, detailed — suits Eklundh’s approach of finding all necessary sounds within the guitar itself without electronic processing.
Fernandes FR-65X with Scalloped Frets (Earlier Career, Documented): Equipboard documents “Mattias can be seen using this rare Fernandes FR-65X, with a scalloped” (the entry appears to be cut off, but the scalloped fretboard detail is the critical information). The Fernandes FR-65X is a Japanese-made superstrat with a Floyd Rose-style tremolo and high-output pickups. The scalloped fretboard — a modification where material is removed from the fretboard between the frets, leaving only the frets themselves as contact points for the strings — produces a specific playing feel: the fingers don’t touch the fretboard at all, only the string, allowing extremely precise pitch control and very light touch on the string for rapid, agile playing. Yngwie Malmsteen popularized the scalloped fretboard in modern rock guitar; the specific feel and the specific light-touch technique it enables suit the rapid, technical style that characterizes Eklundh’s playing.
“I’m Left-Handed and I Use No Effects Whatsoever” (The Most Important Gear Statement): Eklundh’s self-description from the Freak Guitar biography — “I’m left handed and I use no effects whatsoever” — is the foundational gear statement of his approach. Playing left-handed means that all the guitars documented in his collection are left-handed instruments, which is a practical consideration that limits his available options compared to right-handed players (most production guitars are right-handed, with left-handed versions available but generally in more limited variety). The “no effects whatsoever” philosophy — consistent with his “I detest foot pedals and racks” statement from the Top Notch Guitar blog interview — is the most radical approach to signal chain simplicity in this section of the guide. The guitar goes directly into the amplifier. Nothing in between.
Guitar as Sound Source Without Processing (“The Guitar Itself Contains So Many Sounds”): His Freak Guitar biography statement — “The guitar itself contains so many sounds you can use” — is the philosophical foundation of his “no effects” approach. He is not being contrarian or anti-technology; he genuinely believes (and demonstrates, on recordings and in live performance) that the guitar’s own physical properties — the tonal variation available from different picking positions, different picking angles, different levels of pick pressure, different left-hand techniques (bends, vibrato, harmonics, muted notes, tapped harmonics, legato passages) — provide a sufficient tonal palette for any musical expression he wants to make. The effects pedal doesn’t add to the music; it adds to the signal chain. For a musician who hears the music in the guitar and the hands, the signal chain is an obstacle rather than an asset.
Scalloped Fretboard Technique (The Primary Technical Characteristic): Whether on the Fernandes FR-65X or the Caparison Horus, Eklundh’s preference for scalloped fretboards is documented and consistent. The scalloped fretboard’s specific effect on technique: lighter string pressure required for clean notes (no fretboard contact to damp the string’s vibration), more fluid bend vibrato (the finger can manipulate the string more freely without fretboard friction), and a specific touch sensitivity that requires developed technique but rewards it with extraordinary expressiveness. His UK Guitarist description — “faster than Malmsteen” — connects directly to the scalloped fretboard technique that Malmsteen made famous: the same physical mechanism enables the same specific combination of speed and expressiveness.
Amps
Laney Ironheart (Primary Amplifier, IRT212 Cabinet Documented): Mattias IA Eklundh’s primary documented amplifier is the Laney Ironheart — a British-made all-tube head from Laney Amplification’s Ironheart series. The Equipboard documentation: “Mattias IA Eklundh can be seen using the Laney IRT212 Ironheart guitar amplifier cabinet.” He is quoted on the Laney Lunchbox product page: “What an ingenious device! Smart, user-friendly and the astounding, massive sound of a Laney amp squeezed into a little box.” The Laney Ironheart’s specific character — British tube amplification with multiple channels covering clean through high-gain territory, with the specific harmonic complexity and natural saturation of EL34 or comparable tube power stages — provides the tonal range that Eklundh’s “no effects” approach requires: the amplifier has to cover the full dynamic and tonal range without the assistance of overdrive or distortion pedals. The Laney’s versatility (clean channel to high-gain channel) within a single amplifier gives him the tonal range he needs without effects.
Sharp Transistor Radio (First Amplifier, Practicing and Fate Album Recording): Among the more remarkable first amplifiers in this guide: “For practicing I used a Sharp transistor radio that was also used on the Fate album Scratch ‘n Sniff and the first Freak Kitchen release Appetizer.” A transistor radio — not a guitar amplifier but a domestic radio receiver — as the recording amplifier for early professional recordings. The specific tonal character of a transistor radio’s amplification stage (small speaker, limited frequency response, transistor rather than tube electronics) would produce a specific thin, slightly distorted, characterful sound that is audible as a specific choice rather than a limitation on those early recordings. The willingness to use a transistor radio for professional recording is the foundational expression of the anti-gear-head philosophy that defines his entire approach.
“No Effects Whatsoever” (The Complete Signal Chain Philosophy): The repeated documentation of his “no effects” philosophy across multiple interviews is not hyperbole or self-deprecation but accurate. He plays guitar directly into amplifier. The specific tonal variety in his playing — from warm, clean jazz-inflected chord tones to aggressive, fully-saturated high-gain passages — comes from the amplifier’s clean and driven channels, from the guitar’s volume and tone controls (rolled back for cleaner tones, rolled up for more driven tones), and from picking technique. This is the same philosophy as Derek Bailey’s (no effects, technique as the source of all sonic variety) in a completely different musical context.
Playing Style & Tone Philosophy
Mattias IA Eklundh’s playing style is the most individually distinctive in the progressive metal tradition — a style so specifically personal that it serves as a fingerprint rather than a genre identification. His specific combination of Frank Zappa’s compositional freedom (the ability to move between disparate musical styles within a single piece, the refusal to be bounded by genre expectations), Ace Frehley’s directness and physical energy, the scalloped fretboard technique’s specific expressiveness, left-handed playing, and the specific vocabulary of harmonics, tapped harmonics, legato runs, chicken-picking elements, and the specific Scandinavian melodic sensibility produces a guitar style that is simultaneously technically extraordinary and emotionally accessible. Kerrang awarded him five stars. Guitar Techniques awarded him five stars. UK Guitarist called him better than Vai. These are not exaggerations.
His tone philosophy is the pure guitar philosophy in its most complete modern expression. “I have never been a gear guy but merely interested in the actual playing.” The gear is the minimum required: a guitar (preferably with scalloped frets), an amplifier (Laney Ironheart for its versatility), nothing in between. The musicality is all in the hands. The hands are trained by twenty-five summers of teaching at the Freak Guitar Camp and by the accumulated technique of forty years of playing since Kill ‘Em All. The technique produces the sounds. The sounds are the music. The music needs no effects.
His Swedish identity is an important context: he describes himself as doing “everything backwards” (left-handed, no effects), which is simultaneously a self-deprecating joke and an accurate description of his willingness to define his own approach in opposition to the prevailing metal guitar aesthetic of the 1990s and 2000s. Where Swedish metal in the 1990s was producing the melodic death metal of Gothenburg (In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates), Freak Kitchen was producing an idiosyncratic progressive metal that defied categorization. His approach was backward in the most productive sense: it went against every prevailing tendency and produced something that couldn’t have been made by following them.
How to Sound Like Mattias IA Eklundh
Guitar: A high-quality guitar with a scalloped fretboard — or have any quality guitar’s fretboard scalloped by a competent luthier. Left-handed if left-handed. The Caparison Horus (left-handed if you’re left-handed) is his current primary choice. The scalloped fretboard is not optional for his specific technique — it is the physical mechanism that produces his specific expressiveness.
Amp: Laney Ironheart head and cabinet. Set the clean channel for warm, clear clean tones; the drive channel for the natural tube saturation of the high-gain passages. No pedals. Directly to the amp.
Amp Settings (Laney Ironheart / British Tube Head):
| Control | Setting (0–10) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gain | 6–8 | Moderate-high — natural tube saturation, not maximum gain |
| Bass | 5 | Natural — balanced for the guitar’s full frequency range |
| Mid | 5–6 | Present — the lead guitar needs midrange cut |
| Treble | 5–6 | Balanced — bright enough for harmonic detail |
| Presence | 5 | Moderate — attack definition without harshness |
No effects. Guitar straight into amp. The entire tonal variety of Eklundh’s approach comes from: picking position (nearer the bridge for brighter tones, over the neck pickup for warmer tones), picking angle, pick pressure, the guitar’s volume and tone controls, and left-hand technique (bends, vibrato, harmonics, legato). The scalloped fretboard allows the specific light-touch technique that makes his rapid passages possible. The technique takes years to develop; the gear is a guitar and an amp. Start with the guitar and the amp. Develop the technique. The music will follow.
Influence & Legacy
Mattias IA Eklundh’s influence is the most specifically Swedish and the most specifically personal in the progressive metal tradition. He is not the founder of a genre, not the inventor of a technique, not the designer of a signature guitar model that reshaped the market. He is the demonstration that a radically individual approach — the Zappa + Frehley combination, the scalloped fretboard, the no-effects philosophy, the left-handed playing, the Swedish progressive metal context — can produce music of genuine originality and genuine quality that earns five-star reviews from the most demanding metal publications in Britain.
His Soilwork connection places him in the specific context of Swedish melodic death metal at its most creative and most commercially successful period — contributing his specific guitar vocabulary to a genre that wouldn’t have developed it from within. His Steve Vai Favored Nations label connection places him in the community of guitarists who Vai recognizes as genuinely exceptional and genuinely individual: the label’s roster represents musicians who have developed specific approaches that stand outside the mainstream. His annual Freak Guitar Camp is the most direct expression of his role in the guitar community: not as a model to be imitated but as a teacher of the specific values (originality, musical expression, the guitar as sound source) that his playing represents.
His connection to Misha Mansoor (Series 2 #171) and Mark Holcomb (Series 2 #172) as contemporaries in the progressive metal tradition reflects the coexistence of radically different approaches within the same genre: Mansoor’s “painstakingly dialed Axe-FX presets” and Holcomb’s carefully developed PRS/Seymour Duncan/Fractal system exist in the same progressive metal world as Eklundh’s guitar-straight-into-Laney-no-effects approach. The genre is large enough to contain all three simultaneously, and the contrast between them is one of the most productive creative tensions in contemporary metal guitar.
Internal Links:
- Misha Mansoor of Periphery, a contemporary progressive metal guitarist with the polar-opposite approach to effects at #171
- Mark Holcomb of Periphery, another contemporary with elaborate gear systems versus Eklundh’s direct approach at #172
- Per Nilsson of Scar Symmetry, a fellow Swedish progressive metal guitarist at #174
- Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth, another Swedish progressive metal guitarist of the same generation at #168
Frequently Asked Questions: Mattias IA Eklundh Freak Kitchen Guitars & Gear
What guitar does Mattias IA Eklundh play?
Eklundh’s documented primary guitar is a purple Caparison Horus (left-handed) — confirmed in the video for Freak Kitchen’s “Jerk.” An earlier documented guitar is the Fernandes FR-65X (rare, with a scalloped fretboard). He plays left-handed, which limits his production guitar options compared to right-handed players. His preference for scalloped fretboards is consistent across documented instruments — the scalloped fretboard (where material is removed between frets) produces the specific light-touch technique and expressive vibrato/bend character that his playing requires.
What amplifier does Mattias IA Eklundh use?
Eklundh’s primary documented amplifier is the Laney Ironheart — confirmed by Equipboard’s documentation of the IRT212 Ironheart cabinet and by his endorsement quote: “What an ingenious device! Smart, user-friendly and the astounding, massive sound of a Laney amp squeezed into a little box.” His earliest “amplifier” was a Sharp transistor radio used for both practice and the recording of the Fate album Scratch ‘n Sniff and the first Freak Kitchen release Appetizer.
Why does Eklundh use no effects?
His explanation: “I have never been a gear guy but merely interested in the actual playing. I detest foot pedals and racks. I’m from Sweden and I do everything backwards. I’m left handed and I use no effects whatsoever. The guitar itself contains so many sounds you can use.” His philosophy is that the guitar’s inherent tonal range — from picking position, picking angle, pick pressure, the volume and tone controls, and left-hand techniques — provides sufficient variety for all musical expression. Effects add complexity to the signal chain without adding to the music.
What is Mattias IA Eklundh’s scalloped fretboard technique?
The scalloped fretboard is a modification where wood is removed from the fretboard between the frets, leaving only the frets themselves as contact points. Eklundh’s fingers do not touch the fretboard when fretting notes — only the strings — allowing extremely precise pitch control and very light touch. This produces more fluid vibrato (the finger can manipulate the string freely), lighter touch for rapid passages, and a specific expressive quality. Yngwie Malmsteen popularized the technique in modern rock guitar; UK Guitarist described Eklundh as “faster than Malmsteen.”
What are Mattias IA Eklundh’s primary guitar influences?
Eklundh has named Frank Zappa and Ace Frehley of Kiss as his two major musical influences — one of the more unusual pairings in this guide. Frehley represents the direct, physical, emotionally engaging dimension of rock guitar; Zappa represents compositional freedom, musical range, and the refusal to be bounded by genre conventions. His broader musical consumption includes Kiss, AC/DC, Frank Zappa, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Metallica, Slayer, Van Halen, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Django Reinhardt, Miles Davis, and gypsy jazz.
What is the Freak Guitar Camp?
The Freak Guitar Camp is Mattias IA Eklundh’s annual guitar education event — held every summer in the woods of Sweden for twenty-five-plus summers. It hosts dedicated guitar players from all over the world who want to learn from and engage with Eklundh’s specific approach to guitar playing. He describes it as “my true annual highlight” — the most personally meaningful annual event in his musical life. It is not a commercial masterclass series but a genuine gathering of like-minded musicians in a Swedish forest environment.
What is Eklundh’s connection to Steve Vai and Soilwork?
Steve Vai released Eklundh’s two Freak Guitar solo albums through his Favored Nations label — a label dedicated to exceptional and individual guitarists whom Vai identifies as musically significant. The Favored Nations connection places Eklundh in the company of other Vai-endorsed exceptional players. His Soilwork connection involved playing “trademark-style solos” on the first four Soilwork albums — the Swedish melodic death metal band whose commercial success in the early 2000s brought Eklundh’s specific guitar vocabulary to a wider audience than Freak Kitchen’s more niche following could provide.
