Bjorn Strid"Speed" Strid (born September 10, 1978) is a vocalist with a resume that includes work in bands such as Highball Shooters, Disarmonia Mundi, Terror 2000,[1] Coldseed, and most notably Soilwork.[2] He also provided vocals for Darkane on their demo recording prior to Lawrence Mackrory joining the band before their debut album. He made a guest appearance on the Destruction track "The Alliance of Hellhoundz" alongside numerous other prominent metal singers, as well as appearing on Zero Tolerance's "Prime Time Mind Surgery", Phoenix-based metal band Howitzer's "245, and Danish band Mercenary's "Redefine Me, from their album The Hours That Remain. He has also recently provided guest vocals for the Seattle, WA-based band Demon Hunter on the track "Collapsing from their album The World Is a Thorn which was released on March 9, 2010, and also performs on power metal band Kamelot's Poetry for the Poisoned in the track The Great Pandemonium
.
Strid utilizes a varied vocal style, being able to quickly alternate between more guttural growls and higher screams and clean, harmonious vocals.
Strid grew up in Sweden and received the nickname "Speed" from fellow students as a result of the "extreme music" he was known to enjoy. He co-founded Soilwork in 1995 under the name Inferior Breed which was later changed to Soilwork once the fledgling band's sound began to take shape. He is the only member to have stayed with the band for the duration of its existence, and for a 3 year period was the only original member present before Peter Wichers' return in 2008. Most of the lyrics are written by Strid as well.
Speed has gone on record as saying that Killing Machine, which was retitled as Hell Bent for Leather for US release by Judas Priest is his favorite album [2], but more recently has cited Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast as his favourite [3].