Erik Martin "Axe" Axenrot is a Swedish death metaldrummer. Known for his intricate playing style, Axenrot is currently the drummer for the bands Opeth, and Bloodbath. His drumming has been highly praised by Opeth members and fans, with Mikael Akerfeldt calling him "a joy to play with." Axenrot has also been jokingly referred to as The Lord of the Rings character Legolas by band members and fans. On Blabbermouth.com, Åkerfeldt also stated that Axenrot completed his drumming part for eleven tracks on the Opeth album Watershed in just seven days. Axenrot's girlfriend, Nathalie Lorichs, performed vocals on "Coil" on Opeth's Watershed album.
History
Martin Axenrot's first band, Triumphator, formed in 1995 and made 2 records. Martin Axenrot was only involved with Triumphator's demo "The Triumph Of Satan", released 1996. He left Triumphator after the release of "The Triumph Of Satan." In 1999, Axenrot became a member of Witchery and Nifelheim. In 2004, he joined Bloodbath as their new drummer after Dan Swanö who continued in the band as one of the guitarists and songwriters. He metMikael Åkerfeldt sometime after 15 February 2005, when Peter Tägtgren quit Bloodbath and Åkerfeldt came back into the band again to replace Tägtgren. Axenrot commented on meeting Åkerfeldt, stating "I knew Mikael Åkerfeldt because of the Bloodbath project. I met the other members a couple times because I played festivals with other bands at the same time as Opeth. Sweden is too small to not know every band here. Everybody knows everybody." On 29 August 2005, Martin Lopez of Opeth, had to leave the band again temporarily due to his illnesses. With Opeth searching for a temporary drummer, Patrik Jensen suggested to Åkerfeldt his bandmate in Witchery, Axe, to fill in. Åkerfeldt knew Axe a bit from being bandmates in Bloodbath, but going on Jensen's reference, Åkerfeldt got Axe to play with Opeth for five tours. On 12 May 2006 Axenrot officially joined Opeth, as Lopez never returned to Opeth after deciding to focus on Soen.
