After hearing Iron Maiden's 1983 classic Piece of Mind, the young Karlsson devoted himself to playing the guitar, eventually studying classical, jazz, and folk, but nurturing his biggest influence of New Wave of British Heavy Metal. After working his way through a Master's degree from Malmö College of Music, he formed Last Tribe and signed with Italian hard rock label Frontiers Records. After three well-received records, the group disbanded in 2003, after which Karlsson dedicated himself to a number of different collaborations, producing and writing for several acts on the Frontiers label like Allen/Lande, Starbreaker, Bob Catley, and Kiske/Somerville. While his reputation as a writer and producer were established in the late 2000s, Karlsson had long been known as a premier guitarist and was frequently in demand as a session player. After playing a couple of solos on their 2007 LP, New Religion, German metal outfit Primal Fear asked him to join the band full-time in 2008. Continuing to juggle his other projects, Karlsson spent the next several years touring the world with Primal Fear, contributing both as guitarist and songwriter on their next two albums. By 2013, he had amassed an impressive group of friends and collaborators in the metal scene and enlisted many of them to record on his solo debut, which he released in 2013 under the name Magnus Karlsson's Free Fall. The album featured a variety of guest vocalists like Russell Allen (Symphony X, Adrenaline Mob), Tony Harnell (TNT, Starbreaker), Mark Boals (Yngwie Malmsteen, the Codex), and more. Once again using the Free Fall name and the collaborative format, he released the follow-up album, Kingdom of Rock, in 2015. ~ Timothy Monger