Linnéa Olsson

Not to be confused with Linnea Olsson.

Linnéa Olsson (born 1986)[1] is a Swedish musician and songwriter based in Berlin, Germany. She is best known as the singer and guitarist in the rock band Maggot Heart.[2]

Early life

Olsson was born in Stockholm and grew up in Linköping.[3] As a child, she sang in choirs and played piano, flute, and saxophone and has been a self-taught guitarist since the age of 13.[4] Olsson has mentioned The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, Swedish death metal and Guns N' Roses as early influences.[5] She began a career in music journalism as a teenager and later, at the age of 19, became a rock critic for Svenska Dagbladet.[6] She has written the Swedish translations of Keith Richards' autobiography Life[7] and Ozzy Osbourne's autobiography I Am Ozzy.[8]

Music career

In 2007, Olsson co-founded the metal/punk band Sonic Ritual together with Henrik Palm. The band was active in the underground and released several records between 2007 and 2010; Sonic Ritual has been on indefinite hold since Palm joined Swedish heavy metal band In Solitude in 2010.[5]

After relocating to Berlin in 2012, Olsson founded the heavy metal band The Oath as the principle songwriter and guitarist.[9] The group toured with Ghost in 2013[10] and released a self-titled album via Rise Above Records in 2014.

In 2014, Olsson was invited to join the Finnish post-punk band Beastmilk as a second guitarist, and completed several tours with the band before the group went through a line-up and name change to Grave Pleasures. She co-wrote the album Dreamcrash together with the singer Mat McNerney.[11] The album was engineered by Tom Dalgety and released by Sony in 2015.

In 2016, Olsson was falsely rumored to be the new bassist for Ghost.[12]

In 2017, Olsson announced her new project Maggot Heart, and released the debut EP City Girls.[13] Since then, the band has toured regularly in North America, UK, and Europe and released three full-length albums and a split EP.[2]

In 2020, Olsson co-founded the independent record label Rapid Eye Records.[14]

Style and influences

Olsson has been noted for her unique style of playing and writing songs, which is described as a cross between noise rock, heavy metal, post-punk, and alternative rock.[15] Bandcamp described her as "one of the most distinctive voices in heavy music".[16]

Juho Vanhanen and Oranssi Pazuzu of Grave Pleasures described her playing as "beautiful and melodic but with spiders crawling underneath".[17] Metal Injection has said that Olsson "has a very direct, almost proudly straightforward guitar style",[18] while other critics has called her guitar style "jarring"[19] and "disgruntled".[20] Brooklyn Vegan wrote that Maggot Heart was "metal-friendly but not really metal. It's dark and catchy and swaggering and kinda finds the middle ground between Blue Oyster Cult and early Siouxsie and the Banshees."[21] CVLT Nation compared the band to "Killing Joke meets L7 with the twisted melodies of Voivod".[22] Mario Rubalcaba chose Maggot Heart's debut album Dusk to Dusk as his favorite album of 2018 in Revolver, noting "Some call it post-punk, but I think that is still too narrow a scope to trap it in. It has those elements, but also a vibe of more say the attitude of The Stooges or Motörhead, but able to incorporate tasteful and melodic structures and still groove plenty, as well."[23]

In an interview, Olsson said: "Minimalism is something I really treasure in the sense that you only really need one good riff or melody to make a great song. I think songwriting also is something that is lost in the heavy music scene at times – bands seem more concerned with a style or atmosphere, rather than quality songwriting."[22]

Lyrically Olsson has cited Audrey Lorde,[24] Patti Smith, and Chris Kraus[4] as influences. She is a self-proclaimed fan of rap music, including Mobb Deep.[4] She has mentioned that some of her favourite albums include Sabotage by Black Sabbath, Never Mind The Bollocks by The Sex Pistols, Raw Power by The Stooges, Dimension Hatross bv Voivod, Scratch Acid by Scratch Acid, Harvest Moon by Neil Young, Secret Treaties by Blue Öyster Cult, Push the Sky Away by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Feel the Darkness by Poison Idea, Miami by The Gun Club, and Enter the Wu-Tang by the Wu-Tang Clan.[25]

Gear

Olsson plays on a Hagström electric guitar from the 1970s.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Linnéa Olsson – Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". www.metal-archives.com. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  2. ^ a b "Maggot Heart | Swamp Booking". swampbooking.com. 2017-07-05. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  3. ^ "Interview mit Linnéa Olsson von Maggot Heart". ARTNOIR (in German). 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  4. ^ a b c "15 questions | Interview | Maggot Heart | Total Instinct". 15questions.net. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  5. ^ a b "Interview with Linnéa Olsson (Maggot Heart) | Metal Invader". 2025-06-24. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  6. ^ Olsson, Linnéa. "Artiklar av Linnéa Olsson". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  7. ^ "Livet". Stockholms stadsbibliotek (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  8. ^ "Jag är Ozzy". Stockholms stadsbibliotek (in Swedish). Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  9. ^ Methodology, Bardo (2017-06-06). "Maggot Heart interview". Bardo Methodology. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  10. ^ Kessler, Sebastian (2013-11-26). "Ghost B.C. + The Oath live in Hamburg". Metal Hammer (in German). Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  11. ^ Oran (2015-10-27). "GRAVE PLEASURES VOCALISE MAT McNERNEY TALKS NEW BAND AND FUTURE PLANS". Overdrive. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  12. ^ MetalSucks (2016-09-26). "Ghost's Female Bassist is Not Who We Thought She Was". MetalSucks. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  13. ^ Blabbermouth (2017-04-27). "Former THE OATH Guitarist LINNÉA OLSSON Launches MAGGOT HEART". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  14. ^ Mirrors, Unearthed (2020-07-02). "Unearthed Mirrors: Interview: Linnéa Olsson takes us for a fascinating ride into Maggot Heart". Unearthed Mirrors. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  15. ^ Mills, Reza (2023-09-26). "Review: Maggot Heart 'Hunger'". The Sleeping Shaman. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  16. ^ "The Best Metal on Bandcamp, September 2023". Bandcamp Daily. 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  17. ^ "Grave Pleasures". www.metalblade.com. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  18. ^ Andrew, J. (2014-03-24). "Album Review: THE OATH The Oath". Metal Injection. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  19. ^ a b X, Hayduke (2020-08-11). "Linnéa Olsson of Maggot Heart – Interview". MoshPitNation. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  20. ^ "Maggot Heart Returns with Dusk to Dusk". The Toilet Ov Hell. 2018-07-12. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  21. ^ Sacher, Andrew. "Watch Maggot Heart's new video for "Roses"". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  22. ^ a b "Hear the Rock & Swagger of MAGGOT HEART "Justine" Premiere + Interview – CVLT Nation". cvltnation.com. Archived from the original on 2023-04-11. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  23. ^ Staff, Revolver. "Best of 2018: Earthless' Mario Rubalcaba Picks Fave Music, Movies, Burrito and More". Revolver. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  24. ^ Kilroypublished, Hannah May (2024-01-16). ""Hunger is what keeps you alive": How nerve damage and burnout led Linnéa Olsson to embrace vulnerability and anger with Maggot Heart". Louder. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
  25. ^ izzy (2023-09-01). "Maggot Heart's Linnéa Olsson on Rock N' Roll and Suffering (10/19 at KFN)". Philthy Mag. Retrieved 2025-06-26.
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