Markus Johansson

Markus Johansson (born December 22, 1984) is an American heavy metal guitarist and vocalist from Chicago, Illinois. He is currently the lead guitarist for the Australian thrash metal band, 4ARM, lead vocalist and guitarist for Sylencer, and lead guitarist for Repentance and THEM.

Early years

Johansson is a self-taught lead guitarist from Chicago, Illinois, who began playing guitar when he was 13 years old. At the age of 17, Markus auditioned for Limp Bizkit, to which Fred Durst humorously told him to "go play for Megadeth, instead." In 2009, Markus auditioned with Dying Fetus, but continued on as the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of the band Sylencer.

2004-2012

In the summer of 2004, Johansson founded the band Sylencer and began recording their debut album, "A Lethal Dose of Truth" in 2006. He recruited drummer Kevin Talley and guitarist Larry Tarnowski to round out the lineup for his debut release. The majority of the album was recorded by the end of 2006, Johansson recruited several big names in the heavy metal community which grew to include members of Dream Theater, Anthrax, Dethklok, and nearly a dozen others. A Lethal Dose of Truth was released independently in September 2012 through Sylencer Records.

2013-2016

In the spring of 2014, Johansson collaborated with guitarist Toby Knapp on the instrumental album Unborn Spirits Immortal. The album was released in June 2014 through Shred Guy records. That same year, Markus joined Australian metal band, 4ARM as their lead singer/guitarist and recorded their 2015 album, Survivalist. Currently, Markus is the lead guitarist for the heavy metal band THEM and recorded on their 2016 album, Fear Them. He joined their spring tour which headlined Helloween.

2017-2018

Johansson did several tours with THEM.

• Harder than Steel (9/30/17)
• Mountains of Madness (10/20/17)
• German Swordbrothers Festival (2/14/18)
• Metalheadz Open Air 2018 (5/11/18)

On May 23, 2018 Johansson joined Repentance and opened for Trivium

ESP Guitars, Rocktron, Fastback Custom, Cleartone Guitar Strings, Protone Pedals.

Johannson has his own custom pickup, The Cobra Igniter.

• Sylencer 2006–present
• 4ARM 2013–present
• THEM 2015–present
• Repentance

Sylencer

• A Lethal Dose of Truth (2012)
• TBA (2019)

THEM

• "Fear Them" (2016)
• "Manor of the Seven Gables" (2018)

Knapp/Johansson

• "Unborn Spirits Immortal" (2014)
• "Electric Gathering" (2015)

4ARM

• "Survivalist" (2015)

Evan K

• Blue Lightning (2016), Guest vocals on 'Everything Is Coming Up Roses