Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth homages Ace Frehley

Mikael Åkerfeldt, the leader of Opeth, has paid respect to Ace Frehley, the original KISS guitarist who passed away on October 16 at the age of 74, as reported by blabbermouth.net. His death was announced just hours after TMZ revealed that Ace was placed on life support following a tumble in his studio a few weeks prior that resulted in a brain bleed. Mikael posted a message on his band’s social media accounts.

”It is with great sadness and shock that we say goodbye and ”thank you” to Paul ”Ace” Frehley. A rocking beacon of light for guitarplayers worldwide. A massive influence for many, let alone for myself and Fredrik. As far as I’m concerned Ace was the coolest dude out of the original four. He had some type of swagger that almost defined the term itself. A hard rocking Keith Richards of sorts, albeit in silver makeup and platform heels. Kiss was very much an introduction to my ”school of rock”. All my childhood friends were fans of Kiss, and many of them regarded Ace as the ultimate rock-star. I had an early introduction to Kiss breakthrough live record, ”Alive”. Some kids that lived in my neighborhood of Sörskogen/Huddinge sold tickets to a ”show” where ”Kiss” would perform the entire ”Alive” record. This would have been in the early 1980’s. Held in the garages by the street of Taggsvampsvägen, at the very ”summit” of the Sörskogen hills, 4 kids dressed/made up as Gene, Peter, Paul and Ace mimed along to the entire double album, back to back. I seem to recall a previous Opeth band member, Kim Pettersson, held the role of Ace Frehley, but I could be wrong. They sold popcorn and lemonade to the audience, and off they went! It was magnificent! The 4 kids posing as Kiss members were almost ”as good” as the real thing, and the volume was deafening. In a way they helped cementing the legendary status of the actual band, right then and there.

Ace Frehley was awesome. Plain and simple. I think of him now, not only as the great ”left-to-right” swaying guitarist with the smoking Gibson Les Paul, but also as that jovial dude that contradicted/challenged the generic (and sometimes silly) rock-star mannerism of ”bosses”, Gene and Paul. The ”spaceman” was human, after all. If you haven’t seen Ace Frehley go off on a joking/laughing rant during the Kiss interview with Tom Snyder in 1979, I strongly advise for you to do so. His laugh was equally contagious to that of Elvis Presley’s classic and heart-warming live rendition of ”Are you lonesome tonight” from 1969. Priceless!

It’s likely there will be a sit down with my Kiss collection tonight. With that said, I do that all the time anyways. Regardless of any tragic events like the one we find ourselves in at present.

Ace Frehley will be missed by millions. Our deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and fans.

Lots of love, from Opeth.

Mikael Åkerfeldt, October 17, 2025″