) is the bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 player of progressive death metal

Technical death metal

Technical death metal is a musical subgenre of death metal that focuses on complex rhythms, riffs and song structures. Technical experimentation in death metal began in the late '80s and early '90s by bands such as Death, Atheist and Cynic...

 band Opeth

Opeth

Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force throughout the years...

 and second most constant member of the band, behind lead vocalist

Lead vocalist

The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...

, songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 and guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 Mikael Åkerfeldt

Mikael Åkerfeldt

Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt is a Swedish musician who achieved fame as the lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of progressive death metal band Opeth as well as the lead vocalist of death metal band Bloodbath. He was the vocalist and guitarist for the band Sörskogen and the guitarist of the band Steel...

.

Méndez has been a member of several other bands, including Fifth to Infinity, Proxima and Vinterkrig. Méndez joined Opeth right before the recording of their third album My Arms, Your Hearse

My Arms, Your Hearse

My Arms, Your Hearse is Opeth's third studio album, released in 1998. This album marks a large stylistic change from their previous release, Morningrise, especially production-wise...

began. However, time conflicts such as joining too late kept him from playing on the album, so the bass lines were recorded by Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt. Martín then learned the bass parts and played bass for the few subsequent live dates done for the album. His first real recording with Opeth

Opeth

Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force throughout the years...

 was their fourth studio album, Still Life

Still Life (Opeth album)

Still Life is the fourth studio album from Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. The album was produced and engineered by Opeth "under the watchful eye" of Fredrik Nordström.-Style:...

. He has been with the band ever since.

Méndez is popular among Opeth fans for his silent stage presence (with the slight exception of some South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

n gigs where he has spoken in his native language). During Opeth performances Méndez rarely speaks or demonstrates specific emotion, although he has a 'no-no' or 'windmill' style of headbanging– shaking his head back and forth or (counter-)clockwise– a sort of mutual affinity among fans and band alike, something Åkerfeldt often joked about on stage before Méndez had his hair cut. He has since grown out his hair as of 2011, and sometimes headbangs in this style again, to great applause from the crowd.

Méndez uses 4 string fretted & fretless Fender Jazz Basses

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 exclusively for live and studio work. When playing songs from Ghost Reveries

Ghost Reveries

-Notes:# "Ghost of Perdition" is included in the soundtrack for the video game Saint's Row 2 on the radio station Krunch 106.66.# "The Baying of the Hounds" is partially inspired by lyrics from the song "Diana" from Comus's album First Utterance. The lyrics are "And she knows by the sound of the...

 he uses Drop D tuning

Drop D tuning

Drop D tuning, also known as DADGBE, is an alternate, or scordatura, form of guitar tuning — specifically, a dropped tuning — in which the lowest string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D.- Uses of drop D tuning :In drop D the three bass strings...

.

With Opeth

• Still Life
  Still Life (Opeth album)
  Still Life is the fourth studio album from Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. The album was produced and engineered by Opeth "under the watchful eye" of Fredrik Nordström.-Style:...
  
  (1999)
• Blackwater Park
  Blackwater Park
  Blackwater Park is the fifth studio album by Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. It was released on February 27, 2001 through Music for Nations and Koch Records...
  
  (2001)
• Deliverance (2002)
• Damnation
  Damnation (album)
  -Notes:# The vocal melody in the chorus of "To Rid the Disease" is borrowed from a track recorded by Mikael Åkerfeldt's sideproject Sörskogen, "Mordet i Grottan".-Opeth:* Mikael Åkerfeldt – vocals, guitar; producing and engineering...
  
  (2003)
• Ghost Reveries
  Ghost Reveries
  -Notes:# "Ghost of Perdition" is included in the soundtrack for the video game Saint's Row 2 on the radio station Krunch 106.66.# "The Baying of the Hounds" is partially inspired by lyrics from the song "Diana" from Comus's album First Utterance. The lyrics are "And she knows by the sound of the...
  
  (2005)
• Watershed
  Watershed (Opeth album)
  Watershed is the ninth full-length studio album by the Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. Published by Roadrunner Records, the album's special edition was released first as a music download on the Italian iTunes Stores on May 19, 2008.Watershed is the first studio album by Opeth to...
  
  (2008)
• Heritage
  Heritage (Opeth album)
  Heritage is the tenth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth, released on 13 September 2011 by Roadrunner Records.The album was recorded in early 2011 at Atlantis studios in Stockholm, Sweden. It was produced by Mikael Åkerfeldt, engineered by Janne Hansson and mixed by Steven Wilson...
  
  (2011)

External links

• Opeth.com - Official Opeth hompepage