Jeroen Paul Thesseling is an anomaly among bass players. While he has become a trailblazer in technical, progressive, and death metal, his roots and inspiration come from jazz fusion and baroque composers. He brings all of the shredding low end that is required in those genres but focuses on melodic counterpoint phrasings that take the spotlight as much as the lead guitars, which usually fuel that music. And instead of relying on drop D tunings or B strings like his contemporaries, Thesseling takes it even lower into subsonic territory with his 7-string basses that boast a low F# string. On top of all of that, he plays only fretless basses, which is rare for any genre of metal. Having the opportunity to see Thesseling’s colossal 7-string fretless Warwick Thumb basses and hold them in-person is a humbling experience in itself. Their sheer mass and giant fingerboards, which seem endless in every direction, make even the most expert player feel novice in attempting to play it. Requirin