Yesterday’s (August 01st) surprise announcement of a new album from Opeth wasn’t the biggest surprise the death metal turned progressive rock group had up their sleeve. The return of death growl vocals from frontman/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt on the opening track, §1” (aka ‘Paragraph 1‘), was the true shocker.
That heavier element of the Swedish band’s music had long been sanded off, with 2008’s “Watershed” representing the last of that era from the group, until now. After over 15 years, Åkerfeldt managed to floor fans of the band’s earlier material with this new track, but the question remains, why now?
Well, Åkerfeldt has provided the following answer:
“I like to be unfashionable, in a way. So, when it comes to bringing that kind of death metal vocal back, I wanted it to happen when people had stopped caring… and I guess that’s now! Maybe it’s a bit surprising, but we did some anniversary type shows, and we played lots of old songs, and I just thought that my death metal voice sounded good. There’s also been a little push because of our new drummer, Walt [Väyrynen]. He’s a death metal guy. Mendez [Martín Méndez, Opeth bassist] has been a bit of a horse whisperer, too, saying ‘Maybe you should do something heavier this time…’ In the end I just thought, yeah, let’s give it a try.”
He further said of this forthcoming record:
“It’s a restless record for me. It’s an explosion of ideas, which I like. It’s a bit shorter and snappier. But I definitely didn’t want to rehash anything. The only thing that has come back is some of those death metal screams, but the mindset is still much more forward looking. In typical Opeth fashion, it’s not a direct record that you understand and that you love or hate right away. It takes time and if you put that time into it, you might like it… or hate it! It feels like it was written on a whim. Which it was, in a way! I hear things on this album and think, where the fuck did that come from?”
Opeth‘s new concept album, “The Last Will And Testament“, will be out on October 11th. You can find out more details about it in yesterday’s story on the effort.
