OPETH In-Studio

Exclusive: OPETH In-Studio, New Line-Up Photos Available; "It’s Not So Catchy And It’s Not Very Commercial Sounding" Says Mikael Åkerfeldt About New Record

BW&BK is able to preview a pair of exclusive in-studio photos and a shot of OPETH's new line-up that features Mikael Åkerfeldt (vocals, guitar), Fredrik Åkesson (guitar), Martin Mendez (bass), Martin "Axe" Axenrot (drums) and Per Wiberg (keyboards, mellotron) - click here to view the BW&BK Gallery.

In other news, BW&BK scribe Dom Lawson spoke to Opeth leader Mikael Åkerfeldt for an in-depth studio report that will appear in BW&BK's first issue of 2008 - #109, out in late February.

An excerpt from the chat follows:

BW&BK: What exactly does the new Opeth record sound like? Will it be as diverse and extravagant as Ghost Reveries, as mellow and graceful as Damnation or as skull-mincingly heavy as My Arms Your Hearse?
“All I wanted was for it to sound fucking exciting,” states Akerfeldt. “I think that if you listen to the album now, listening in real time, you’ll reach the middle of the album and you can almost hear us moving, changing, going somewhere, but I don’t know exactly where! Usually I use words like ‘really progressive’ and so on, but this time I don’t really know what to say. It’s very extreme in parts and it’s extreme in both directions. It’s not so catchy and it’s not very commercial sounding.”

BW&BK: Although it will be many weeks before most of us get a chance to listen to the new Opeth album in its entirety, Akerfeldt has been eager to play his latest song to those who know him best. Thus far, it seems that reactions could not have been any better.
“The people I’ve played it to have been blown away,” he says. “I played it to Anders and Jonas from KATATONIA, and some label people have heard it, and some friends and my wife. The people that would dare to say so if it was shit! Anders called me up after he heard a version of the master and he said that it was the best album we’ve done. That’s all I need to hear. The fans will obviously be divided but I can’t be bothered about that. That doesn’t really matter. Worrying about that doesn’t change anything.”

Recorded at Fascination Street, in Orebro, just south of Stockholm, the titled-but-we’re-not-telling-you-yet new album features seven new Akerfeldt compositions and was produced in collaboration with studio owner Jens Bogren. The first Opeth album to feature the talents of both drummer Martin ‘Axe’ Axenrod and guitarist Fredrik Akesson (ex-Arch Enemy), it’s an album that Mikael Akerfeldt considers to be crucial in the band’s ongoing evolution.


(Photos by Jesper Thorsson)

OPETH On BRUCE DICKINSON's BBC 6 Music Friday Rock Show; Replay Available

Swedish prog-metal gods OPETH were guests on IRON MAIDEN singer BRUCE DICKINSON's BBC 6 Music Friday Rock Show last night (May 30th) and talked about their upcoming album Watershed among other topics. Click here to listen to a replay.

Opeth's new album Watershed is due out on June 3rd in North America - a day earlier internationally via Roadrunner. The album will be released as a Regular Edition CD and Collector's Edition two-disc CD/DVD and Limited Edition 180-gram Vinyl.

Watershed tracklisting: 'Coil', 'Heir Apparent', 'The Lotus Eater', 'Burden', 'Porcelain Heart', 'Hessian Peel', 'Hex Omega'.

The Collector's Edition 2-disc CD/DVD set includes three bonus tracks - 'Bridge Of Sighs' from ROBIN TROWER's 1974 album of the same title, 'Den Ständiga Resan' (sung in Swedish) by Marie Fredriksson as well as the classic ALICE IN CHAINS song, 'Would?' - 5.1 audio mix of the entire album, extensive video content, and expanded artwork.

Limited Edition 180-Gram Double LP Set includes bonus track, exclusive poster and expanded artwork and more.

Watershed was recorded at Fascination street studios during November 1 and December 13. Some additional recordings were done between January 3rd and 7th. Produced by Jens Bogren and Mikael Åkerfeldt and Opeth.

OPETH Mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt - "We Could Tour Forever If We Wanted To"

Peter Atkinson from KNAC.com spoke to OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

KNAC.com: After this, you've got a pretty busy schedule, European festivals, Asia, Israel, Australia and then back to the states?
Åkerfeldt: "We're going to tour a lot, we're booked for the rest of the year, and for a lot of next year as well. It won't be as tough a slog as last time where we were out almost constantly for a year and a half. The European tour we're doing is not all that long, we're doing select cities. And I'm not sure if we're going to be doing a second and third leg in America, although it is a big country and there is a demand for us for some reason (laughs). When we come back again we'll start on the 15th of September and go to Oct. 26.

We could tour forever if we wanted to. We just want to promote the album properly. We don't want to overplay certain areas, which I think we did to a certain extent last time. But we've had some good results from those tours. We see a lot of people coming out to our shows. Basically, everywhere we play we never have to be worried if somebody's going to show up."

KNAC.com: Your MySpace album blurbs says Watershed 'takes Opeth where it's never gone before.' How so?
Åkerfeldt: "It's different, I guess. The original idea for the album was to make a metal version of Scott Walker's The Drift, which is the most influential album I've heard in the last 10 years. But I couldn't really do it, it's like a pipe dream in a way. I usually come up with the best stuff when I don't really think about it too much, or I don't push myself in certain directions. And we've got two new members in the band. Somehow I felt like I had more freedom writing this time around and we ended up having stuff in there that we probably wouldn't have used before. Like there's a funk kind of riff in 'The Lotus Eater.' It's a bit humorous in a way. It's serious, but if I were not in the band and was listening to the album, I would think "Well, they seem to be enjoying themselves doing this." Where we'd always been miserable in the past."

KNAC.com: I spoke last week with Ihsahn from Emperor and we talked about your collaboration on his solo album. What did you make of the experience?

Åkerfeldt: "I did it while we were recording in our album, just one night. He sent me a digital copy of the music for the song and the lyrics and said 'knock yourself out, do whatever you want to do.' I was really tired, it was the middle of the night when I did it, but it came out fine and most importantly he was very happy with it. I love him, he's a good friend of mine, and we're very much in the same situation. He's got two kids now and a wife and he's fronting a metal band, or at least he used to be. And we're basically the same age, so we've got a lot in common. And we've been around for a long time, we've kind of got past the kind of rebellious thing of being in a metal band, now we're just musicians. At least that's the way I see it."

To read the entire interview head to this location.

OPETH - Video Interview From Rock Am Ring Available

OPETH's Mikael Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Åkesson are featured in a brief video interview conducted by Rebel TV at this year's Rock am Ring festival in Nürburgring, Germany. Check it out at this location.

“I do wear my influences on my sleeve,” leader Mikael Akerfeldt told BW&BK recently. “So some of the references on this album might be quite easy to pick up. I have progressive rock to thank for a lot of things. We found our style as a band pretty early on, and maybe we’re not pioneers or whatever, but it really helped us to develop songs and our own identity. Putting something like ‘Coil’ first on an album, our fans will just accept it. It’s a great position to be in. I don’t even see us as just metal musicians anymore. We’re musicians, and that’s it. I was speaking to Steve Wilson from PORCUPINE TREE recently, and he said, ‘I think this is your masterpiece! You’re not really a metal band anymore, you’re just Opeth!’ and I love that.”

Watch for a major cover feature on Opeth to appear in BW&BK #111 - out this month!

Opeth - 'Porcelain Heart':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKx5zrb0Z_0&eurl=http://www.bravewords.com/news/91195

OPETH - More Watershed International Chart Entries

OPETH's new album Watershed has achieved more international chart entries - an updated list follows:

Finland - #1
Sweden - #7
Norway - #7
Australia - #7
Holland - #14
Japan - #15 (Oricon chart)
Canada - #17 (#2 on the Hard Music Chart)
USA - #23
UK - #34
Italy - #42
Ireland - #59

Watershed is out now as a Regular Edition CD and Collector's Edition two-disc CD/DVD and Limited Edition 180-gram Vinyl.

Watershed tracklisting:
'Coil',
'Heir Apparent',
'The Lotus Eater',
'Burden',
'Porcelain Heart',
'Hessian Peel',
'Hex Omega'.

The Collector's Edition 2-disc CD/DVD set includes three bonus tracks - 'Bridge Of Sighs' from ROBIN TROWER's 1974 album of the same title, 'Den Ständiga Resan' (sung in Swedish) by Marie Fredriksson as well as the classic ALICE IN CHAINS song, 'Would?' - 5.1 audio mix of the entire album, extensive video content, and expanded artwork.

Limited Edition 180-Gram Double LP Set includes bonus track, exclusive poster and expanded artwork and more.

OPETH String Tribute Samples Streaming Online

www.Amazon.com are currently streaming samples of all tracks featured on the newly released OPETH String Tribute collection.

Released this week through Cc Ent / Copycats, the collection (artwork pictured at left, click to enlarge) features the following tracks:


'Porcelain Heart',
'Windowpane',
'Bleak', 'Harvest',
'Death Whispered A Lullaby',
'In My Time Of Need',
'Dirge For November',
'Soldier Of Fortune',
'The Funeral Portrait',
'Hope Leaves'.

Check out the streaming samples at Amazon.com.

Opeth's new album Watershed has achieved the following international chart entries:

Finland - #1
Sweden - #7
Norway - #7
Australia - #7
Holland - #14
Japan - #15 (Oricon chart)
Canada - #17 (#2 on the Hard Music Chart)
USA - #23
UK - #34
Italy - #42
Ireland - #59

Watershed is out now as a Regular Edition CD and Collector's Edition two-disc CD/DVD and Limited Edition 180-gram Vinyl.

Watershed tracklisting:
'Coil',
'Heir Apparent',
'The Lotus Eater',
'Burden',
'Porcelain Heart',
'Hessian Peel',
'Hex Omega'.

The Collector's Edition 2-disc CD/DVD set includes three bonus tracks - 'Bridge Of Sighs' from ROBIN TROWER's 1974 album of the same title, 'Den Ständiga Resan' (sung in Swedish) by Marie Fredriksson as well as the classic ALICE IN CHAINS song, 'Would?' - 5.1 audio mix of the entire album, extensive video content, and expanded artwork.

Limited Edition 180-Gram Double LP Set includes bonus track, exclusive poster and expanded artwork and more