Never meet your heroes, the saying goes – but Opeth have had a blast working with Ian Anderson on their latest album, The Last Will And Testament. Band leader Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson discuss their proggiest album to date, the return of the growl, and why blood isn’t always thicker than water.
When Swedish prog metal kings Opeth played London’s Eventim Apollo in November 2022, their minds weren’t on King Crimson, Camel or Genesis. They were thinking about the bands who’d made the venue a part of heavy metal history. “To me it’s still the Hammersmith Odeon,” says guitarist Fredrik Åkesson. “That venue has so much history hosting bands like Saxon, Maiden and Motörhead when I was a kid – it’s legendary.”
There were other reasons that night was momentous. The UK stop on their Evolution XXX tour was a chance to celebrate 30 years of achievement, Opeth’s ascension from extreme metal cult heroes to game-changing prog metal torchbearers, paving the way for everyone from Gojira to Jinjer. But even with a packed house and thousands of fans waiting, there was only one face Fredrik was focused on as he played. “I looked up into the balcony and Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden was there, air drumming!”
It’s testament to just how far Opeth have come that they not only regularly pack out massive venues around the world – Sydney Opera House, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Wembley Arena, they’ve done the lot – but have also earned the respect and admiration of some of music’s leading figures. It hasn’t always been the case, though. Their first decade was spent largely trying to outrun a bum reputation inherited from an earlier incarnation of the group. Their ambitious songcraft and clear progressive leanings were an uphill battle best summarised when frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt told Prog in 2023: “People thought we were shit.”
Thankfully, by the 2000s their reputation had shifted. From 2001’s Blackwater Park to 2008’s Watershed, Opeth cemented themselves as one of extreme metal’s most critically revered and boundary-pushing groups. So naturally, they ditched extremity altogether. From 2011’s Heritage onwards, they embraced 70s prog with intricate, complex songs that left their death metal accomplishments gathering dust. Their career thrived – the band found new audiences, even as metal purists decried them from the wings. But who says they can’t go back?
In the summer Opeth released §1, their first single since 2019. On that year’s album, In Cauda Venenum, they’d crossed much of their more technical post-Heritage songcraft with metallic heft, befitting a band that now headlined festivals and could play arenas. They also wrote songs entirely in their native Swedish tongue for the first time. Everyone wondered where they might go next – but nobody was prepared for the return of death metal vocals. At the 77th second §1, Åkerfeldt growled for the first time on record in almost 16 years: ‘Draped in death/the howl of lore.’
Fan response was immediate and, by and large, ecstatic. Loudest were the followers who’d been waiting for a return to extreme metal roots, particularly given Opeth had never stopped playing those songs live. But what about their the fans they’d gained in the past decade of psychedelic hues, symphonic swells and jazz breaks? (Disclaimer: although the album features the return of some death growls, overall The Last Will And Testament is probably the proggiest album they’ve released thus far.)
It’s a humid September day, but thankfully the thick, sticky air is nullified by the coolness of the hotel’s subterranean cinema room. Black and white portraits of Kurt Cobain and Ozzy Osbourne on the walls lend a sense of stylish, sanitised bohemia. It’s rock’n’roll, but with the crusts cut off. So, what’s with the fancy digs?
Fans asked, ‘Why did you stop doing death metal vocals?’ Now it’s, ‘Why have you started doing death metal vocals?’
Mikael Åkerfeldt
“It’s the Maiden hotel!” Åkesson says, elaborating that the metal legends opened the site back in 2009 and still have ties to it now. Dickinson attending Opeth gigs aside, they’re not the most obvious bands you’d pair up – but Åkesson admits Maiden inspired Opeth as much as they have countless other metal outfits. “Besides, Iron Maiden have a progressive side,” he points out. “You know, one of Steve Harris’s favourite bands is Jethro Tull. And we got Ian Anderson on our album!”
Musically, The Last Will And Testament expands on the technical complexity that made In Cauda Venenum so brilliant, with latest member Waltteri Väyrynen proving a deft hand at the drum kit as they switch between bombastic, metallic booms and jazz-like skittering beats. “It’s exciting!” Åkesson says. “It’s hopefully rewarding; we’ve put so much time into the album. I’m curious about how people will react.”
Both band members are practically bubbly as they discuss their 14th LP. Åkerfeldt admits he’s made an internal promise to “not be the usual grumpy, cynical bastard” – and we’re inclined to believe him. There’s a palpable sense of excitement around the record. §1 certainly got gums flapping, probably as much as they did when the band ditched those death metal elements on Heritage.
“Lots of people have hang-ups on the vocals,” Åkerfeldt acknowledges. “What I remember from those days was fans asking us constantly, ‘Why did you stop doing death metal vocals?’ Now it’s, ‘Why have you started doing death metal vocals?’ There’s so much focus on this aspect of our sound. Just remember there are other elements too!
“We need that curiosity to always be asking, ‘Well, what’s behind this tree?’” he explains. “I know that can be difficult for some fans – especially in metal, where purity is prized. You end up provoking that identity by doing something like Heritage. It can get boring if people just keep doing the same. For all the talk of ‘next Metallicas’ you can’t get better than the very best at something; when has a carbon copy ever been better? It’s like Highlander – there can be only one!”
Our family stretches back to Polish nobility. I’m hoping someone will call and be like, ‘You own 10 castles in Warsaw!’
Mikael Åkerfeld
Where does that leave Opeth when it comes to finding their space in the prog and metal scenes? “I really wanted to be accepted in the prog scene, but when we were starting, contemporary prog just wasn’t interesting to me – until Porcupine Tree anyway,” Åkerfeldt says. “I wanted to get some kind of acceptance from our very small domestic scene. Three tiny bands formed around a Mellotron: Anekdoten, Änglagård and Landberk. Perhaps due to our associations with Steven Wilson, we banana-peeled our way into that scene. In turn, they started checking out death metal prog or whatever you want to call it. But I wouldn’t say either scene has been more important to us. Now we’ve merged.”
The Last Will And Testament certainly seems to put truth to that statement: it represents some of the most inventive and technically impressive music the band have ever made. It’s also Opeth’s first full concept record since 1999’s Still Life. “We sort of tried the concept record on Ghost Reveries but it ended up getting amputated,” Åkerfeldt admits. For The Last Will And Testament, no such amputations were required. He had a clear idea: the album would be a period piece, set in a pre-World War II-era and concerning a wealthy family whose patriarch has just died.
Each track would be a paragraph from the titular will, read to the surviving children who expect to inherit the fortune. There would be revelations, recriminations and, finally, restitution, with plenty of twists and turns along the way – not least in the only named track on the record, A Story Never Told, which adds a final spike to the tale.
“My grandfather was working on a family tree and he said our family stretches back to Polish nobility. So I’m hoping someone will call me and be like, ‘Hey, you own 10 castles in Warsaw!’” Åkerfeldt jokes. “Though the problem would be that my sister would probably own, like, nine... Then, blood isn’t thicker than water! To me, that idea is fascinating – that you can have a family who love each other, or at the very least care for each other, but the second this wad of cash gets involved they become sworn enemies for the remainder of their lives.”
Ian Anderson has been on my radar since I picked up the first Jethro Tull record – to me he’s a modern Beethoven. I never dreamed he would play on our songs
Mikael Åkerfeld
So far as prog metal concept records go, it’s less 1984, more Knives Out. But then, given both Åkesson and Åkerfeldt are fathers – the latter’s youngest, Mirjam, even adds some narration to the record – it’s also a concept that perhaps hits closer to home more than anything they did 20 years ago.
“My oldest daughter turns 20 in September, so I guess 20 years ago I was a very different person,” Åkerfeldt reflects. “Back then I was more interested in Satan and death than talking about families, secrets and inheritance! Now, having a family, you start to empathise with the idea of a family tragedy.”
Åkerfeldt’s daughter is by no means the only guest on the album. Tull mainstay Ian Anderson also plays a pivotal role, providing narration that helps focus the narrative as well as displaying some of his signature flute skills. The Tull influence has been evident in Opeth’s sound for years – most notably singled out on Famine from their prog-purest album, Heritage.
“Mikael actually reached out to Ian for that album, but he never got a reply,” Åkesson recalls. “Luckily we found Björn J:son Lindh, who passed away not long after recording flutes for that album. But he worked with ABBA – that tells you the calibre of musician he was.”
Although denied that chance to work with Anderson, their paths would eventually cross when Tull played Stockholm in 2022. “It was around the finishing stages of Covid. He was halfway up a flight of stairs chatting to us with a mask on,” Åkerfeldt remembers. “Ian has been on my radar since I picked up the first Jethro Tull record – to me he’s a modern Beethoven. I never dreamed he would play on our songs, but now it’s reality.”
Another iconic figure to pop up on the album is Europe’s Joey Tempest, who provides guest vocals on §2. Åkerfeldt has hardly been quiet about his love for Europe – when Prog last spoke to him he was hungover after seeing them – but their Tempest popping up on a prog metal record remains a shock. Though, as Opeth tell it, the ties between the two bands are tighter than you’d think. “I came from the same suburb as Europe; I used to play a lot with John Norum, their guitar player. I also had a band with [bassist] John Levén,” Åkesson reveals.
If Taylor Swift wanted to sing on our records and I didn’t like her voice... you’re not singing on my record! Maybe I’d say yes, actually
Mikael Åkerfeld
“I went drinking with Levén and he borrowed money from me that I think he still hasn’t paid me back. Bastard!” Åkerfeldt says. “He did introduce me to the other guys, though, so I guess that’s OK. I got to know Joey; I couldn’t believe he knew I existed, let alone that he’d come to our gigs. When he had lunch at my place, I told him about the part on the record. I sang it, and it wasn’t shit, but I was emulating his type of voice. So I asked him.”
While guests are a rarity on Opeth records, Åkerfeldt is quick to refute any idea that their appearance would somehow dilute the band’s vision. “I’m pretty ruthless with our music. If Taylor Swift wanted to sing on our records and I didn’t like her voice... fuck you, you’re not singing on my record!”
He considers for a moment. “Maybe I’d say yes, actually. But ultimately it comes down to the quality. And are they doing something I can’t? In this case for both, absolutely yes.”
Work began on The Last Will And Testament in summer 2023, and Opeth decamping to Rockfield Studios in Wales in early 2024 to record the final product. But with its full concept and the guest appearances, how can the album be adapted for live shows? “We never really play the songs as they sound on record,” Åkerfeldt says. “We’re constantly facing a situation of us rearranging the songs so they can be played by the five of us, as opposed to the number of tracks we can use in the studio. We have to delegate certain parts.”
“I’m doing the Tempest bit!” Åkesson adds in mock-horror.
Given Opeth’s ascension to festival headliner status, what venues are left for the band to play? “Madison Square Garden, maybe. But I doubt we’ll ever do that,” Åkerfeldt reflects.
Our manager said, ‘Ten years from now you’ll be playing the Albert Hall.’ Yeah, right! Then we ended up there
Mikael Åkerfeld
“I guess for us, Hammersmith was the one,” Åkesson says. “I remember we played Massey Hall in Canada and all I could think was about Rush’s Exit... Stage Left. I didn’t even know that was where it was recorded before we got in there, to be honest.”
Åkerfeld notes: “Sometimes you go to one of these ‘legendary’ venues and they’re pretty underwhelming. ‘Oh, it’s a venue.’ Not Red Rocks, though – the scenery there was amazing. When we signed with our manager, Andy Farrow, we were working on Blackwater Park. He said, ‘Ten years from now, you’ll be playing the Albert Hall.’ Yeah, right! Then we ended up there! We need to go the other way now; go play the Camden Underworld or something. We’re getting too big-headed… who do we think we are?”
