Opeth faced a chilly reception with their last LP, 2011’s experimental, fusion-leaning Heritage, but that hasn’t stopped frontman/guitarist Mikael Akerfeldt from pushing the boundaries of his band’s music. In a new interview with Decibel (via Blabbermouth), the prog-metal visionary claims he’s already started work on the band’s 11th album, and it’s headed in an “unusual” direction.
“I have about six songs done and another two or three just started,” he says, “plus a million ideas that I haven’t processed yet. Some songs are simple and stripped-down, while others are epic in the true sense of the word. Business as usual, hopefully with unusual music.”
The biggest change on Heritage was the absolute lack of traditional “metal” sounds: no death growls, only a fraction of their usual distortion, and a surprisingly subdued sound across the LP. Of course, Akerfeldt has never been a traditional “metal” songwriter (2003’d Damnation is filled with melodic, melancholy prog, much in the vein of mid-70s Camel), but some of the band’s longtime fans cried foul. Looks like those death-metal purists will have some more complaints about the upcoming LP: Akerfeldt’s planning to record strings on at least a handful of the new tracks.
“Some of these things could easily be done with synthetic sounds or effects,” he said, “but recording the STORM CORROSION LP with Steven Wilson made me realize what a massive difference it can mean to incorporate the real shit. I’m semi-pretentious in my songwriting and sometimes I go all in. I think it’s time for ‘all in’ with strings and the full monty. Hopefully it won’t be a mess.”
One track I’m particularly excited about is described as a “crazy rip-off” of’70s Italian prog-rock band Goblin.
“It’s a jam I came up with during the Mastodon/Ghost tour that we ended up soundchecking,” he says. “After a few days, you’d hear people in the corridors humming it. It’s a fucking hit! But basically it’s a not-so-subtle headbanging-type nod in Goblin’s direction. And to avoid confusion, the song is even called ‘Goblin.’ My rip-off deteriorates mid-song and becomes fusion-esque darkened prog rock like Mahavishnu or ELP. But it swings! It really does.”
By all accounts, this album is going to be incredibly divisive — but hopefully a step-forward from the tentative Heritage. What do you guys think?
“Windowpane” (Live)
“The Devil’s Orchard”
