An unstoppable force for uniqueness amid a sea of generic swill, OPETH have been setting the rulebook ablaze and ploughing a uniquely progressive and exploratory furrow for nearly 25 years now. Formed in Stockholm in 1990, the band led by singer, guitarist and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt began life as maverick and honorary members of the then flourishing Swedish death metal scene, but from their earliest recordings onwards this band have neither conformed nor exhibited any desire to be restricted to a single genre.
Displaying a relentless lust for evolutionary motion, OPETH’s first three albums – Orchid (1995), Morningrise (1996) and My Arms, Your Hearse (1998) - set the band firmly apart from everything else that was happening in metal during the 90s. Instinctively brave and effortlessly mysterious, these were groundbreaking records that could be superficially described as ‘progressive death metal’, but which were plainly much more than that: a singular expression of a profound love for music in its bewildering entirety that served the band extremely well over the decades that followed. By the time OPETH released Still Life in 1999 (prompting a spiritual and professional bond with prog icon Steven Wilson that survives to this day) they were simply in a class of their own, taking metal into uncharted territory as a matter of habit as they skilfully weaved all manner of disparate influences into their unmistakable trademark sound.
An instant classic that has gone on to become one of the most revered albums in recent history, 2001’s Blackwater Park proved to be a decisive moment in OPETH’s career, leading them to a succession of extensive tours around the globe and ensuring that the band were universally hailed as something very special indeed. With Åkerfeldt’s musical vision and refusal to kow-tow to current trends propelling them breathlessly forward, the band moved on through the two-headed derring-do of 2002’s Deliverance and its startlingly mellow and pointedly non-metallic follow-up Damnation (2003), enhancing their credentials as true inheritors of progressive rock’s restless spirit along the way. Perfecting their established sound on 2005’s Ghost Reveries and bending it into warped and disturbing shapes on the critically acclaimed Watershed in 2008, OPETH entered their third decade with a formidable reputation and a huge international fan base. A sold out show at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall (later documented on a special live album and DVD) signified that the band were now fully deserving of their status as true greats of the modern age.
And then in 2011, with typical audacity, they released their tenth album, Heritage. Although most fans were immediately entranced by the album’s daring reinvention of the OPETH sound, its contents were hugely adventurous and took the band ever further into an experimental realm that most of their contemporaries would never have even considered, let alone conquered with such breathtaking aplomb. Eschewing the death metal vocal style that had long been a part of their arsenal, Åkerfeldt and his band mates were torching the rulebook once again. Yet more tours followed, including some jaw-dropping acoustic shows that threw fresh light on the whole OPETH experience, and despite a smattering of negative reactions from truculent purists, the Heritage era signalled a heartening revitalization of a band now more than two decades old. And that glorious creative rejuvenation also continued on the band’s eleventh studio album, 2014’s Pale Communion.This album expanded OPETH’s sonic palette beyond all measure while still retaining that mercurial essence that first made them such a unique proposition. Pale Communion is a record that came together intuitively and without compromise, driven forward by the magical chemistry between all five members of the band.
2016 it is time for „Sorceress“, and everyone is anxiously awaiting what the 12th record has to offer. The first album for Nuclear Blast via the band’s imprint label Moderbolaget Records, is proof chief architect Mikael Åkerfeldt has a near-endless well of greatness inside. OPETH’s twelfth full-length is an unparalleled adventure, where visions cleverly and secretly change, colors mute as if weathered by time, and sounds challenge profoundly.
2018, OPETH will release "Garden of the Titans: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheater". This historic event was captured for the DVD, Blu-Ray and Vinyl formats during their performance May 11th, 2017 at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, CO.
Mikael Åkerfeldt (vocals, guitars)
Martin Mendez (bass)
Martin Axenrot (drums)
Fredrik Åkesson (guitars)
Joakim Svalberg (keys)
