The Score Magazine October 2019 | Page 15

There aren't many bands out there, especially in the headbanger-blustered pits of metal, that have courted more musical controversy than Opeth. With the release of their 2011 album Heritage, they abandoned the death metal-driven prog leanings that proved wildly successful, and reoriented their sound to appeal to more experimental ears. In collaboration with Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree fame, Opeth risked enraging loyal fans who liked their growls intact. These Swedish prog-players peppered their pre-Heritage pieces with folk/blues/jazz inspired riffage and paired their Satan-pleasing growls with achingly eloquent ballads. But the decisive shift into plaintive, pastoral, almost mystical soundcraft was a hard pill to swallow for those that would swear by the devil-raising drum solo that closed Deliverance. Primarily fuelled by the creative fumes of vocalist-guitarist Mikael Akerfeldt, Opeth has always exhibited a rare grace in their melodic filings. Always adept at eliciting the guttural roar, Akerfeldt has also charmed listeners by offering nothing less than enchantment with clean vocals. This vocal changeling made almost schizophrenic shifts from tremor- inducing bellows to luminous melodies that would enchant a siren in the sea. When crafting sounds in the death/progressive metal tradition, Akerfeldt and his cohorts knit stories into a tapestry of unexpected sounds. Often, a gentle yet precise piano wanders into the midst of battle-worthy chaos. A seductive acoustic intro that speaks of wistful memories and feather-whisper introspection leads into barrelling death metal. Quiet humming saunters into a massive onslaught of dissonant harmony - all while meandering around disarmingly upbeat vocal harmonies. You wouldn’t expect it, but a touch of funk will appear to lead the gothic-and-giddy carnivalesque into Stevie Wonder-style polyphony. With the recently released In Cauda Venenum, the prog- men have ventured into orchestral exuberance. In line with Akerfeldt’s definition of metal “"aggression, rawness, honesty, rebellious…", it is as metal as one gets. Shredded with vaulting gothic ominosity that wouldn’t seem out of place in a Gregorian-style mass (in a particularly progressive church, of course), it is soaked through with a mix of obscure, early-70s breathy prog modalities. It is impossible not to be particularly charmed by the urgency and melodic conviction of Dignity. The Garroter is plush with an irreverent brand of jazz, yet manages to remain sombre and suspenseful. The album is rife with the surprising camaraderie of otherwise contrary elements - the dreamy patches of Lovelorn Crime resides in perfect unity with the dragon-taming awe of Next of Kin. Now heading back to India to headline NH7 Weekender’s Pune chapter, the band has set plenty of fire and brimstone (the good kind) amidst fans who will, no doubt, expect to surrender their souls to pieces from Ghost Reveries and Pale Communion alike. While we can’t reveal much about what these ever-morphing prog-titans will dole out to delight their audience, we did get to steal some time from guitarist Fredrik Akesson so that he could nudge The Score Magazine with a dash of pre-gig intrigue. With every new album and more songs in your oeuvre, how do you choose what to include in your setlist with every tour? Well, we try to pick songs we haven’t performed on recent tours. Initially we wanted to play songs from every album but that is impossible time-wise since we have 13 studio records out now. Of course we want to play at least 3 or 4 songs from the latest album. So it’s definitely difficult but also exciting to play new songs and some we haven’t performed in a while. What has been the most significant shift in your music, stylistically, conceptually or otherwise - since you became part of Opeth? We have done 4 albums now without the growl vocals and that shift happened after the Watershed album. It took me a while to get used to that shift but now it feels like a natural step for Opeth. Mikael felt he took that style to its peak and the band needed to do something different but still keep the Opeth vibe which I think we succeeded with. Still, we like to perform the older songs live since that style is the foundation of Opeth and the mix of the old and new songs creates good dynamics in the set list. Do you get involved in the lyrical side of composition? The lyrics in Opeth has always been written by Mikael Åkerfeldt. I personally don’t have any ambition to contribute with any lyrics to Opeth. Opeth is known for introducing an extremely tasteful strain of metal - a genre hardly ever associated with the kind of delicate nuance you bring to it. Could you tell us about this graceful, eloquent brand of metal? Wow that was nicely said of you haha..Opeth is influenced by a lot of different styles of music.The Swedish folk tones for instance has been there from the first album Orchid and influences from 70s prog bands like King Crimson,Camel,Pink Floyd Jethro Tull, etc. The list goes on and on. Also influences from metal and hard rock and death metal, of course. We try to be unpredictable for the listeners without losing a red thread. Why the decision to release music in both Swedish and English? Are you planning to play the Swedish versions anywhere except Sweden? Mikael came up with the idea. At first he wanted to do only the Swedish version but after a while we decided to do both. That decision was taken by the band and not our label. The album demo was only recorded in Swedish and we got used to and liked that version. I remember listening to the first song “All things will end” that was played to me at the demo stage. Surprisingly enough, I thought it sounded quite natural. The translation to the English version came about in the studio and luckily it went smoother than we assumed it would be. Lots of the lyrics could be directly translated. Are there certain songs you think work better in Swedish? In that case, do you think non-Swedish speakers would be missing out on something with the English version? Maybe..”Lovelorn crime” is one song that for which I like the Swedish version better, especially the chorus. But I like the variation of both versions. The phrasing of the vocals is different because of the different languages so maybe that’s interesting for the people who are really interested in Opeth. The Score Magazine highonscore.com 13