Zomaar even zestien jaar en vier albums hebben de fans van het eerste uur erop moeten wachten: Mikael Åkerfeldt schraapt zijn stembanden nog eens en duikt de diepste krochten van de hel in. Jawel, de grunts/growls zijn terug… toch op de eerste single §1. “Net op het moment dat ik het gevoel had dat het de fans niet meer uitmaakte.”, zo de geniale bandleader met een glimlach.
Terwijl ik zelf – absoluut fan van zijn cleane zang en dus geen janker – steeds het gevoel had dat hij met elke nieuw album na het hondsbrutale Watershed (2018) dat beest terug zou loslaten. Het zat er sowieso aan te komen en nu is het zo ver. Meteen krijg je ook het gevoel dat de deathmetalinvloeden, die op hetzelfde moment plaats maakten voor meer psychedelische tripjes en jazzy vibes, terug het geluid ingeslopen zijn.
Afwachten echter tot we alles in volle glorie en lengte kunnen beluisteren, want dit is 'slechts' de radio edit.
The Last Will & Testament verschijnt op 11 oktober 2024 via Reigning Phoenix Music / Moderbolaget.
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Opeth vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt over het nieuwe nummer: “I have become quite interested in family, and the idea that blood is not always thicker than water,” Mikael Åkerfeldt explains. “I became interested in how family members can turn on each other. I saw an interview with this guy whose family had all turned against him, over the inheritance, so I wrote a song about that on the last record. The idea stuck with me, and then along came the TV show Succession, and I loved that series. That was in the back of my head too. It felt like an interesting topic that you could twist and turn a little bit.”
Regarding the record's creation, Åkerfeldt adds: "This is the first record with Walt on drums. Seeing and hearing him record his bits was otherworldly and what went through my head was something like: How can a human being play this stuff? The older cats (myself, Mendez, Fred and Jocke) did our bits in due time. We did them well (I like to think) and the alcohol concentration in our blood was mostly quite low as the red light was on. We’re professionals, you see! Rockfield Studios treated us well and we love that place! Stefan Boman recorded and mixed it all (CAPTURED it on TAPE… kind of…). Miles Showell did the master at Abbey Road Studios and then we (myself and Stefan) took him for a curry in Covent Garden. Travis Smith has done this odd-masterpiece-artwork that put 'clothes' on the music. All in all, we hope we’ve put together a nice little morsel of information for you to nibble on when it’s raining out. Thank you for your time. Thank you for reading. Thank you for listening. Thank you for giving us a respectable past. I’ll thank you for our future in the actual future, OK?"
