Oddly enough for a band who have been around for over ten years and with eight albums to their name, Opeth’s popularity appears to be increasing rather than declining. The latest opus 'Ghost Reveries' seems likely to snare a place in the upper reaches of 2005’s end-of-year polls, while the band’s gradual development continues to fly in the face of the music industry’s current practice of ‘breaking’ bands with their first album, only to watch them struggle to match their initial hype with a decent follow-up. Opeth are living proof that taking the slow and steady route to success can be infinitely more rewarding than taking the shortcut. Firmly rooted in death metal but heavily influenced by the prog, psychedelia and space-rock of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Opeth have carved out a unique space in the metal firmament, with each successive release offering a subtle twist on the band’s signature sound.
Backstage at the Forum in Kentish Town, London, Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt (guitars/vocals) and Peter Lindgren (guitars) are in good spirits, even as they acknowledge that a day in London for Opeth is inevitably chaotic and characterised by an endless round of interviews and soundchecks. Later this evening, they will perform a mammoth two-hour set to a packed-out crowd of adoring fans, featuring songs spanning their entire career and some typically sardonic stage banter from Mikael (“Can everybody feel the love in here? It’s okay if you wanna get naked...”). In the meantime however, they’re happy to wax philosophical over their status as a major fixture in the post-millenial metal landscape and make a few contentious - but statements regarding the current state of the scene.
“Extreme metal right now I think is quite uninteresting,” states Mikael. “These bands in the US especially. It's ridiculous what's happening. We just did a tour there called Sounds Of The Underground and I've heard of Gwar, Lamb Of God, Devildriver, Strapping Young Lad and Clutch but the rest of the bands I've never heard of!"
"They've all got three-word names," adds Peter.
“They move the same way on stage, the riffs are the same, their attitudes are the same, you talk about influences and they span maybe five years,” Mikael continues. “They don't have any history. It's almost like they're manufactured bands, because all of them are selling shitloads. More than us, you know? We've been around struggling for fifteen years! I'm not being bitter, but it's just weird that metal has become almost the same as pop music. It feels manufactured to me. Like, there are these guys and they all have this haircut (mimes slicking hair across head) and they are all like, cool and funny, and they all have songs that are the same! I can't believe it's just that I’m an old fart who doesn't go with the flow. It's the same shit, you know?"
Opeth have never really ‘blown up’ at any point in their career. Do you think this has been good for the band?
"I think it's good for all senses of being in a band,” nods Mikael. “It's good for your ego, it's good for your creativity, it's good for your professional personality. Obviously we are happy that we have success at all, but I think that gradual success helped us, because for some of these bands that are getting overnight success, obviously the pressure to make a better follow-up record is so immense that they always fail."
"They're also gonna be gone tomorrow," Peter remarks.
"Yeah, and nobody will remember. Whereas we started out with the first record pretty much alone in the scene doing what we do, and now after 10, 11 years we're still going. We're not the biggest band in the world or anything, but we have a fanbase and we do our thing and we're happy. The only pressure that we have from people and from record labels is that we just continue what we're doing."
Opeth’s history is liberally scattered with ex-members, temporary helpers and countless different permutations. When Mikael and Peter recount the history of their band they present a labyrinthine tale of humble, naive beginnings, constantly shifting personnel and the endless pursuit of perfection through good, old-fashioned hard work.
"It basically started out in 1990,” recalls Mikael. “I wasn't in the band when Opeth started. I was asked to join the band as bass player because I was friends with the singer, who started the band and came up with the name. The other guys in the band didn't like me joining, so me and the singer left - he wanted to be with me, I guess, maybe I had more of a musical vision - and started playing together as a two-piece. Anders Nordin joined, he was the drummer from my first band Eruption and then we had all sorts of different members coming in and out of the band.”
Like many a fledgling death metal outfit, Opeth’s early days were spent lugging equipment from bedroom to rehearsal room, hammering away at their instruments and studiously absorbing the music of their idols (Mikael cites “Therion, Candlemass, Bathory, Voivod, stuff like that.”). It’s endearing to consider the youthful Opeth bumbling through their formative years, especially given the finely honed touring and recording unit the band has since become.
“We were just having fun. We had no cash, no connections, nothing. Nobody really knew who we were. We never recorded demos because we didn't know how! We didn't know about studios or anything like that.”
The period 1991-1992 saw some major line-up changes that would form the basis of the band we recognise today. Peter Lindgren joined on bass (later switching to guitar) and founder member David Isberg left, citing ‘musical differences’. Mikael identifies this as the point at which Opeth really began to take shape.
“I took over on vocals, and I think the proper line-up started. Me, Peter and Anders. We started developing the songs that we recorded for the first Opeth record and spent years and years rehearsing. We didn't do any gigs, only a handful. Maybe five gigs."
Despite a worrying lack of live work, it was during this period that Opeth achieved a level of commitment and dedication verging on the ridiculous, but which would serve them well in years to come. Peter smiles as he recalls the intensive practice regime adopted by the band.
"For a year almost we did six rehearsals a week,” he smiles. “We even rehearsed with the lights out in order to be able to play perfectly! But we didn't have any contacts at all. All other bands did shows, but not us. We got offered three shows, I think, and we did them all, you know?"
"That was the case for a long time,” agrees Mikael. “Even when we did records we didn't get shows. But myself, Peter and Anders rehearsed, then recorded the first album, 'Orchid'. For that we had a session bass player, Johan DeFarfalla. He turned out to be good, so he became a member and did 'Morningrise', the second album, with us as well. We fired him later and the drummer Anders left because he wanted to make money. For him money was a sign of success, and we weren't making any.”
At this point, without a rhythm section or any clear path for the band, things looked rather bleak. Fortunately, a new rhythm section emerged from a rather unexpected source. Um, Uruguay[$italics]...
“We didn't get gigs, didn't have anything. I had a job, but when we were going on our first tour I got fired. Someone stole a guitar and I got the blame. So I had nothing and Peter was studying, the bass player was fired, then Anders wanted to move to Brazil, where he was born. The future looked quite uncertain. But we had one record left for Candlelight and we did that with Martin Lopez on drums. We put out ads around music stores for a drummer and a bass player and got a reply from him and Martin Mendez. They were buddies, they'd moved from Uruguay to Sweden to join a death metal band!”
At first, the two South Americans were not both accepted into Opeth. Lopez was asked to join, but fearing that the introduction of two friends would lead to the formation of two partisan camps within the band, it was some time before Akerfeldt and Lindgren contacted Mendez to offer him the vacant post of bass player. When he was finally asked to join, it was a decision born of necessity rather than preference.
“I played bass on the third record, 'My Arms, Your Hearse',” relates Mikael. “Then we got a gig in London with Cradle Of Filth. We asked Mendez because we didn't know any other bass players and didn't have time to audition anyone. So he became a member.”
This line-up went on to record 1999’s 'Still Life'. A transitional record, this release found the band exploring the 1970s leanings of previous records in greater detail while drawing up the blueprint for the twisted prog metal of 2001’s 'Blackwater Park'. By this time the band had jumped label to Peaceville Records, but there was more change to come.
"Music For Nations had a distribution contract with Peaceville,” Peter explains. “And when it ran out they said 'All we want is Opeth'. We said no at first, but we ended up on Music For Nations, which is probably a good thing."
“Once we did 'Blackwater Park' on Music For Nations things started to happen for real,” agrees Mikael. “We did our first tour in 1996, and between 1996 and 2001 we did maybe one or two shows. Nobody cared about us. But when we did 'Blackwater Park', we got our first US tour, we toured Europe... and the record sold. We got proper distribution set up in the US. Since then it's just been work, work, pretty much all the time."
He isn’t kidding. Opeth have spent the last four years constantly touring and recording with scarcely a minute to reflect. How is it possible to balance this constant band activity with the need for something resembling a ‘normal’ life?
"I don't have a life," states Mikael, bluntly.
"He's married with kids," laughs Peter.
"That's who I was talking to on the phone before the interview,” the guitarist continues. “I was saying goodnight to my daughter. It's rough. When we're touring we're away more than 200 days a year."
Touring has been known to take a hefty toll on the lives of working musicians, and Opeth are no exception. Mikael and Peter have both experienced the downside, having lost friends merely from the fact that they are rarely at home, and when they are, partying is the last thing on their minds.
"I had lots of problems with friends of mine who thought that I was big headed or something,” bristles Mikael. “Because I'm not at home and when I get home, I'm so fucking tired I just sleep. Then we're going out again so they think I'm a diva or something.”
In reality Opeth seem extremely down-to-earth and aware of their own good fortune. Mikael is admirably realistic about the pros and cons of being ‘in demand’.
“It's a rough lifestyle, but it's lovely at the same time. We're doing the things we love. Me and Peter were on a beach in Florida. We had a gig that evening and we were like, 'Do you remember those days when we were carrying all that stuff through the woods to do a rehearsal? Look at us now!' You know?"
Opeth are very much old-school death metal in their attitude towards their fans. However tired you may be, however much you may feel like collapsing in the van, you keep the fans in mind and you don’t act the spoilt rock star. Especially when those fans are as dedicated and critical as Opeth’s.
"It's rough,” admits Mikael. “Because sometimes you simply don't feel like playing that fucking song, or talking to you[$italics], or talking to the fans. That's the worst thing, because we have an obligation to talk to the fans. Some fans are very, very... special[$italics] with this band. If we don't do certain things, they might get very upset. So we always try to take care of our fans, and if we don't, we sure hear it."
Opeth have never been a band to spout holier-than-thou political rhetoric. For many their music represents an escape from the twists and turns, the ambiguities of modern life and the vagaries of politics, in the same way that the metal, prog and folk bands that influenced them (Fairport Convention, Uriah Heep, Steeleye Span et al) retreated from harsh reality into worlds of myth and magic. That said, Opeth are more than willing to take a stand against corporate greed when the situation demands it.
“One thing happened on the last US tour,” begins Mikael. “We had a signing session set up at this greedy company called FYE. They're probably going to talk shit about us but I don't care because they're fucking cunts. They wanted to do a signing session after every show and we were like, 'It'll be the middle of the night, we really don't wanna do it.’ Then eventually we said OK."
"Because they said they were not gonna sell our albums!" adds Peter.
"The first one was in Dallas,” Mikael continues. “We sat down, did it and it was fine. Next day, I checked on the forum and there was a guy who was extremely disappointed. He didn't get his stuff signed because he hadn't bought it at FYE. Obviously, I was like 'Fuck that! We're doing the signing session but everybody gets their stuff signed!' So the next day they pulled out. I think it was the greediest thing I've seen, it was scary that we were the subject of greediness to that extent. I felt horrible! If there's one thing that this band is not, it's greedy. We never went for the cash, ever. Corporate fuckers like FYE think that kind of thing is a good business tool and I guess it is in a way, but it makes us look like fuckin' dicks."
So we’ve established that Opeth are devoted to their fans - where would they be without them, after all - but to what does the band credit the devotion they inspire in their following?
"I think Opeth have that effect on people that once you get in, it's not just like a passing phase that will end in a month. I won't say 'lifestyle', but a lot of people tell me that once they get into Opeth, it almost ruins interest in other bands. I don't know if it's good or bad - it's always fun to hear things like that - but there's something in our music which they connect to. I like to think it's our honesty. We don't make music for anyone else but ourselves and the fact that we have fans at all is a nice side-effect."
"I think we're improving all the time,” offers Peter. “Trying to break boundaries and push ourselves to make our records interesting. Mostly for ourselves, you know? I think that shines through and people think it’s interesting because we're not always exactly the same. But there's an Opeth touch to everything we do, which is important."
SIDEBAR 1: OPETH THROUGH THE AGES
'Orchid' (1995)
Mikael: "It’s our most obscure record. I think we sold 10, 15, 000 copies. It consisted of material we'd been working with for years."
Peter: "We'd been rehearsing so much and this is what we'd done in the first four or five years of our career. We just put everything that we had on that album. We recorded it in about 12 days. There's basically no overdubs or anything. It basically sounds like a well-produced rehearsal."
Mikael: "I like that record better than the second one."
'Morningrise' (1996)
Peter: “Some people consider that our best album, but I think the production is the worst we ever had. It's so thin! No rhythm at all.”
Mikael: "I hate the snare sound. It's the worst. The drum sound on the whole is not good. The songs are as good as the first album, I think, but the production kinda makes you cringe when you listen to it. We were also quite pretentious. I brought a lute to the recording, like a minstrel! I might as well have brought an acoustic guitar but I wanted to have 'lute' in the credits. I was heavily into UK folk rock like Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention.”
'My Arms, Your Hearse' (1998)
Mikael: "That's one of our best, I think. It's very dark and the sound is quite bad. It's very muddy.
Peter: "It's almost like a black metal album. It's hard to actually hear what's going on, it's just a mess! But it's a cool mess, in a way."
Mikael: "I had a cold when I did the vocals and the death vocals are really grim on that record. At first I was very dissatisfied with it. It took me some time to appreciate that record. It's a new style. We got tired of the whole 'twin guitar, Iron Maiden' type of thing. That album is more rhythmic."
'Still Life' (1999)
Mikael: "It's one of my favourites. The songs are very intricate and difficult to play but not in a negative sense. They're still good songs. The recording was very smooth and nice and we were a band again. Everybody played great. It was a new start, you know?”
Peter: "It's a little underrated as well, I mean, people talk about 'Blackwater Park' or some of our other albums, but nobody ever talks about 'Still Life'."
'Blackwater Park' (2001)
Mikael: "I love that record. It was our first time with a producer (Steven Wilson) and we were quite well prepared, most of the songs were finished beforehand. But we we didn't rehearse before the recordings. The only one who knew anything about the songs was me, and I wasn't sure myself. There are some really, really good songs on that album and, I think, some magic."
'Deliverance' (2002)/'Damnation' (2003)
Mikael: "Going into the studio I was worried because I didn't have anything done. The ending of the song 'Deliverance', that was the only thing we had rehearsed. It was a big project. An interesting idea, doing two albums at the same time, and two albums so diverse."
Peter: "We booked the studio where we recorded parts of 'Still Life'. It's an old prog studio with the perfect set up, it's cosy, but the guy who was running it was an alcoholic. The equipment didn't work. Things broke down all the time..."
Mikael: "He broke down. It was very likely to see him passed out on the floor."
Peter: "We had the same amount of time we'd have to record one album to record two. It was stressful and especially in 'Deliverance', you can almost hear the pain.”
Mikael: "We also had some personal problems in the band. I'm quite surprised we managed to do those albums. 'Deliverance' would have been better if we'd been well prepared and the band was in better shape. 'Damnation' on the other hand came out better than I expected. When I listen to 'Deliverance', it's like 'Aaagh!' But I'm very happy 'Damnation' came out the way it did."
'Ghost Reveries' (2005)
Peter: It'll probably take a couple of years for us to have some perspective, but now I think it's my favourite album."
Mikael: It's likely that we're not gonna think it sucks. It's not gonna be our worst. It feels weird to say it about your own stuff but when I listened to it the first time, I got shivers, which is a good sign. We were better prepared and we had learned from our mistakes."
Peter: "Jens Borgen engineered and mixed it, and he was pushing us hard."
Mikael: “As long as it sounds tight I’m fine, you know? But he’d look at the screen, listen on headphones and different speakers and say ‘That’s not tight. You have to do it again’. I’d say, ‘I can’t hear it,’ and he’d go ‘Just do it again. And tune your guitar!’ But it was a good experience.”
Peter: “It’s as close to perfection as we can come.”
SIDEBAR 2: OPETH’S UM, ALBUMS OF 2005...
Terrorizer asked Mikael and Peter - self-professed 'music nerds' - to list their five favourite albums of the year. This was their response...
Mikael: I didn’t discover anything this year. I might have discovered stuff that came out last year, this year.”
Peter: “The new Porcupine Tree album.”
Mikael: “Madder Mortem recorded this year. But that’s gonna be released next year. ‘Desiderata’, it’s called. Very good. I heard the new Katatonia record, also recorded and done but it’s gonna be released next year. I heard it once and it’s great.”
Peter: “I’m expecting that to be one of my favourite albums.”
Mikael: I can’t remember... the new Nile, I thought that was a good death metal record.
Peter: “There’s so much...”
Mikael: “I can’t remember anything, really.”
Peter: “Well you introduced a band to me called Euroboys...”
Mikael: “Euroboys... that’s old. It’s the guitar player from Turbonegro. That’s like, psychedelia. It’s very cool. They released an album last year I think called ‘Soft Focus’, it was a very nice summer-sounding record.”
Peter: There used to be a band called Sixteen Horsepower, who just split up. I bought the albums a while ago but I didn’t actually listen to them until this year. They had a new album out called ‘Consider The Birds’, but that’s probably from the last year.”
Peter: We always call ourselves music nerds, then we can’t come up with anything!”
Mikael: “No, it’s just that there’s loads! You ask me about stuff today and I’m like ‘Huh?’”
Backstage at the Forum in Kentish Town, London, Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt (guitars/vocals) and Peter Lindgren (guitars) are in good spirits, even as they acknowledge that a day in London for Opeth is inevitably chaotic and characterised by an endless round of interviews and soundchecks. Later this evening, they will perform a mammoth two-hour set to a packed-out crowd of adoring fans, featuring songs spanning their entire career and some typically sardonic stage banter from Mikael (“Can everybody feel the love in here? It’s okay if you wanna get naked...”). In the meantime however, they’re happy to wax philosophical over their status as a major fixture in the post-millenial metal landscape and make a few contentious - but statements regarding the current state of the scene.
“Extreme metal right now I think is quite uninteresting,” states Mikael. “These bands in the US especially. It's ridiculous what's happening. We just did a tour there called Sounds Of The Underground and I've heard of Gwar, Lamb Of God, Devildriver, Strapping Young Lad and Clutch but the rest of the bands I've never heard of!"
"They've all got three-word names," adds Peter.
“They move the same way on stage, the riffs are the same, their attitudes are the same, you talk about influences and they span maybe five years,” Mikael continues. “They don't have any history. It's almost like they're manufactured bands, because all of them are selling shitloads. More than us, you know? We've been around struggling for fifteen years! I'm not being bitter, but it's just weird that metal has become almost the same as pop music. It feels manufactured to me. Like, there are these guys and they all have this haircut (mimes slicking hair across head) and they are all like, cool and funny, and they all have songs that are the same! I can't believe it's just that I’m an old fart who doesn't go with the flow. It's the same shit, you know?"
Opeth have never really ‘blown up’ at any point in their career. Do you think this has been good for the band?
"I think it's good for all senses of being in a band,” nods Mikael. “It's good for your ego, it's good for your creativity, it's good for your professional personality. Obviously we are happy that we have success at all, but I think that gradual success helped us, because for some of these bands that are getting overnight success, obviously the pressure to make a better follow-up record is so immense that they always fail."
"They're also gonna be gone tomorrow," Peter remarks.
"Yeah, and nobody will remember. Whereas we started out with the first record pretty much alone in the scene doing what we do, and now after 10, 11 years we're still going. We're not the biggest band in the world or anything, but we have a fanbase and we do our thing and we're happy. The only pressure that we have from people and from record labels is that we just continue what we're doing."
Opeth’s history is liberally scattered with ex-members, temporary helpers and countless different permutations. When Mikael and Peter recount the history of their band they present a labyrinthine tale of humble, naive beginnings, constantly shifting personnel and the endless pursuit of perfection through good, old-fashioned hard work.
"It basically started out in 1990,” recalls Mikael. “I wasn't in the band when Opeth started. I was asked to join the band as bass player because I was friends with the singer, who started the band and came up with the name. The other guys in the band didn't like me joining, so me and the singer left - he wanted to be with me, I guess, maybe I had more of a musical vision - and started playing together as a two-piece. Anders Nordin joined, he was the drummer from my first band Eruption and then we had all sorts of different members coming in and out of the band.”
Like many a fledgling death metal outfit, Opeth’s early days were spent lugging equipment from bedroom to rehearsal room, hammering away at their instruments and studiously absorbing the music of their idols (Mikael cites “Therion, Candlemass, Bathory, Voivod, stuff like that.”). It’s endearing to consider the youthful Opeth bumbling through their formative years, especially given the finely honed touring and recording unit the band has since become.
“We were just having fun. We had no cash, no connections, nothing. Nobody really knew who we were. We never recorded demos because we didn't know how! We didn't know about studios or anything like that.”
The period 1991-1992 saw some major line-up changes that would form the basis of the band we recognise today. Peter Lindgren joined on bass (later switching to guitar) and founder member David Isberg left, citing ‘musical differences’. Mikael identifies this as the point at which Opeth really began to take shape.
“I took over on vocals, and I think the proper line-up started. Me, Peter and Anders. We started developing the songs that we recorded for the first Opeth record and spent years and years rehearsing. We didn't do any gigs, only a handful. Maybe five gigs."
Despite a worrying lack of live work, it was during this period that Opeth achieved a level of commitment and dedication verging on the ridiculous, but which would serve them well in years to come. Peter smiles as he recalls the intensive practice regime adopted by the band.
"For a year almost we did six rehearsals a week,” he smiles. “We even rehearsed with the lights out in order to be able to play perfectly! But we didn't have any contacts at all. All other bands did shows, but not us. We got offered three shows, I think, and we did them all, you know?"
"That was the case for a long time,” agrees Mikael. “Even when we did records we didn't get shows. But myself, Peter and Anders rehearsed, then recorded the first album, 'Orchid'. For that we had a session bass player, Johan DeFarfalla. He turned out to be good, so he became a member and did 'Morningrise', the second album, with us as well. We fired him later and the drummer Anders left because he wanted to make money. For him money was a sign of success, and we weren't making any.”
At this point, without a rhythm section or any clear path for the band, things looked rather bleak. Fortunately, a new rhythm section emerged from a rather unexpected source. Um, Uruguay[$italics]...
“We didn't get gigs, didn't have anything. I had a job, but when we were going on our first tour I got fired. Someone stole a guitar and I got the blame. So I had nothing and Peter was studying, the bass player was fired, then Anders wanted to move to Brazil, where he was born. The future looked quite uncertain. But we had one record left for Candlelight and we did that with Martin Lopez on drums. We put out ads around music stores for a drummer and a bass player and got a reply from him and Martin Mendez. They were buddies, they'd moved from Uruguay to Sweden to join a death metal band!”
At first, the two South Americans were not both accepted into Opeth. Lopez was asked to join, but fearing that the introduction of two friends would lead to the formation of two partisan camps within the band, it was some time before Akerfeldt and Lindgren contacted Mendez to offer him the vacant post of bass player. When he was finally asked to join, it was a decision born of necessity rather than preference.
“I played bass on the third record, 'My Arms, Your Hearse',” relates Mikael. “Then we got a gig in London with Cradle Of Filth. We asked Mendez because we didn't know any other bass players and didn't have time to audition anyone. So he became a member.”
This line-up went on to record 1999’s 'Still Life'. A transitional record, this release found the band exploring the 1970s leanings of previous records in greater detail while drawing up the blueprint for the twisted prog metal of 2001’s 'Blackwater Park'. By this time the band had jumped label to Peaceville Records, but there was more change to come.
"Music For Nations had a distribution contract with Peaceville,” Peter explains. “And when it ran out they said 'All we want is Opeth'. We said no at first, but we ended up on Music For Nations, which is probably a good thing."
“Once we did 'Blackwater Park' on Music For Nations things started to happen for real,” agrees Mikael. “We did our first tour in 1996, and between 1996 and 2001 we did maybe one or two shows. Nobody cared about us. But when we did 'Blackwater Park', we got our first US tour, we toured Europe... and the record sold. We got proper distribution set up in the US. Since then it's just been work, work, pretty much all the time."
He isn’t kidding. Opeth have spent the last four years constantly touring and recording with scarcely a minute to reflect. How is it possible to balance this constant band activity with the need for something resembling a ‘normal’ life?
"I don't have a life," states Mikael, bluntly.
"He's married with kids," laughs Peter.
"That's who I was talking to on the phone before the interview,” the guitarist continues. “I was saying goodnight to my daughter. It's rough. When we're touring we're away more than 200 days a year."
Touring has been known to take a hefty toll on the lives of working musicians, and Opeth are no exception. Mikael and Peter have both experienced the downside, having lost friends merely from the fact that they are rarely at home, and when they are, partying is the last thing on their minds.
"I had lots of problems with friends of mine who thought that I was big headed or something,” bristles Mikael. “Because I'm not at home and when I get home, I'm so fucking tired I just sleep. Then we're going out again so they think I'm a diva or something.”
In reality Opeth seem extremely down-to-earth and aware of their own good fortune. Mikael is admirably realistic about the pros and cons of being ‘in demand’.
“It's a rough lifestyle, but it's lovely at the same time. We're doing the things we love. Me and Peter were on a beach in Florida. We had a gig that evening and we were like, 'Do you remember those days when we were carrying all that stuff through the woods to do a rehearsal? Look at us now!' You know?"
Opeth are very much old-school death metal in their attitude towards their fans. However tired you may be, however much you may feel like collapsing in the van, you keep the fans in mind and you don’t act the spoilt rock star. Especially when those fans are as dedicated and critical as Opeth’s.
"It's rough,” admits Mikael. “Because sometimes you simply don't feel like playing that fucking song, or talking to you[$italics], or talking to the fans. That's the worst thing, because we have an obligation to talk to the fans. Some fans are very, very... special[$italics] with this band. If we don't do certain things, they might get very upset. So we always try to take care of our fans, and if we don't, we sure hear it."
Opeth have never been a band to spout holier-than-thou political rhetoric. For many their music represents an escape from the twists and turns, the ambiguities of modern life and the vagaries of politics, in the same way that the metal, prog and folk bands that influenced them (Fairport Convention, Uriah Heep, Steeleye Span et al) retreated from harsh reality into worlds of myth and magic. That said, Opeth are more than willing to take a stand against corporate greed when the situation demands it.
“One thing happened on the last US tour,” begins Mikael. “We had a signing session set up at this greedy company called FYE. They're probably going to talk shit about us but I don't care because they're fucking cunts. They wanted to do a signing session after every show and we were like, 'It'll be the middle of the night, we really don't wanna do it.’ Then eventually we said OK."
"Because they said they were not gonna sell our albums!" adds Peter.
"The first one was in Dallas,” Mikael continues. “We sat down, did it and it was fine. Next day, I checked on the forum and there was a guy who was extremely disappointed. He didn't get his stuff signed because he hadn't bought it at FYE. Obviously, I was like 'Fuck that! We're doing the signing session but everybody gets their stuff signed!' So the next day they pulled out. I think it was the greediest thing I've seen, it was scary that we were the subject of greediness to that extent. I felt horrible! If there's one thing that this band is not, it's greedy. We never went for the cash, ever. Corporate fuckers like FYE think that kind of thing is a good business tool and I guess it is in a way, but it makes us look like fuckin' dicks."
So we’ve established that Opeth are devoted to their fans - where would they be without them, after all - but to what does the band credit the devotion they inspire in their following?
"I think Opeth have that effect on people that once you get in, it's not just like a passing phase that will end in a month. I won't say 'lifestyle', but a lot of people tell me that once they get into Opeth, it almost ruins interest in other bands. I don't know if it's good or bad - it's always fun to hear things like that - but there's something in our music which they connect to. I like to think it's our honesty. We don't make music for anyone else but ourselves and the fact that we have fans at all is a nice side-effect."
"I think we're improving all the time,” offers Peter. “Trying to break boundaries and push ourselves to make our records interesting. Mostly for ourselves, you know? I think that shines through and people think it’s interesting because we're not always exactly the same. But there's an Opeth touch to everything we do, which is important."
SIDEBAR 1: OPETH THROUGH THE AGES
'Orchid' (1995)
Mikael: "It’s our most obscure record. I think we sold 10, 15, 000 copies. It consisted of material we'd been working with for years."
Peter: "We'd been rehearsing so much and this is what we'd done in the first four or five years of our career. We just put everything that we had on that album. We recorded it in about 12 days. There's basically no overdubs or anything. It basically sounds like a well-produced rehearsal."
Mikael: "I like that record better than the second one."
'Morningrise' (1996)
Peter: “Some people consider that our best album, but I think the production is the worst we ever had. It's so thin! No rhythm at all.”
Mikael: "I hate the snare sound. It's the worst. The drum sound on the whole is not good. The songs are as good as the first album, I think, but the production kinda makes you cringe when you listen to it. We were also quite pretentious. I brought a lute to the recording, like a minstrel! I might as well have brought an acoustic guitar but I wanted to have 'lute' in the credits. I was heavily into UK folk rock like Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention.”
'My Arms, Your Hearse' (1998)
Mikael: "That's one of our best, I think. It's very dark and the sound is quite bad. It's very muddy.
Peter: "It's almost like a black metal album. It's hard to actually hear what's going on, it's just a mess! But it's a cool mess, in a way."
Mikael: "I had a cold when I did the vocals and the death vocals are really grim on that record. At first I was very dissatisfied with it. It took me some time to appreciate that record. It's a new style. We got tired of the whole 'twin guitar, Iron Maiden' type of thing. That album is more rhythmic."
'Still Life' (1999)
Mikael: "It's one of my favourites. The songs are very intricate and difficult to play but not in a negative sense. They're still good songs. The recording was very smooth and nice and we were a band again. Everybody played great. It was a new start, you know?”
Peter: "It's a little underrated as well, I mean, people talk about 'Blackwater Park' or some of our other albums, but nobody ever talks about 'Still Life'."
'Blackwater Park' (2001)
Mikael: "I love that record. It was our first time with a producer (Steven Wilson) and we were quite well prepared, most of the songs were finished beforehand. But we we didn't rehearse before the recordings. The only one who knew anything about the songs was me, and I wasn't sure myself. There are some really, really good songs on that album and, I think, some magic."
'Deliverance' (2002)/'Damnation' (2003)
Mikael: "Going into the studio I was worried because I didn't have anything done. The ending of the song 'Deliverance', that was the only thing we had rehearsed. It was a big project. An interesting idea, doing two albums at the same time, and two albums so diverse."
Peter: "We booked the studio where we recorded parts of 'Still Life'. It's an old prog studio with the perfect set up, it's cosy, but the guy who was running it was an alcoholic. The equipment didn't work. Things broke down all the time..."
Mikael: "He broke down. It was very likely to see him passed out on the floor."
Peter: "We had the same amount of time we'd have to record one album to record two. It was stressful and especially in 'Deliverance', you can almost hear the pain.”
Mikael: "We also had some personal problems in the band. I'm quite surprised we managed to do those albums. 'Deliverance' would have been better if we'd been well prepared and the band was in better shape. 'Damnation' on the other hand came out better than I expected. When I listen to 'Deliverance', it's like 'Aaagh!' But I'm very happy 'Damnation' came out the way it did."
'Ghost Reveries' (2005)
Peter: It'll probably take a couple of years for us to have some perspective, but now I think it's my favourite album."
Mikael: It's likely that we're not gonna think it sucks. It's not gonna be our worst. It feels weird to say it about your own stuff but when I listened to it the first time, I got shivers, which is a good sign. We were better prepared and we had learned from our mistakes."
Peter: "Jens Borgen engineered and mixed it, and he was pushing us hard."
Mikael: “As long as it sounds tight I’m fine, you know? But he’d look at the screen, listen on headphones and different speakers and say ‘That’s not tight. You have to do it again’. I’d say, ‘I can’t hear it,’ and he’d go ‘Just do it again. And tune your guitar!’ But it was a good experience.”
Peter: “It’s as close to perfection as we can come.”
SIDEBAR 2: OPETH’S UM, ALBUMS OF 2005...
Terrorizer asked Mikael and Peter - self-professed 'music nerds' - to list their five favourite albums of the year. This was their response...
Mikael: I didn’t discover anything this year. I might have discovered stuff that came out last year, this year.”
Peter: “The new Porcupine Tree album.”
Mikael: “Madder Mortem recorded this year. But that’s gonna be released next year. ‘Desiderata’, it’s called. Very good. I heard the new Katatonia record, also recorded and done but it’s gonna be released next year. I heard it once and it’s great.”
Peter: “I’m expecting that to be one of my favourite albums.”
Mikael: I can’t remember... the new Nile, I thought that was a good death metal record.
Peter: “There’s so much...”
Mikael: “I can’t remember anything, really.”
Peter: “Well you introduced a band to me called Euroboys...”
Mikael: “Euroboys... that’s old. It’s the guitar player from Turbonegro. That’s like, psychedelia. It’s very cool. They released an album last year I think called ‘Soft Focus’, it was a very nice summer-sounding record.”
Peter: There used to be a band called Sixteen Horsepower, who just split up. I bought the albums a while ago but I didn’t actually listen to them until this year. They had a new album out called ‘Consider The Birds’, but that’s probably from the last year.”
Peter: We always call ourselves music nerds, then we can’t come up with anything!”
Mikael: “No, it’s just that there’s loads! You ask me about stuff today and I’m like ‘Huh?’”
