Swedish progressive metallers OPETH have released a drum playthrough video of their new single, “§1”by drummer Waltteri Väyrynen. Check it out below. Also available is the previously released guitar playthrough video of “§1” by guitarist Fredrik Åkesson.
“§1” is taken from OPETH‘s upcoming album, “The Last Will And Testament”which will arrive on October 11 via Reigning Phoenix Music/Modernbolaget.
Asked in a recent interview with Bloodstock TV‘s Oran O’Beirne if “§1”which contains growing vowels from OPETH guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldtis representative of the entire record, Mikael said: “Yeah, I think so. Maybe. I mean, in that sense, yeah. There is some screams on the other songs — not all of them, but on some of the other songs. Good screams, I must say. It’s a very restless record. Somebody said claustrophobic. And it’s not a very happy record. It’s very – I mean, every metal band says the word ‘dark’, but it’s… restless, it is my best, to sum it up. ‘t linger on anything. It’s just like an explosion of ideas. TikTok.”
Regarding the “The Last Will And Testament” album title, Mikael said: “Yeah, well, it is a concept record that basically starts with the… The whole record is about the reading of the last will and testament of this main character that’s passed away — a rich, old fuck. Conservative, old, stern , noble patriarch who passed away, and the record starts when he summoned his three children to go through with solicitors, his last will and testament.”
Asked how he came up with the concept for the new OPETH album, Mikael said: “It’s not completely my idea. I got interested in the topic even on the last record. There’s a song on there called, the English title was ‘Universal Truth’ — I think we did a video for that one — which also dealt with kind of those types of, like how blood’s not always thicker than water, how money can drive family members into chaos. So I got interested in that topic. And also along comes the TV series ‘Succession’which is, I’m not sure if you’ve seen it, but a great TV series about a power struggle between siblings taking over after their Murdoch-type father.”
He added: “It’s interesting. And it also helps me if I have a theme of sorts if I’m gonna write lyrics. Otherwise, I end up writing stuff, I don’t even know what they mean.”
OPETH‘s fourteenth album was written by Åkerfeldtwith lyrics conferred with Klara Rönnqvist Fors (THE HEARDex-CRUCIFIED BARBARA). “The Last Will And Testament” was co-produced by Åkerfeldt and Stefan Boman (GHOST, THE HELLACOPTERS),engineered by Boman, Joe Jones (KILLING JOKE, ROBERT PLANT) and OPETHwith Boman, Åkerfeldt and the rest of OPETH mixing at Atlantis and Hammerthorpe Studios in Stockholm. The strings on “The Last Will And Testament” were arranged by Åkerfeldt and returning prog friend Dave Stewart (EGG, KHAN) and conducted by Stewart at Angel Studios in London. Not one to miss a beat, visual artist Travis Smith returns to the fold, crafting his 11th cover, a haunting “photograph” reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick‘s infamous “Overlook Hotel” photograph. Miles Showell (ABBA, QUEEN) also revisits mastering and vinyl lacquer cutting at Abbey Road Studios in London.
Åkerfeldt rolls out the red carpet for storied flutist and JETHRO TULL mainman Ian Anderson. Not only do Anderson‘s signature notes fly on “§4” and “§7”he narrates on “§1”, “§2”, “§4”and “§7”. Joining Anderson, EUROPE‘s Joey Tempest lends a backing vocal hand on “§2”while Åkerfeldt‘s youngest daughter, Mirjam Åkerfeldtis the disembodied voice in “§1”.
“The Last Will And Testament” is a concept album set in the post-World War I era, unfolding the story of a wealthy, conservative patriarch whose last will and testament reveals shocking family secrets. The narrative weaves through the patriarch’s confessions, the reactions of his twin children, and the mysterious presence of a polio-ridden girl whom the family has taken care of. The album begins with the reading of the father’s will of him in his mansion of him. Among those in attendance is a young girl, who, despite being an orphan and polio-ridden, has been raised by her family. Her presence de ella at the will reading de ella raises suspicions and questions among the twins.
“The Last Will And Testament” is the darkest and heaviest record OPETH has made in decades, and it is also the band’s most fearlessly progressive. A concept album recounting the reading of one recently deceased man’s will to an audience of his surviving family members, it brims with haunting melodrama, shocking revelations and some of the wildest and most unpredictable music that Åkerfeldt has ever written.
The follow-up to 2019’s widely acclaimed “In Cauda Venenum”, “The Last Will And Testament” is set in the shadowy, sepia-stained 1920s. It slowly reveals its secrets like some classic thriller from the distant, cobwebbed past, with each successive song shining more light on the stated machinations of our dead (but definitely not harmless) protagonist. The emotional chaos of the story is perfectly matched by OPETH‘s vivid but claustrophobic soundtrack, which artfully winds its way towards a crestfallen but sumptuous finale. Masters of their own idiosyncratic musical domain, OPETH have never sounded more unique.
“The Last Will And Testament” is destined to be a milestone in OPETH‘s illustrious recorded history. The band’s first out-and-out concept record, it features guest cameos from JETHRO TULL legend Ian Anderson and Joey Tempestfrontman with Swedish rock gods EUROPE. Only one of the album’s eight songs has a title: closing ballad “A Story Never Told”. The rest are simply labeled as numbered chapters in this slowly unfolding saga of deceit, recrimination and betrayal. Enigmatic, unsettling and immersive, “The Last Will And Testament” is a turbulent, prog metal tale like no other.
Making his recorded debut alongside OPETH‘s long-established lineup of Mikael Åkerfeldtguitarist Fredrik Åkessonbassist Martin Mendez and keyboard master Joakim Svalberg on “The Last Will And Testament” is a new drummer Waltteri Väyrynenwho joined the band in 2022.
In a recent interview with Marcus Schleutermann of EMP, Åkerfeldt was asked how “The Last Will And Testament” is different from other OPETH albums. Mikael said: “I don’t know. It’s weird. That’s not really different for us, I guess. But I’m doing some of the screams again, which I haven’t done for a long time. And there’s some guests on there . Ian Anderson from JETHRO TULL is on there doing spoken word and playing flute. And Joey Tempest [of EUROPE] is on it. But, yeah, it’s a concept record. Somebody said it sounds claustrophobic. It’s a claustrophobic-sounding record. And there’s a lot of ideas. It’s a restless record. There’s not meandering stuff happening all the time. Even I don’t really know the songs yet. But, of course, I would say that, but I think it’s good — it’s a good record.”
Regarding Joey‘s contributions to “The Last Will And Testament”, Mikael said: “Tempest doesn’t sound like Tempest on [EUROPE‘s biggest hit] ‘The Final Countdown’. I had him over at my house. I asked him, ‘Could you sing a few lines?’ ‘Let’s push the record button,’ he said. At the time I didn’t have the lyrics ready, so I was, like, ‘I’m sorry. I have to record it from somewhere else.’ But he’s really going for it. He sounds amazing. I mean, I’m a big EUROPE fan, being Swedish. I love them. And I think for him to be on this record, it’s a bit different by his standards because it doesn’t really sound like a EUROPE record at all.”
Asked if he and Joey are friends, Mikael said: “I guess. I guess we’re friends. Yeah. He sent me a text one day. It’s, like, ‘What’s up?’ And I was, like, ‘Hey, Joey Tempest.’ And we met at festivals, and he invited me over to his house. I mean, we know the EUROPE guys. Fredrikone of his best friends is [John] Norumthe [EUROPE] guitar player. So, we’re good friends with the whole band. But, yeah, Joey Tempest“We hang out every now and then.”
On the possibility of a OPETH/EUROPE joint tour, Mikael said: “We talked about it, but it’s hard to know… Ultimately, we make the calls for who we are going to tour with. For instance, we are going to tour in North America soon with TRIBULATIONand they’re friends. And then we’re going to tour in Europe with GRAND MAGUSwhich is also friends. And EUROPEwe have talked about touring together, but it’s hard to know if people like that package or not. I’m not sure… I think [EUROPE] would have to play after us then, because you don’t want to go up after ‘The Final Countdown’.”
Asked if the songs on “The Last Will And Testament” all stand on their own or if they are all connected in some way, Mikael said: “They are connected lyrically, but also to a certain extent that one song bleeds into the other, which I always liked anyways. It’s basically the reading of a testament. So it’s like paragraphs. There are no real song titles on there. It’s a bit odd by our standards even. But you could, of course, extract any song from — we don’t have to play the whole record.”
OPETH will embark on a North American tour this fall. The trek, which will kick off on October 11 in Milwaukee, includes stops in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Washington, DC, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, Denver and more.
