All the way back in 2006, Swedish Death Metal author Daniel Ekeroth author wrote about Opeth: “Their commercial and critical success has been beyond imagination.” A decade hence, with their twelfth studio album, Sorceress, poised for release on September 30, Opeth stands at an enviable peak almost as cosmic as their prog-infused metal music (or really metal-infused prog, a this point).
Now no less a mainstream institution than music biz bible Billboard has profiled the band. Not bad for an extreme metal battalion that initially emerged in 1990 from Stockholm’s dark fringes, hoping to hold a black candle to their idols Bathory, Voivod, and Mefisto. The Billboard piece, “Seven Facts About the Making of Opeth’s New Album ‘Sorceress’”, crunches its Opeth insights into a handy list form (examples: “‘Sorceress’ Cover Is Both ‘Beautiful and Disgusting’”; “Drummer Martin Axerot Was a Songwriting Inspiration”).
In addition, co-founding singer and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt offers his own take on Sorceress versus Opeth’s 2014 release, Pale Communion, calling the new record “a bit more catchy.” He also stresses his passion for Opeth-branded beer, both Communion Pale Ale and the XXV Anniversary Imperial Stout. “If you have one of [the Stout], you don’t really need to eat for a week and you also get very drunk.”
READ THE BILLBOARD PROFILE HERE
Opeth will play Ozzfest Meets Knotfest on Sept 24 before hitting the road for a North American tour with the Sword, then tackling Europe, and ultimately wrapping up 2016 in Australia. The itinerary includes numerous prestige venues such as Radio City Music Hall, and many of the dates are already sold out:
SEP 24 Ozzfest meets Knotfest San Bernardino, CA
SEP 25 Fingerprints Music: In Store Signing Session Long Beach, CA
SEP 29 Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
SEP 30 Filmore Silver Spring, MD
OCT 01 Rough Trade NYC: In Store Signing Session Brooklyn, NY
OCT 01 Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
OCT 02 House of Blues, Boston, MA
OCT 04 Metropolis, Montreal, Canada
OCT 05 Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada
OCT 07 Filmore, Detroit, MI
OCT 08 Good Year Theater at East End, Akron, OH
OCT 09 Riviera Theater, Chicago, IL
OCT 10 First Ave, Minneapolis, MN
OCT 12 Diamond Ballrom, Oklahoma City, OK
OCT 13 Warehouse Live, Houston, TX
OCT 14 Emos, Austin, TX
OCT 15 Gas Monkey Live!, Dallas, TX
OCT 16 KNOTFEST MÉXICO Toluca, Mexico
OCT 18 Brooklyn Bowl, Las Vegas, NV
OCT 19 Marquee Theater, Tempe, AZ
OCT 21 Ace of Spades, Sacramento, CA
OCT 22 Warfield, San Francisco, CA
OCT 24 Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
OCT 25 Moore Theater, Seattle, WA
OCT 26 Orpheum, Vancouver, Canada
NOV 05 Annexet Stockholm, Sweden
NOV 06 Konserthus Oslo, Norway
NOV 07 DR Konserthuset Copenhagen, Denmark
NOV 08 Docks Hamburg, Germany
NOV 10 Arena Vienna, Austria
NOV 11 LKA Longhorn Stuttgart, Germany
NOV 12 Theaterfabrik Munich, Germany
NOV 13 Volkshaus Zurich, Switzerland
NOV 14 Alcatraz Milan, Italy
NOV 16 E-Werk Cologne, Germany
NOV 17 Ancienne Belgique Brussels, Belgium
NOV 18 013 Tilburg, Netherlands
NOV 19 SSE Arena Wembley Wembley, United Kingdom
NOV 21 Le Trianon Paris, France
NOV 22 Le Trianon Paris, France
NOV 23 Den Atelier Luxembourg, Luxembourg
NOV 24 Astra Kulturhaus Berlin, Germany
FEB 02 Powerstation Auckland, New Zealand
FEB 04 Tivoli Theatre Fortitude Valley Qld, Australia
FEB 06 Sydney Opera House Sydney, Australia
FEB 07 170 Russell, MELBOURNE Melbourne, Australia
FEB 10 Thebarton Theatre Adelaide, Australia
FEB 11 Metro City Northbridge, Australia
So that’s where Opeth is now. Everywhere.
Immerse yourself in the original times, places, and scorching musical ferocity of the band’s innovative birth and rise to glory by reading and watching:
Daniel Ekeroth’s aforementioned SWEDISH DEATH METAL;
Jeff Wagner’s illuminating MEAN DEVIATION: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal, with foreword by frequent Opeth collaborator Steven Wilson;
Jon Kristiansen’s early Opeth insight in METALION: The Slayer Mag Diaries;
Albert Mudrian’s exhaustive CHOOSING DEATH: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore;
and witness Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and Per Wiberg onscreen in MELLODRAMA: The Mellotron Story.
