Opeth Video Exclusive: Mikael Åkerfeldt Talks About Songs on Their New Album ‘Heritage’

| Oct 04, 2011 | Comments 26 | Tags:

Progressive metal group Opeth released their 10th album, Heritage (Roadrunner), last month, and it debuted in the Top 20 of the Billboard chart for that week. In the video below, you can see frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt talking about the songs “Slither,” “Nepenthe,” and “Häxprocess.” Check out the first part of this video series on the site of our U.K. sister magazine, Classic Rock, here. Let us know what you think of Heritage in the comments section.



  • Lamb-of-god_666

    heyyyyyy

  • thirdeye187

    Is it so hard to capture good interview audio?!  I don’t know how people can call themselves professionals with audio like that.  Either a lav or a well-placed shotgun should get crystal clear vox.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1073253648 Zach Young

    Heritage is an amazing album, i listened to it all day yesterday in class. Man’s a musical genius!

  • Austinkimmel

    Heritage is good music, but it’s not the best Opeth out there. It’s just good. Not brilliant.

  • Tncmoz23

    seen them in NYC at Websterhall, loved the new music, love the band… and yes it is brilliant… its nice to see them doing what they want not what everyone expects.. that’s what make them brilliant..

    • Hbtdev90

      If that’s all it takes to be brilliant, then anybody can be brilliant by doing what isn’t expected of them. What a poopy definition of a much more profound concept.

    • Beamhardbc

      if they wanted to make something unexpected, they could have made music like Gorguts or Meshuggah. Not Jethro Tull.

      • Taylormotorsport

        You are such a NARROW MINDED IDIOT!!! Opeth did not creat music to satisfy you or any other fan. They creat music for them selves; we are LUCKY enough to have the opportunity to listen and experiance there music. NO ONE is owed anything from OPETH. Oh; and Meshuggah doesn’t hod a candle to OPETH!

  • Morticia ragbottom

    heritage is an album that you need to listen to without distraction. there is so much to hear in this album of ”earthyness” for instance…the bass is so grounding and the keyboards are so ”up-front”…, nearly leading at times…Per is an amazing musician…everything about this album is a breath of fresh air and the lads have really gone into a great direction. Its not all about the growls….opeth are true musicians and it doesnt matter which direction they take they will always suprise us all…i happen to like that.

  • Celtic Frostbite

    Come on people, we all saw this coming. Opeth has been crossing over the prog metal territory over the last few albums. I think at this point they’ve matured and gone the Progressive way. It’s a great album but for those who are stuck on the earlier albums or rough vocals, you’ll probably dislike it. It’s a natural progression for a band who can actually pull it off.

    • Aaron

      I like the album. It’s good. But I prefer Still Life and Blackwater Park and albums like that for the combination of sounds, heavy and clean. Calling it more “mature” just sounds too offensive to the people who like heavy sounded vocals and tuned down guitars.
      I love all of Pink Floyds work, I also love bands like Emperor. I was under the impression that Opeth was the perfect combination of both. Some albums tilt abit more to the heavier side, but always have that “mature” feel, whatever that means. This album barely has any of the heavier elements to balance it for me. Although, it will surely get me through to the listening pleasure of the next new album! I for one, hope there will be at least abit more heavier stuff on it.

  • concerned opeth guy

    dont like being stuck in the 70′s, Opeth were such a distinctive band & i’m sure all the true & old fans will not except this change…  will not rate the new album, not my taste. I just hope when they play live that they still play the good old tunes, coz I’m sure within a year or 2, they will not have any growling on their shows.

    • Pangolin

      Much as it’s perfectly fine to say that it’s not your thing, rhetoric like “true … fans” really does not belong here. I’ve been listening to Opeth for over a decade now, and my own taste has shifted with age – the cleaner, more varied sound comes as a welcome change to many old fans, as much as it does a pleasant surprise to people who’d previously rejected the band’s prior heavier, slower and bleaker sound – or, for that matter, never heard of Opeth at all, due to their previous genre specificity.

    • Calm Down People

      You really should calm the fuck down… Mikael is a true artist, he demands change and demands to write what he feels and what inspires him at the time.  Of course you won’t understand that, but ANYTHING this guy ever comes up with I will ALWAYS be a fan, I love every song they have ever written and have been with them since the beginning…

    • Deano

      “True” Opeth Fans welcome the changes that have taken place over the years; besides….. Opeth doesn’t make music for their fans; they make music for them selves; we are lucky enough to have there music in our lives.

  • Chibras

    Best Opeth album, thank god their are not angry teenangers any more

    • Dgmessinger

      You dont desverve an opinion

      • Dolstra

        You deserve to be taken outside and shot, for yours.

      • prog fan

        My favourite Opeth albums are Still life, Damnation and Heritage. I never liked growls in their music and for me they were prog band and not death metal band.
        Clean parts were always the strongest part of their music.

        • Shae4u8

          Those are my favorite albums now too! They didn’t used to be (Orchid, Morningrise, Deliverance), but as I grew up they became my favorites.

  • Vic

    This album is just beutyful people, Im fan of opeth more that 15 years ago and I love his music across the time.. this one is diferent.. but magnificent.

  • Alexander Skottene Twiss

    Great interview! “Heritage” is easily album of the year! :-)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=805429486 Harsh Kumar

    diufh sdkujh sadf kjh fksjh  askdfjh ……….cant understand what I am saying!! Now you know how i feel!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=805429486 Harsh Kumar

    diufh sdkujh sadf kjh fksjh  askdfjh ……….cant understand what I am saying!! Now you know how i feel!!

  • Shae4u8

    Greatest album from Opeth ever!!!! Most brilliant, majestic, artistic, well composed, technical, organic, dynamically contrasting piece of music they’re ever done. Also one of the greatest progressive ROCK albums to ever hit the planet. King Crimson would be proud. I still like Deliverance/Damnation, Still Life, and Morningnrise….but this album surpassed all of those!!

  • Shae4u8

    Try listening to this album on psychedelics or hallucinogenics!!