MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT Says New OPETH Album Is “A Claustrophobic-Sounding Record” With “A Lot Of Ideas”

Opeth fans – ourselves included – have something truly unique to look forward to as the band prepares to release their new album, The Last Will And Testament, on October 11 through Reigning Phoenix Music/Moderbolaget. The album, recorded at the iconic Rockfield Studios in Wales earlier this year, seems to be shaping up to be a departure from the norm, even by Opeth‘s eclectic standards, if we are to believe the masterminds behind its inception.

Guitarist and vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson recently discussed the upcoming release in an interview at the Wacken Open Air festival, with Åkesson noting that the album stands out from their previous work.

“I’m really happy with it,” he said, highlighting their experience recording at Rockfield Studios. “We recorded once again at Rockfield in Wales. So this is the third time we have gone to Rockfield. I would say it’s different from every other album. Definitely.”

Åkerfeldt admitted that while the album maintains the band’s signature sound, it’s also something quite different: “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 are some guests on there,” he added, referring to the album featuring contributions from Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, who adds spoken word and flute, as well as Joey Tempest from Europe. 

“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 no 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,” Åkerfeldt revealed.

The album’s structure is another intriguing aspect, with songs that are lyrically connected and often flow into one another. “They are connected lyrically, but also to a certain extent that one song bleeds into the other, which I always liked anyway. It’s basically the reading of a testament,”  Åkerfeldt explained. “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.”

The collaboration with Joey Tempest is particularly intriguing, as Åkerfeldt noted, “Tempest doesn’t sound like Tempest on Europe’s biggest hit ‘The Final Countdown’. 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.”

The friendship between Åkerfeldt and Tempest appears to have grown over time, with the Opeth frontman sharing that they occasionally hang out and exchange texts. “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. Fredrik, one of his best friends is John Norum, the Europe guitar player. So, we’re good friends with the whole band. But, yeah, Joey Tempest, we hang out every now and then.”

As for the possibility of a joint Opeth/Europe tour, Åkerfeldt hinted that it has been discussed but remains uncertain. He mused, “We talked about it, but it’s hard to know… Ultimately, we make the calls for who we gonna tour with. For instance, we gonna tour North America soon with Tribulation, and they’re friends. And then we’re going to tour Europe with Grand Magus, which are also friends. And Europe, we 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’.”

Pre-orders for The Last Will And Testament are available here.