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THE TRUTH ABOUT: Mikael akerfeldt | History Defined

“I was enthralled by the way they swapped instruments, and also the music they played. I was hooked”: The British thrash metal icon who adores prog eccentrics Gentle Giant (and he’s not the only one)

They may have bewildered some listeners in the 70s, but several leading lights of other genres happily confirm they were a massive influence

Metal Hammer

“He had a knife to my groin. I was petrified. He went for my guitar”: Mikael Åkerfeldt on nearly losing his prized PRS on the way to record a landmark Opeth album – and why he doesn’t deserve a signature model (even though he’s got one)

The Opeth mastermind on being robbed as they made Blackwater Park, what he hated about Kurt Cobain’s ’53 Martin D-18 and loved about Hank Williams’ ’40s D-18, the ’90s band he still adores and the ’70s guitarist he still worships

Guitar World

"Blackwater Park confirmed Opeth as one of the most inventive, indefinable bands in metal." A mesmerisingly brilliant prog-metal album's quarter-century celebration

In which Steven Wilson helps Opeth emerge from the musky cocoon of their darker 90s albums with a wider and brighter sound

Louder

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“He’s very underrated. If you asked David Gilmour, he’d probably say, ‘Yeah, he’s my idol!’” Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt names prog’s great unsung guitar hero

This 1970s player is an influence to many, he says, but doesn’t get the credit he deserves

Guitar World

“There’ve been times where I’ve come back from a tour and my kids don’t know who I am”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt on 25 years of Blackwater Park, another Steven Wilson team-up, hating the road and why he might stop growling again

We caught up with the progressive metal mastermind and made him begrudgingly talk about his band’s magnum opus

Metal Hammer

“He was, like me, wanting to focus more on creative work, as opposed to touring, touring, touring”: Steven Wilson and Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt are going to make another album together

The celebrated prog musicians previously collaborated on 2012 album Storm Corrosion, and many fans are hankering for a follow-up

Metal Hammer

“He wanted to do something heavy. My mindset at the time was, I’d rather not”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt reveals why collaboration with Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy hasn’t happened yet

Dream Theater’s drummer has said multiple times that he wants to make music with Opeth’s frontman. So, we asked Åkerfeldt what’s taking so long.

Metal Hammer

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Opeth's new animated video for §3 offers a visual interpretation of The Last Will And Testament's narrative

Opeth celebrate a year of The Last Will And Testament with new animated video for §3

Metal Hammer

“Is this the best guitar I’ve ever played? Including the ones in your museum? I believe so”: Mikael Åkerfeldt has played Kurt Cobain’s 1953 D-18 ‘Grandpa’ and 19th-century holy grail acoustics but says his Martin OM signature beats the lot of them

Limited to 74 instruments worldwide, the Opeth frontman's signature model has a truly exquisite three-piece back of Guatemalan rosewood with an East Indian rosewood wedge

MusicRadar

“Never did I actually expect to get the chance to see one up close, let alone play one”: Everything that caught my eye at Guitar Summit 2025 – from the grand unveiling of a brand-new guitar company to the year’s most anticipated amp modeler

Rosengarten Mannheim became a scorching-hot cauldron of all things guitar for three days – and there were plenty of highlights

Guitar World

“I became more and more angry. Love is like a mental disease that everybody wants to catch… It can feel so damaging when you’re in the middle of it”: Opeth and the making of Sorceress

Mikael Åkerfeldt on his violent games, hotel balcony prank, soaking a label exec in vodka, and being left to make music his own way

Metal Hammer

“Is this the best guitar I've ever played? Including the ones in your museum? I believe so”: Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt teams up with Martin to create a new signature acoustic that blends traditional style with a key, ultra-modern twist

Mixing the old and the new, the front porch and campfire with devil's horns, the limited-edition model is luxurious from top to bottom

Guitar World

“They asked Kate Bush, ‘Why do you write about this stuff?’ She said, ‘Well, I’m not very interesting!’ It’s the same with us”: What Sylosis learned from prog stars including Opeth, Tool and Rush

Frontman of the British metal band and his colleagues accidentally discovered a breadth of influences after feeling uninspired by their peers

Metal Hammer

Watch Opeth pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with heartfelt cover of Black Sabbath’s Solitude

The prog metal mavens offered an excellent tribute to the Prince Of Darkness at a festival last weekend

Metal Hammer

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Louder

Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: July 28, 2025

Eight songs you need to hear right now, from Tuk Smith, Blues Pills, The Vintage Caravan and more

Metal Hammer

"You want a smack in the face in the beginning." How Ghost Of Perdition went from a concept about Satanism to the defining Opeth anthem

Opeth might've ditched the concept record idea for Ghost Reveries, but Ghost Of Perdition still tells a story

Guitar World

“Ever dreamed of owning a piece of Nirvana’s legacy?” A Kurt Cobain guitar pick previously sold for more than $14k – now his MTV Unplugged plectrum is being raffled off for much, much less

The raffle will help raise funds for the Royal College of Music – and it offers the chance to own a slice of music history for just the price of a coffee

Metal Hammer

Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt explains why Steven Wilson stopped producing their albums: “I could hear some ideas in my head that I like to think he would have brought up”

Prog idol Steven Wilson co-produced Opeth’s Blackwater Park, Deliverance and Damnation albums – Mikael Åkerfeldt explains why he didn’t return for Ghost Reveries

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Louder

“He says he’s mediocre. I understand – I say the same thing. But he’s a great musician, and that has nothing to do with ability”: What Mikael Åkerfeldt’s peers really think of him

Steven Wilson, Mike Portnoy, Steve Hackett and Arjen Lucassen list the reasons they like and admire Opeth leader Mikael Åkerfeldt

Metal Hammer

“The lyrics just blew my mind. That song changed the way I write. I think Steven Wilson is really poetic”: Killswitch Engage’s Jesse Leach loves Porcupine Tree

Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach chooses his favourite Porcupine Tree song, and gives some love to Pink Floyd and Mikael Åkerfeldt

Metal Hammer

“I was so sick. I had tunnel vision and couldn’t walk. I was crawling to the toilet and I thought I was going to die”: The unbelievable rise of Opeth, the band who went from death metal no-hopers to prog royalty

Inside one of the most remarkable success stories in modern metal

Louder

“When the saxophone started we laughed and skipped it… The reason I dismissed them then is exactly why I like them now!” How doom and occult keyboardist Carl Westholm was converted by Van der Graaf Generator

Ex Candlemass and Avatarium member was won over by prog veterans’ Godbluff album – and it started with a photo of Mikael Åkerfeldt with Peter Hammill

Metal Hammer

“It’s a really good album, but I’m not sure it’s better than the ones that came before. You ask, ‘Why didn’t this happen sooner?’” Many consider Blackwater Park to be Opeth’s masterpiece. Opeth don’t

The classic line-up had assembled, Steven Wilson was contributing and Mikael Åkerfeldt was mining songwriting gold – but you can’t convince him the 2001 release was their magnum opus

Metal Hammer

“It was s***. The singing’s s***, the playing’s s***”: Opeth covered a beloved Iron Maiden song – and Mikael Åkerfeldt really, really doesn’t like it

The Opeth frontman also reveals which of his songs he feels are overrated in a new interview with Metal Hammer

Metal Hammer

“Haven’t we been f***ing great tonight?!” Prog metal legends Opeth bring a career-spanning setlist, staggering visuals and more than a little self-confidence to sell-out London show

Rejuvenated after latest album The Last Will And Testament, the prog/death metal masters honour both sides of their sound with cinematic accoutrements

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