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RARE PHOTOS: 3 - The Real Truth

“When it comes to many of the classics, I don’t even know what they’re about!” How Mikael Åkerfeldt’s policy of not taking advice led Opeth to Pale Communion

Inspired by sharing records with Steven Wilson, he took a more melodic approach, added a vague title that just sounded cool, and forged them into a “journey through life that starts pretty good and ends shit”

Louder

“It’s disarming being expected to do the whole ‘Oh yeah! Throw the horns, dude!’ thing. I couldn’t do it with a straight face”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt loves metal, but he doesn’t always take it seriously

Opeth released their classic 11th album Pale Communion on this day in 2014 –and Mikael Åkerfeldt didn’t care whether the gatekeepers liked it or not

Metal Hammer

"We haven't done anything decent in 15 years. Message received." Opeth embrace the classics in old school Bloodstock headline set

Opeth's third time headlining Bloodstock shows just how they elevated extreme metal at the turn of the millennnium

Metal Hammer

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“I”m stunned that some bands have success. I don’t like many bands, actually. The metal scene today is horrible”: How Opeth separated themselves from the herd with Ghost Reveries

2005’s Ghost Reveries was the album that kicked Opeth to the next level, but Mikael Åkerfeldt wanted to untangle his band from the metal scene

Metal Hammer

”Every time you go into the mainstream, I get really uncomfortable”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt declined to join an Abba tribute band at Eurovision this year

Opeth’s leader was approached to help celebrate 50 years of Abba’s 1974 Eurovision win, but turned the chance down

Metal Hammer

“We just wanted to findauthentic, heavier, evil-sounding music”: Mikael Åkerfeldt explains how Opeth rediscovered death metal on new single §1

Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt has growled on a new song for the first time since 2008. This is his explanation why.

Metal Hammer

"It feels like a dream." Opeth reveal new concept album The Last Will And Testament will be released in October

Opeth's The Last Will And Testament features guest appearances from Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson and Europe's Joey Tempest

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"It has become the cult classic we always intended it to be…" Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt's Storm Corrosion gets deluxe reissue

Storm Corrosion will be reissued on coloured and black vinyl, Blu-ray and CD in September

Louder

"Emails were exchanged with Ian Anderson, containing something that could be described as music": Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt is unable to tell you what he'd like to tell you

Swedish proggers Opeth have European festival dates throughout the summer before heading to the US, and have a new album in the can

Metal Hammer

"It was kind of like being in a Def Leppard production with Mutt Lange": Opeth's Fredrik Åkesson talks playing guitar for Ghost and avoiding a blood explosion in the studio

We caught up with the super Swede after Opeth's set at the Tons Of Rock festival in Oslo, Norway

MusicRadar

“Nothing was too crazy. Nothing was too outrageous. Once we had a beautiful part, we thought we should make it evil and disturbing”: Powered by red wine and bored with prog metal, Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt made Storm Corrosion their way

Porcupine Tree and Opeth leaders’ 2012 collaboration wasn't what many people thought it would be – instead it was something more experimental which they described as “organic pagan minimalism”

Louder

“I was a wreck, physically and mentally. I wanted to cancel shows, split up the band, all these kind of things”: Aiming to make a “super-heavy record,” Opeth embraced the Mellotron and made Damnation instead

Mikael Åkerfeldt – who’d become band leader because no one else would do it – recalls the misery of making the landmark 2003 album which made him feel he could hold his own with the likes of Porcupine Tree

Louder

"Blackwater Park has been hyped as this big breakthrough for us. It really wasn't": How stress, isolation and Grand Theft Auto III inspired Opeth to write Windowpane

After 2001's Blackwater Park, Opeth knew they needed something special. But when Mikael Åkerfeldt suggested recording two albums at once, the band were almost pushed to breaking point

Metal Hammer

"I guess I didn’t expect them to look like that." We've found the reactions Gojira, Opeth, Obituary, Children Of Bodom and more had to hearing Bring Me The Horizon for the first time - and they might surprise you

In 2010, we secretly played Bring Me The Horizon to some of metal's most respected names. Here's what they thought

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10 heavy metal stars who should have solo careers

From James Hetfield to Randy Blythe, we’d love to see what these heavy metal heroes can do by themselves

Louder

“It’s no wonder the lyrics are maudlin, but despite the difficulty of its creation, it’s still worthy of celebration”: Damnation is the Opeth album that works best on vinyl

Steven Wilson remix illustrates a side of Michael Åkerfeldt’s band that’s familiar now – but was a revelation in 2003

Guitar World

“People think his playing is all about the big riffs, but I always loved his jazzy playing – listen to Planet Caravan. You can hear a lot of passing tones”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt says there’s way more to Tony Iommi’s guitar style than riffs alone

The Swedish progressive metal icon pays homage to the dark lord of rock

MusicRadar

Mikael Åkerfeldt reflects on Opeth's Damnation album: “Maybe we helped show people that experimentation isn’t necessarily a horrible thing – you should take your guard down when it comes to creativity”

Ahead of the reissue to mark its 20th anniversary, the Swedish band's 'mellow' album is rightly remembered as a brave and successful step forwards: “It was like starting from scratch with lots of experience and no distortion!” its mastermind tells us

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Metal Hammer

Opeth share previously 'lost' video for Windowpane

Opeth's 2003 album Damnation to be reissued on deluxe vinyl in December

Metal Hammer

The 10 greatest guest spots in heavy metal history

From Bruce Dickinson teaming with Rob Halford to Dave Grohl’s Probot album, here are the times big names made great metal songs even greater

Louder

Steven Wilson shares first music from The Harmony Codex. Watch the video for Economies Of Scale here

Steven Wilson will release new album The Harmony Codex on September 29

Guitar World

“It suddenly made me feel so mature. I remember getting the shivers! It was not death metal”: How Jimmy Page, Stevie Wonder, Grand Theft Auto III and Steven Wilson helped Opeth become modern-day prog icons

20 years on, Mikael Åkerfeldt looks back at Opeth’s evolution from death metal heavyweights to prog mainstays on landmark 2003 album Damnation

Louder

“If they had the flares and beards and the record was from 1971 or 1972, that was what I wanted… records that looked odd and I could afford”: How Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt discovered prog

From extreme metal to Camel and Genesis to collaboration with Steven Wilson, the Swedish musician's career is surely one of the most progressive

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