Opeth Will Keep Knocking It Up A Notch Until They're "Old Farts"

Australian fans who caught Swedish progressive metal outfit Opeth live circa the cycle for 2011's experimental Heritage record would recall selected punters' reactions to growled vocals being eschewed during said performances. Select attendees took serene moments and between-song gaps as invitation to loudly bay for cuts containing harsh vocals, or instead execute their own grunts.

It would seem that, long-term, such aggrieved punters indirectly got their wish. "We play a lot of the old stuff in our shows now," guitarist Fredrik Akesson explains. "I believe 60 or 70% of the show has a lot of growls and the more death metal elements type of songs. We're still very much enjoying playing that stuff live. We want to give people a treat... new-school fans, old-school fans and the fans who enjoy both ingredients — we want to make them happy. On that particular tour you mentioned, that was different and we look back on that; maybe we pushed it a little bit hard on that one. It was interesting, but I'm happy we pulled it through and did it."

"I believe it's super-expensive to get permission to film in there. The Opera House is the last of that particular setlist that we're gonna do..."

Despite frustration from a relatively small faction of fans, and having gone further down the '70s-prog rabbit hole via LPs like 2016's Sorceress, a half-decade on and Opeth's following Down Under remains robust. An historic Sydney Opera House gig is the centrepiece of their latest jaunt; one of four shows worldwide to feature a specially tailored setlist. "We play the regular set, and on top of that an extra set with a compilation of songs from [2003's] Damnation and [2002's] Deliverance. There's a few songs, maybe three or four that we never played live before."

Akesson dubs Sydney Opera House as "the most prestigious place we've ever played". Thus, it would seem mandatory that the occasion be officially documented. "I asked for it, but I don't think we're doing it. We should, but I believe it's super-expensive to get permission to film in there. The Opera House is the last of that particular setlist that we're gonna do... So it would be great to document it. After this interview I'm going to call the manager and see if there's any plans," he chuckles.

The guitarist has enjoyed a decade-long tenure with Opeth, witnessing first-hand their burgeoning profile despite a non-conventional approach. "It's amazing, it's been a ride. Still looking forward to... I want to rock 'til I drop. I hope we can continue 'til we're old farts. We're kinda old now, but until we're really old," he laughs.

"I think the band has developed, we try to develop for every album. Mikael [Akerfeldt, frontman]'s actually said before this last previous tour we did now: he thinks we're at the top of the game, playing-wise. That's nice to hear, since we've played together for ten years that we try to notch it up. Everybody's working on their individual playing ability and the fact we've done so many shows together also makes us play tighter and performing better. I also believe we still have music in us and we can still do interesting albums in the future."