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dima_olkov 
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 Topic: Interview with Mikael Åkerfeldt, Dec 2008
Posted: December 21 2007 at 07:17 |
Cool interview with Mikael about new record and changes in Opeth:
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PF, Genesis, KC, Yes, VdGG, GG, Camel, Jethro Tull
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Abstrakt
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Posted: December 21 2007 at 07:24 |
Nice!
I'll get it on the day of it's release!
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ProgBagel
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Posted: December 21 2007 at 20:44 |
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Sounds frightening. There was nothing wrong with 'Ghost Reveries'. That really revived Opeth for me.
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stonebeard
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Posted: December 21 2007 at 20:56 |
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I've never understood why Ghost Reveries was a "more commercial record" or lighter in any way. Opeth never were as dark as say Burzum to begin with, and a constant growling and double-bass drumming doesn't make anything dark. It's all about the atmosphere created, and GR created a much more intricate and powerful atmosphere that any past Opeth records.
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ProgBagel
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Posted: December 21 2007 at 21:05 |
 stonebeard wrote:
I've never understood why Ghost Reveries was a "more commercial record" or lighter in any way. Opeth never were as dark as say Burzum to begin with, and a constant growling and double-bass drumming doesn't make anything dark. It's all about the atmosphere created, and GR created a much more intricate and powerful atmosphere that any past Opeth records.
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Exactly.
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sean
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Posted: December 22 2007 at 09:43 |
ProgBagel wrote:
stonebeard wrote:
I've never understood why Ghost Reveries was a "more commercial record" or lighter in any way. Opeth never were as dark as say Burzum to begin with, and a constant growling and double-bass drumming doesn't make anything dark. It's all about the atmosphere created, and GR created a much more intricate and powerful atmosphere that any past Opeth records.
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Exactly. |
agreed
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Snipergoat
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Posted: December 22 2007 at 17:10 |
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"The metal parts are even faster and a lot more technical than the last one"
Oh Dear... :(
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Baza
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Posted: December 23 2007 at 08:08 |
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"Ghost Reveries" is not one of the best Opeth albums IMO. The production and musicianship of the album were very good, but most of the material was not that great, only "Ghost of perdition" is a top-class song, "Stiil Life" and "Blackwater Park" are much better albums.
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Hamfari
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Posted: December 23 2007 at 10:19 |
I agree, even though it was really good.
Nice interview btw.
Snipergoat wrote:
"The metal parts are even faster and a lot more technical than the last one"
Oh Dear... :(
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Yes dear =D
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Nobody needs to go anywhere else. We are all, if we only knew it, already there.
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Duncan
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Posted: December 23 2007 at 17:55 |
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Can't wait to see if, and how, the cited modern-day Scott Walker influence works out on their music!
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Jim Garten
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Posted: December 27 2007 at 08:56 |
Doesn't sound too happy does he?
"One thing I don't want to hear is that I'm doing commercial music and there's no feeling to it. That kind of hurts"
I hope that doesn't just translate to "I'm going to play heavier to make the band more popular..."
Loved Ghost Reveries, but I think I'll hear the next album before buying 
Edited by Jim Garten - December 27 2007 at 08:56
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Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
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Posted: December 27 2007 at 10:00 |
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do u mean december 2007 in the title?
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micky
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Posted: December 27 2007 at 16:23 |
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oooohhhhh.... penciling this in right next to The Mars Volta album as a MUST have album for the new year.
change is good... and a reason why this group is light-years above some other groups that just plod along ...called prog I guess.. but doing serialized music that is no better, no more daring, not anymore PROGESSIVE.. than simple pop music.
you know of which band I speak.....
Edited by micky - December 27 2007 at 16:24
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Prog-jester
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Posted: December 29 2007 at 07:49 |
sean wrote:
ProgBagel wrote:
stonebeard wrote:
I've never understood why Ghost Reveries was a "more commercial record" or lighter in any way. Opeth never were as dark as say Burzum to begin with, and a constant growling and double-bass drumming doesn't make anything dark. It's all about the atmosphere created, and GR created a much more intricate and powerful atmosphere that any past Opeth records. |
Exactly. |
Â
agreed |
seconded
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frantic
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Joined: December 07 2007
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Posted: December 31 2007 at 02:47 |
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Ghost Reveries is great. It will always be one of the best albums in my life. I was waiting a second Ghost Reveries, but like Mikael said, it won't be. Let's wait and see...
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hunger for more prog can never be quenched.
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Abstrakt
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Posted: December 31 2007 at 15:21 |
Snipergoat wrote:
"The metal parts are even faster and a lot more technical than the last one"
Oh Dear... :(
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Yeah, i kinda agree on that bit.
Really fast and technical stuff is a bit of a turn-off for me  It would be cool if Opeth made concept album about Opet  (in the same musical style as their early works  )
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Baza
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Posted: January 02 2008 at 03:27 |
Another recent interview, I have only the text, not the link, sorry:
When bands head into the studio to record, a lot of the time they have no idea what they're going to end up calling the finished product. Bands will often employ amusing "working titles," just so they have some point of reference as they hammer away at the new material. After all, it's hard to talk about something when you don't know what to call it.
Opeth are no different. The Swedish death-metallers aren't sure yet what they'll wind up naming their new album, which they started recording November 1 and just finished tracking. But contrary to online reports, the band's second Roadrunner Records effort certainly won't be titled A Holocaust on the Moon — "I never heard that one before," frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt told Metal File last week, mere hours after returning home from the studio.
So, just what are they calling the follow-up to 2005's Ghost Reveries for the time being? What they call every album, up until the point they decide to give it a proper christening: Suck Pu---.
"I'm sure that's going to change," Ã…kerfeldt said with a laugh. "I have to come up with something cool."
According to Ã…kerfeldt, the forthcoming LP was one of his favorite to make, and sounds like an album he'd go out and buy.
"I had more fun working on this album than any of the past records," he confided. "I have always seen the recording of an album as having loads of problems for a month or two. But this one was easy. It was fun and it was interesting. I could probably say I even enjoyed it."
But the recording wasn't entirely hassle-free. The disc will feature a church organ on one track, which was recorded inside a real church. The Opeth boys convinced the local clergy to let them use their organ for an afternoon. "And [keyboardist] Per Wiberg went in there and broke it, playing a really doomy, devilish-sounding riff." Ã…kerfeldt is still waiting on an estimate from the church on how much it's going to cost to have it repaired.
Opeth's ninth studio set is due to arrive in stores in the spring, smack-dab in the middle of their U.S. trek with Dream Theater, 3, and Between the Buried and Me. "We recorded it in two studios — bass in one studio, guitars in the other — so I haven't had the control over this recording as I have had in the past," the singer said. "So I'm not 100 percent sure how everything sounds, but I know it's going to be great."
The band's self-produced record will contain seven epic tracks, the average running time being somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 minutes.
"These songs are a bit more energetic," Ã…kerfeldt said. "It reminds me of our third record, [1998's My Arms, Your Hearse,] because it's very energetic. It doesn't sound like a tired, old-man's band. It sounds like a band that's really enjoying to play, and it's pretty insane. It's very, very diverse, and there are lots of things going on that we've never done before. There are a lot of love/hate moments; I feel like some people are going to think it's absolute sh--, but it's really interesting. It won't be a boring record, let me put it that way."
The singer used a keyboard to write and record the majority of the demo tracks at home, so he could be there with his pregnant wife, Anna. The couple welcomed their second daughter, Mirjam Ebba Maria Ã…kerfeldt, on October 28.
"I was just fooling around with a Fender Rhodes-type of sound, like a '70s sound, and I came up with a lick that sounded like some free-form Chick Corea," he said of the demos. "So it has more fusion moments, I think. The heavy parts are faster, and I made sure to phrase the lyrics in a way I never have before — it's really tight and fast, the screams. They're rapid-fire. I don't cover 10 seconds with one long big scream, I really concentrated on the lyrics this time."
The lyrics are too personal for the frontman to discuss at length, he said, but do reflect a changed Åkerfeldt. "Now that I'm a dad, I'm more worried about everything. It's quite inspirational," he said. "I get more affected with grief and the woes of the world, so to speak. I never thought I'd become one of those people who cared about anything but himself — I feel I've been selfish in the past. But my daughter has changed me a lot, maybe more than I could ever imagine. So, having her did make me think about certain things, and they're in the songs."
While the spring will see Opeth's new album, a disc that was actually supposed to drop before it won't be out until the fall. Ã…kerfeldt said the DVD companion to the band's recent live release, The Roundhouse Tapes, has been delayed and likely won't be out until next fall, when the band hopes to be back in the States with a coast-to-coast headlining tour.
Opeth's summer plans remain open, but the singer doubts the band would be willing to play Ozzfest.
"I'm kind of mixed with Ozzfest," he confided. "What I've heard from friends of mine that played that tour, they said it's good for exposure but is horrible in many other ways. We would only do that, I think, if we got a paying offer — we don't do charity shows for Mr. Osbourne. Even if we were to play for free, we'd want a good slot, and we'd want to play for a long, long time."
Before the interview was over, Metal File asked Ã…kerfeldt if he'd ever seen "Metalocalypse," the animated Adult Swim series featuring a character named Toki Wartooth, long believed to be based on the Opeth mastermind.
"I've never seen an entire episode," he said. Next came a pause, after which the singer revealed: "It's f---ing surreal, because I got e-mails from this cartoon character, Toki, all the time. He's e-mailing me, and writing funny e-mails and stuff like that. I checked him out, on his MySpace page, and he's e-mailing me from there. I had no idea who was e-mailing me, it was just this guy who presented himself as Toki. I never got to know the actual guy who was writing me, so I was f---ing e-mailing with a cartoon character. I'd asked him if he was based on me, and he said he was, which is cool. I love cartoons."
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Prog-jester
Prog Reviewer
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Posted: January 02 2008 at 07:09 |
Baza wrote:
Another recent interview, I have only the text, not the link, sorry:
Â
The band's self-produced record will contain seven epic tracks, the average running time being somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 minutes.
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I'll buy it 
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micky
Special Collaborator
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Posted: January 02 2008 at 17:57 |
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The disc will feature a church organ on one
track, which was recorded inside a real church. The Opeth boys
convinced the local clergy to let them use their organ for an
afternoon. "And [keyboardist] Per Wiberg went in there and broke it,
playing a really doomy, devilish-sounding riff." Ã…kerfeldt is still
waiting on an estimate from the church on how much it's going to cost
to have it repaired.
oh ...hahhahhah....now that is prog.... getting this album the day I can get my hands on it
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Nuke
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Joined: October 25 2005
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Posted: January 02 2008 at 21:08 |
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Ahahaha, they broke a church organ? You can't get more metal then that, lol. That seals it, I'm buying.
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Interview with Mikael Åkerfeldt, Dec 2008
