Opeth are a Swedish metal band formed in 1990 lead by long serving member, singer, song writer and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt . The band have gone through many changes over the years in both musical style and band members, but have remained one of the most avant garde metal bands to date. Opeth started as a more traditional death metal band but already featured extravagant arrangements of acoustic guitars, pianos and clean vocals in an almost melancholy nature.
After already making a name for themselves as a progressive metal band, Opeth's breakthrough came in 2001 after releasing their Blackwater Park album which has since been heralded a masterpiece in the metal world and is a favourite with fans and critics to this day. This would also be the first collaboration between Opeth and Steven Wilson, with Åkerfeldt and Wilson going on to become good friends. Steven Wilson's input on the album again influenced a change in Opeth's style, removing them even further from the traditional death metal sound. Here is the 2003 incarnation of Opeth playing The Drapery Falls, from Blackwater Park, at the Shepherds Bush Empire...
In 2011 Opeth released their tenth album Heritage, mixed by Steven Wilson. The album again marks a slight change in Opeth's direction and although it received good reviews in general, it has caused mixed opinions amongst some fans due to the band omitting the more extreme styles of metal from the album.
Here Opeth play the track Nepenthe from the album Heritage at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney in December 2011
For many years Åkerfeldt and Wilson had talked of writing an album
together and in May this year the album titled Storm Corrosion was
finally released. The album is far from what is to be expected with each
musicians background and is described by Roadrunner Records' website as
"an epic disorientating trip."
