OPETH releases new single “Paragraph Three” from the upcoming album “The Last Will And Testament”

Swedish progressive metal bands OPETH release their 14th studio album, “The Testament”on 11 October about Reigning Phoenix Music/Moderbolaget. After the success of the album’s first single, “§1” (Paragraph One), the band now unveils the second album of their record, “§3” (Third paragraph), which can be heard below.

OPETH Frontman Mikael Akerfeldt Comments: “So put yourself in my shoes for a moment: your band has this new album. You like it. You love it even! It has this elaborate concept that runs through all eight songs. You wrote it over a period of, say, six months of effective time. You put a lot of passion into putting it together. You recorded it together with your friends/colleagues. You had a lot of fun doing it. Now said album is about to be released and you're supposed to talk about it. Prepare your audience. Talk about it! You want people to hear it, don't you? You love the album so it should be easy, right? At this point all you have to do is put together a few words for the new 'single'. But you're confused about the use of the term 'single', as you associate it with the old days when 'singles' were often tagged with the word 'hit'. And you know that's not going to happen! Still, you want people to hear it. Your adoring “fans” might think it's great. But you don't want to come across as a salesman. And you're not a complete self-centered asshole who thinks he has the Midas touch (oh well…). And you suffer from a bad case of that innate Swedish modesty, spiced with a dash of imposter syndrome. What do you say to that? '§3' is out now!'”

OPETHThe fourteenth album was written by Akerfeldtwith texts awarded with Klara Rönnqvist Fors (What was heardex-CRUCIFIED BARBARA). “The Testament” was co-produced by Akerfeldt And Stefan Boman (SPIRIT, The Hellacopters), developed by Boman, Joe Jones (DEADLY JOKE, ROBERT PLANT) And OPETHwith Boman, Akerfeldt and the rest OPETH Mixing at Atlantis And Hammerthorpe Studios in Stockholm. The strings on “The Testament” were arranged by Akerfeldt and returning prog friend Dave Stewart (EGG, KHAN) and carried out by Stewart at Angel Studios in London. The visual artist who never misses a thing Travis Smith returns and designs his 11th cover, a haunting “photo” that is reminiscent of Stanley Kubricks infamous “Overlook Hotel” photo. Miles Showell (ABBA, QUEEN) also deals with mastering and vinyl lacquer cutting at Abbey Road Studios London.

Akerfeldt rolls out the red carpet for the famous flutist and JETHRO TULL Captain Ian Anderson. Not only Anderson's signature notes keep flying “§4” And “§7”he continues “§1”, “§2”, “§4”And “§7”accession Anderson, EUROPE'S Joey Tempest supported as background singer “§2”while Akerfeldt's youngest daughter, Mirjam Akerfeldtis the disembodied voice in “§1”.

“The Testament” is a concept album set in the post-World War I era, telling the story of a wealthy, conservative patriarch whose will reveals shocking family secrets. The narrative weaves together the patriarch's confessions, the reactions of his twin children, and the mysterious presence of a polio-stricken girl who is caring for the family. The album begins with the reading of the father's will in his mansion. Among those present is a young girl who, despite being an orphan and suffering from polio, was raised by the family. Her presence at the reading of the will arouses suspicion and questions in the twins.

“The Testament” is the darkest and heaviest plate OPETH made in decades, and it is also the band's most fearlessly progressive. A concept album that recounts the reading of a recently deceased man's will to an audience of his surviving family members, it brims with haunting melodrama, shocking revelations, and some of the wildest and most unpredictable music Akerfeldt ever written.

The successor to the highly acclaimed album from 2019 “In Cauda Venenum”, “The Testament” is set in the grim, sepia-toned 1920s. It slowly reveals its secrets like a classic thriller from the distant, cobwebby past, with each successive song shedding more light on the explained machinations of our dead (but definitely not harmless) protagonist. The emotional chaos of the story is perfectly complemented by OPETH's vibrant but claustrophobic soundtrack, which artfully meanders to a downbeat but magnificent finale. Masters of their own idiosyncratic musical domain, OPETH have never sounded more unique.

“The Testament” will be a milestone in OPETHillustrious record history. It is the band's first pure concept album and includes guest appearances by JETHRO TULL legend Ian Anderson And Joey TempestFrontman of the Swedish rock gods EUROPEOnly one of the eight songs on the album has a title: the final ballad “A story never told”. The rest is simply marked as numbered chapters in this slowly unfolding saga of deceit, accusation and betrayal. Enigmatic, disturbing and haunting, “The Testament” is a turbulent prog metal story like no other.

He made his recording debut together with OPETH's long-standing lineup of Mikael Akerfeldtguitarist Fredrik AkessonBassist Martin Mendez and keyboard maestro Joakim Svalberg To “The Testament” is new drummer Walter Väyrynenwho joined the band in 2022.

In a recent interview with Bloodstock TV's Oran O’Beirne, Akerfeldt was asked whether “§1”the growling vocals of Michaelis representative of the entire album. He said: “Yeah, I think so. Maybe. I mean, in that sense, yeah. There are some screams on the other songs – not all of them, but some of the other songs. Good screams, I must say. It's a very restless album. Someone said claustrophobic. And it's not a very happy album. It's very – I mean, every metal band says the word 'dark', but it's… restless, it's my best to sum it up. We don't dwell on anything. It's just like an explosion of ideas. It's like TikTok.”

Regarding the “The Testament” Album title, Michael said, “Yeah, so it's a concept record that basically starts with that… The whole record is about the reading of the will of this deceased main character – a rich old geezer. A conservative, old, stern, noble patriarch who's passed away, and the record starts with him calling his three kids together to go through his will with the lawyers.”

Asked how he came up with the idea for the new OPETH Album, Michael said: “It's not entirely my idea. I was already interested in the topic on the last record. There's a song on it, the English title was “Universal Truth” — I think we made a video about it — which also covered things like how blood is not always thicker than water, how money can drive family members into chaos. So I became interested in this topic. And then the TV series came along 'Consequence'this is, I'm not sure if you've seen it, but a great TV series about a power struggle between siblings who are after their Murdoch-type father.”

He added: “It's interesting. And it also helps me to have some kind of theme when I write the lyrics. Otherwise I end up writing things that I don't even know what they mean.”

In a separate interview with Marcus Schleutermann from EMP, Akerfeldt was asked how “The Testament” is different from others OPETH Albums. Michael said: “I don't know. It's weird. It's not really any different for us, I think. But I'm doing some of the screaming again, which I haven't done in a long time. And there are some guests there.” Ian Anderson out of JETHRO TULL is there and speaks spoken word and plays the flute. And Joey Tempest [of EUROPE] is on it. But yeah, it's a concept record. Someone said it sounds claustrophobic. It's a record that sounds claustrophobic. And there are a lot of ideas. It's a restless record. It's not happening aimlessly all the time. Even I don't really know the songs yet. But of course I would say that, but I think it's good – it's a good record.”

Regarding JoeyContributions to “The Testament”, Michael said: “Storm doesn't sound like Storm To [EUROPE‘s biggest hit] 'The final Countdown'. I had him at my house. I asked him, “Could you sing a few lines?” “Let's press record,” he said. At the time, I didn't have the lyrics ready, so I said, “I'm sorry. I have to record it somewhere else.” But he really gives it his all. He sounds fantastic. I mean, I'm a big EUROPE Fan, Swede. I love them. And I think him being on this record is a little different for him, because it doesn't really sound like a EUROPE record at all.”

When asked whether he and Joey are friends, Michael said, “I guess. I guess we're friends. Yeah. He texted me one day. It said something like, 'What's up?' And I said, 'Hey, Joey Tempest.' And we met at festivals and he invited me to his house. I mean, we know the EUROPE Guys. Fredrikone of his best friends is [John] NorumThe [EUROPE] Guitarist. Well, we are good friends with the whole band. But, yes, Joey Tempestwe hang out together every now and then.”

About the possibility of a OPETH/EUROPE joint tour, Michael said: “We've talked about it, but it's hard to say… Ultimately, we decide who we're going to tour with. For example, we're going to tour North America soon with TRIBULATIONand they are friends. And then we will tour Europe with GRAND MAGUISthey are also friends. And EUROPEwe have talked about going on tour together, but it is hard to say whether people will like this package or not. I am not sure… I think [EUROPE] would have to play after us, because you don’t want to 'The final Countdown'.”

When asked whether the songs on “The Testament” all stand alone or are all somehow connected, Michael said: “They're lyrically connected, but also to a certain extent one song flows into the other, which I've always liked anyway. It's basically the reading of a will. So it's like paragraphs. There are no real song titles on it. It's a bit odd even by our standards. But you could obviously take any song out – we don't have to play the whole record.”

OPETH will embark on a North American tour this fall. The tour, which begins October 11 in Milwaukee, includes stops in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Washington, DC, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, Denver and more.

Photo by Terhi Ylimäinen