“I hate the term ‘thinking man’s metal’. That kind of term could hurt the band”: The story of Opeth’s Blackwater Park, the album that changed prog metal forever

Opeth posing for a photograph in 2001.

Opeth are the modern kings of prog metal, but that wasn’t always the case. It wasn’t until their fifth album, 2001’s Blackwater Park, that the Swedish band began to truly unfurl his prog flag. In 2005, frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt looked back at the album that changed everything from Opeth and forged a new path for metal.

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