The Latest Breaking News from Mikael Åkerfeldt

Hear Opeth go full prog on new single §3

Their last single was a death metal comeback. Now, Opeth are showing their proggy side again.

Metal Hammer · Sep 6, 2024

“When it comes to many of the classics, I don’t even know what they’re about!” How Mikael Åkerfeldt’s policy of not taking advice led Opeth to Pale Communion

Inspired by sharing records with Steven Wilson, he took a more melodic approach, added a vague title that just sounded cool, and forged them into a “journey through life that starts pretty good and ends shit”

Louder · Aug 26, 2024

“It’s disarming being expected to do the whole ‘Oh yeah! Throw the horns, dude!’ thing. I couldn’t do it with a straight face”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt loves metal, but he doesn’t always take it seriously

Opeth released their classic 11th album Pale Communion on this day in 2014 –and Mikael Åkerfeldt didn’t care whether the gatekeepers liked it or not

Metal Hammer · Aug 25, 2024

"It feels like a dream." Opeth reveal new concept album The Last Will And Testament will be released in October

Opeth's The Last Will And Testament features guest appearances from Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson and Europe's Joey Tempest

Metal Hammer · Aug 2, 2024

"It has become the cult classic we always intended it to be…" Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt's Storm Corrosion gets deluxe reissue

Storm Corrosion will be reissued on coloured and black vinyl, Blu-ray and CD in September

Louder · Aug 1, 2024

"Emails were exchanged with Ian Anderson, containing something that could be described as music": Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt is unable to tell you what he'd like to tell you

Swedish proggers Opeth have European festival dates throughout the summer before heading to the US, and have a new album in the can

Metal Hammer · Jul 22, 2024

"It was kind of like being in a Def Leppard production with Mutt Lange": Opeth's Fredrik Åkesson talks playing guitar for Ghost and avoiding a blood explosion in the studio

We caught up with the super Swede after Opeth's set at the Tons Of Rock festival in Oslo, Norway

MusicRadar · Jul 5, 2024

“Nothing was too crazy. Nothing was too outrageous. Once we had a beautiful part, we thought we should make it evil and disturbing”: Powered by red wine and bored with prog metal, Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt made Storm Corrosion their way

Porcupine Tree and Opeth leaders’ 2012 collaboration wasn't what many people thought it would be – instead it was something more experimental which they described as “organic pagan minimalism”

Louder · May 7, 2024

“I was a wreck, physically and mentally. I wanted to cancel shows, split up the band, all these kind of things”: Aiming to make a “super-heavy record,” Opeth embraced the Mellotron and made Damnation instead

Mikael Åkerfeldt – who’d become band leader because no one else would do it – recalls the misery of making the landmark 2003 album which made him feel he could hold his own with the likes of Porcupine Tree

Louder · Mar 20, 2024

"Blackwater Park has been hyped as this big breakthrough for us. It really wasn't": How stress, isolation and Grand Theft Auto III inspired Opeth to write Windowpane

After 2001's Blackwater Park, Opeth knew they needed something special. But when Mikael Åkerfeldt suggested recording two albums at once, the band were almost pushed to breaking point

Metal Hammer · Mar 9, 2024