Artist · EveryDisc catalogue

Opeth

A metal band from Sweden. Opeth's music is characterized by a heavy death metal sound with the addition of melodic acoustic guitar parts and elements of jazz, blues, and 1970s progressive rock. Vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt uses both clean vocals and growling. The band's name is taken from Wilbur Smith's book The Sunbird, where "Opet" was the name of a fictional city. Mikael Åkerfeldt — vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter — is the driving force of Opeth. The band was firmly rooted in Scandinavian death metal bands, but over time, Opeth began to use progressive, folk, blues-rock, and jazz parts in their compositions (it is a band rule to play compositions between 7 and 10 minutes long). Many compositions include acoustic guitars and interludes of strong dynamic change, as well as a mix of growling and clean vocals. The band very rarely toured in support of their first four albums. The band held its first world tour in 2001, in support of Blackwater Park.