Swedish progressive metallers OPETH have introduced the autumn 2025 European leg of “The Final Will And Testomony” tour.
Signal as much as the OPETH mailing checklist at Opeth.com to obtain first entry to tickets on Wednesday, February 26 10 a.m. native time.
Tour dates:
Sep. 29 – Hamburg, Germany – Laeiszhalle
Sep. 30 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg – Rockhal
Oct. 01 – Mannheim, Germany – Rosengarten
Oct. 02 – Zurich, Switzerland – Komplex 457
Oct. 04 – Vienna, Austria – Vienna Steel Assembly
Oct. 06 – Milano, Italy – Alcatraz
Oct. 07 – Zagreb, Croatia – Tradition Manufacturing unit
Oct. 08 – Budapest, Hungary – Barba Negra
Oct. 10 – Sofia, Bulgaria – Asics Area
Oct. 11 – Bucharest, Romania – Laminor Area
Oct. 14 – Dresden, Germany – Alter Schlachthof
OPETH‘s newest album, “The Final Will And Testomony”, was launched on November 22, 2024 through Reigning Phoenix Music/Moderbolaget. Chatting with United Rock Nations about his choice to incorporate growling vocals within the first single from the LP, “§1”, OPETH guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt stated: “I needed to strive it out. I had been considering, and we had been speaking within the band that we must always, possibly we may attempt to see what occurs if we write one thing that is barely heavier. And I felt I needed to attempt to see if I may write music and match that sort of vocals on to new music. And I hadn’t accomplished that for a few years… It has been some time. So I wrote a couple of components and tried the demise steel vocals, and it sounded superior. Apart from, it additionally supplied a unique voice to this character within the story. It turned an asset that I have never actually had the necessity for, for the final 4 albums. However now it was an asset that truly might be helpful for the entire idea, for the entire document. It sounded superior too. I am pleased.”
In October 2024, Åkerfeldt addressed the truth that OPETH followers have reacted positively to his return to growling vocals on “§1”, telling “Espresso With Ola”: “I haven’t got social media. Clearly, the document is just not out but, so I have never learn any critiques, however I am on YouTube, consider it or not, now and again, so I’ve seen some feedback and movies, ‘Oh, my god, OPETH is again. Mikael‘s again,’ that sort of factor. And yeah, there are some screams on there. And it is cool that they respect it. It is also barely annoying.”
Elaborating on why he finds it “annoying” that a lot of the main target has been on the truth that he’s growling on an OPETH album once more, Mikael stated: “I select to not get upset. I am an outdated man. I made a decision I am simply gonna absorb, like, ‘You adore it? You’re keen on that I try this stuff? High quality. I am gonna be pleased about it. Nevertheless it’s additionally, is that every one we’re? We have accomplished 4 data in a row with out that sort of vocals, which individuals have favored, but it surely’s been… It is a lot deal with the screams, I virtually really feel like I wanna troll, simply do a shit document, like actually shit, apparent shit, with nice screams and see what they assume.”
He continued: “However I am actually pleased with the document. The screams sound actually good. They match this music and the idea of the document. So, all in all, I am pleased.”
When host Ola Englund famous that there are “so much” of growling vocals on “The Final Will And Testomony”, Mikael concurred. “Yeah, possibly it is 50-50, possibly extra. Nevertheless it was enjoyable doing it once more. I hadn’t accomplished it on an OPETH document for fairly a while. ‘Watershed’ was the final [album] with that sort of vocals. I wrote the songs. I began with the one referred to as ‘Paragraph One’ [‘§1’]. So I attempted some screams to see if it match with the music, as a result of I hadn’t written music with the intention of getting that sort of vocal for a very long time. So I did not know if it was gonna work, but it surely sounded nice to me. So I used to be, like, ‘Okay.’ Apart from, it is a idea document and it gave a voice to that important character within the story. In order that felt, like, ‘Okay, I am gonna strive.'”
Concerning the idea for the brand new OPETH album, Mikael stated: “Folks heard that first tune, ‘Paragraph One’. It begins with footsteps main as much as a door. A door opens after which off we go. And a patriarch, a father has died. He is a wealthy, conservative, stern outdated fucker who’s handed away and the album begins when his youngsters, his three youngsters, arrive to attend the studying of his final will and testomony, mainly to see what they’re, so to talk, getting. After which all through the album, via his testomony, all of the lyrics are written as in the event that they had been written like a correct testomony, with paragraphs, which explains the titles, or the dearth of titles. And all through the studying, he’ll reveal secrets and techniques about himself principally, however many of those secrets and techniques will instantly have an effect on his youngsters and sort of flip their lives the wrong way up. After which there is a twist to the story as properly ultimately.”
“The Final Will And Testomony” was written by Åkerfeldt, with lyrics conferred with Klara Rönnqvist Fors (THE HEARD, ex-CRUCIFIED BARBARA). “The Final Will And Testomony” was co-produced by Åkerfeldt and Stefan Boman (GHOST, THE HELLACOPTERS),engineered by Boman, Joe Jones (KILLING JOKE, ROBERT PLANT) and OPETH, with Boman, Åkerfeldt and the remainder of OPETH mixing at Atlantis and Hammerthorpe Studios in Stockholm. The strings on “The Final Will And Testomony” had been organized by Åkerfeldt and returning prog pal Dave Stewart (EGG, KHAN) and performed by Stewart at Angel Studios in London. Not one to overlook a beat, visible artist Travis Smith returns to the fold, crafting his eleventh cowl, a haunting “{photograph}” paying homage to Stanley Kubrick‘s notorious “Overlook Resort” {photograph}. Miles Showell (ABBA, QUEEN) additionally revisits mastering and vinyl lacquer chopping at Abbey Highway Studios in London.
Åkerfeldt rolls out the crimson carpet for storied flautist and JETHRO TULL mainman Ian Anderson. Not solely do Anderson‘s signature notes fly on “§4” and “§7”, he narrates on “§1”, “§2”, “§4”, and “§7”. Becoming a member of Anderson, EUROPE‘s Joey Tempest lends a backing vocal hand on “§2”, whereas Åkerfeldt‘s youngest daughter, Mirjam Åkerfeldt, is the disembodied voice in “§1”.
“The Final Will And Testomony” is an idea album set within the post-World Warfare I period, unfolding the story of a rich, conservative patriarch whose final will and testomony reveals stunning household secrets and techniques. The narrative weaves via the patriarch’s confessions, the reactions of his twin youngsters, and the mysterious presence of a polio-ridden lady who the household have taken care of. The album begins with the studying of the daddy’s will in his mansion. Amongst these in attendance is a younger lady, who, regardless of being an orphan and polio-ridden, has been raised by the household. Her presence on the will studying raises suspicions and questions among the many twins.
“The Final Will And Testomony” is the darkest and heaviest document OPETH has made in a long time, and additionally it is the band’s most fearlessly progressive. An idea album recounting the studying of 1 lately deceased man’s will to an viewers of his surviving members of the family, it brims with haunting melodrama, stunning revelations and a number of the wildest and most unpredictable music that Åkerfeldt has ever written.
The follow-up to 2019’s extensively acclaimed “In Cauda Venenum”, “The Final Will And Testomony” is ready within the shadowy, sepia-stained Twenties. It slowly reveals its secrets and techniques like some traditional thriller from the distant, cobwebbed previous, with every successive tune shining extra mild on the acknowledged machinations of our lifeless (however undoubtedly not innocent) protagonist. The emotional chaos of the story is completely matched by OPETH‘s vivid however claustrophobic soundtrack, which artfully winds its means in direction of a crestfallen however luxurious finale. Masters of their very own idiosyncratic musical area, OPETH have by no means sounded extra distinctive.
“The Final Will And Testomony” is destined to be a milestone in OPETH‘s illustrious recorded historical past. The band’s first out-and-out idea document, it options visitor cameos from JETHRO TULL legend Ian Anderson and Joey Tempest, frontman with Swedish rock gods EUROPE. Solely one of many album’s eight songs has a title: closing ballad “A Story By no means Informed”. The remaining are merely labeled as numbered chapters on this slowly unfolding saga of deceit, recrimination and betrayal. Enigmatic, unsettling and immersive, “The Final Will And Testomony” is a turbulent, prog steel story like no different.
Making his recorded debut alongside OPETH‘s long-established lineup of Mikael Åkerfeldt, guitarist Fredrik Åkesson, bassist Martin Mendez and keyboard maestro Joakim Svalberg on “The Final Will And Testomony” is new drummer Waltteri Väyrynen, who joined the band in 2022.
