Mikael Åkerfeldt is pretty sure he knows what most heavy-metal fans want out of a new album these days: “Something heavy filled with young male hormones.” The value of such a record isn’t lost on the Opeth frontman. “That can be magic in a way,” he acknowledges over the phone from his home in Sweden. But these days, Åkerfeldt is thinking on a somewhat loftier plane. “It sounds ridiculous and pretentious,” he says, “but I wanna make an artistic-sounding record that’s a little bit more refined than Bullet for My Valentine.”
He’s certainly done that: On Opeth’s new one, Watershed (Roadrunner), Åkerfeldt leads the way on a certifiably epic journey through a sonic landscape defined equally by ghostly folk-metal strumming, soaring classic-rock melodicism, and technically impressive electric-guitar fireworks.
The album is the first studio outing from Opeth since the departure of founding guitarist Peter Lindgren and longtime drummer Martin Lopez. In their place, Watershed features two new members: Fredrik Åkesson, who recently played guitar in Arch Enemy, and Martin “Axe” Axenrot, a drummer recommended to Åkerfeldt by Patrik Jensen of the Haunted, who also plays with Axenrot in Witchery.
Åkerfeldt says that the addition of Åkesson and Axenrot had some effect on his writing for Watershed. “More with Axe,” he explains. “Even though Fredrik can play all the widdly, Yngwie Malmsteen stuff, I didn’t want it to be some fucking Shrapnel Records/Mike Varney kind of thing. I wanted it to be an Opeth record with some brilliant solos. But because Axe is just insanely talented, maybe some of the parts came out a bit more complicated. I wanted to try him out, and I also wanted him to be excited to play these songs.”
REVOLVER Let’s start by talking about what caused Peter Lindgren and Martin Lopez to leave Opeth.
MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT It feels like it was ages ago now, in a way. With Lopez, I started seeing some personal issues around the time we did Deliverance and Damnation. He simply wasn’t feeling it; he’d call me crying over the phone because he didn’t wanna go on tour. On the last tour we did with him, after Ghost Reveries, he was miserable. I remember a hot day somewhere in Upstate New York, we went to swim in a nearby lake. He took his shirt off and he was so thin. He was very, very ill at the time—he couldn’t really keep his food, and for the last couple of gigs he couldn’t even drink water. In Tulsa he had to be taken to the hospital; they gave him morphine and that kind of stuff. It was some kind of blood disease he told me his father also had. He left the tour and went back to Uruguay, and I talked to him once or twice over the phone and then met him once when he told me, “It’s over.”
When it became clear to you that Martin was leaving the band, were you conflicted at all over what it would mean for him versus what it would mean for Opeth?
We’re friends—I was concerned for his health. But I can’t help him with that. The only thing I can do is tell him to get help from professional doctors. There was no way we could just stop working. All of us relied on this band and that we would continue working. I can’t even remember discussing, “OK, let’s put the band to rest until Lopez is better.” I think regardless of who’s sick—even if it’s just for a month or so—we’re gonna try and find a substitute for that time. We were lucky on that tour because Gene Hoglan could play double sets with us and Strapping Young Lad. But we knew that when we came back home obviously we couldn’t have Gene flying all over the world to play with us. We needed to find a substitute drummer until Lopez got better, and that was Axe.
Was it apparent from the first time you played together that Axe fit into Opeth?
It was instant. In our first rehearsal Axe played Deliverance straight through without any fuckups. He would listen to the song and then he knew the song. He and Gene remind me of each other. He’s razor-sharp; even the most complicated thing he understands instantly. And that was such a relief to me. All of a sudden we were without Martin Lopez, the engine that keeps us going. But it turned out it wasn’t a problem. When Axe joined, in the back of my head I was like, Maybe Lopez is never coming back. It didn’t scare me as much since we had this guy.
What about Peter?
I can’t say for sure that this is true, but I felt Peter’s interest in the band kind of faded around the same time. I depended on him a lot; writing all the stuff, I needed somebody with a second opinion, somebody to confirm my own hopes. And I remember he was leaving the studio a lot [during the recording of Deliverance and Damnation]. In the middle of doing rhythm guitar, he left for a party for a couple of days. I was like, What the fuck? It’s just a sign that maybe he wasn’t as interested anymore. Maybe he felt a bit left out because we used to write together in the early days, and now I’m taking over. But that’s just the way it is. I can’t concentrate with people in the room anymore—it doesn’t matter if it’s fucking Paul McCartney. Peter enjoyed being in a rock band and traveling the world and meeting fans and playing shows. We get paid a wage for doing what we love to do—it’s not the worst kind of thing. But his passion for the music kind of faded. When we got off tour for Ghost Reveries he got a job. He’s probably the most educated metal dude I’ve ever met, and basically he got a job for six months to see what he could do with his education. That’s fair; I didn’t go, “Golly, why’d you do that?” But I did think, You’ve got a job—your job is to practice playing the guitar. I brought this up with Peter, and he said, “That doesn’t have anything to do with my interest in the band.” But I think it was a symptom of that anyway—otherwise he wouldn’t have pursued it. There’s no question in my mind what I’ve dedicated my life to. And if there isn’t a question, I’m not looking elsewhere, you know what I mean? That was one of the big conversations we had. We were going on a break, and soon enough we had a talk and it was over. I think he’s working on that very job now, actually.
Before he decided to leave, did you spend a lot of time trying to convince him that he was a valuable part of the band?
No, I didn’t, to be honest. I can only pep talk if I get truly excited about something, and Peter wasn’t really giving me anything to work with. Because of the fact that I was writing all of the stuff on my own, he didn’t really practice or come up with many ideas in the studio. He didn’t really contribute musically at all for years. But I guess that’s my own fault. I was like, “Hey, here’s the songs—what do you think?” I guess it’s slightly intimidating when somebody comes up with six 15-minute songs. Then he’s like, “Hey, I got this riff, it sounds like Deep Purple.” What the fuck can I say? Credit’s given where credit is due. That sounds harsh. I love him, and we did have a time where we wrote together and he came up with a lot of ideas. But that ended 10 years ago. And since then I’ve been doing it myself. I’d love for the other guys to come up with ideas. But I’m not the easiest kind of guy. I’m picky, and if I think something’s shit I say it’s shit.
I think by now it’s well accepted that you’re the architect of Opeth’s sound.
But that’s pretty uncomfortable. In the studio when we did the last album, one of the engineers came up to me and said in a joking way, “Have you always been a dictator?” I don’t think I’m a dictator, but I guess that’s what it’s become. My vision is pretty clear with what I wanna do with my songs. But I don’t have a problem saying to myself that I’m shit: “You cannot do this.” “This song sucks.” “Your vocals are out of tune and you sound like a junkie singing.” I expect the other guys to tell me when they don’t like something.
Do you think they’re honest with you?
They don’t really say much. Maybe they’re afraid of me. I think they don’t tell me because I’m so aware. I know if I’m shit and I think they know that I know.
How did you recruit Fredrik?
When Peter left I think I called Fredrik that evening and said, “Do you want a job?” I’ve been aware of him for a couple of years. I saw him in a pub in Stockholm playing heavy-metal covers: “Painkiller” by Judas Priest and some King Diamond songs. He actually came over to my house to give me a few guitar lessons; I wanted to improve my technique, because I’m self-taught and I don’t know shit. He showed me a few scales and I showed him a new Opeth riff. I said, “You think you can play it?” I guess I was secretly auditioning him early on.
At this point in the band’s evolution are you more concerned with bringing in a good player than a good friend?
I’m basically looking for good musicians who I think can add something to our future projects and also that wouldn’t have a problem learning and playing the older songs. But I wouldn’t bring in a complete fucking cunt either. The childhood dream of having a band consisting of your best mates, that’s gone. We’re all friends in the band, but now it’s the musicianship and the passion for playing and experimenting that matters.
That shared passion creates a bond that’s unique to the experience, right?
I can’t really compare it to anything. There are many bad times, and to some extent you can almost hate each other sometimes. But you keep together because you’re in the band. It sounds boring, but I guess you could compare it to a small office: Everybody’s depending on everybody else to do their stuff, because if they don’t do their shit, my shit’s not gonna work either.
You can hear that interconnectivity on Watershed. The music flows more easily than on any previous Opeth record.
This album perfectly represents where my head is at right now. The third track, “The Lotus Eater,” that’s the way I want music to be. I’m so jaded, especially with the metal scene—I think everyone sucks. If I want to get excited about heavy metal I put on Stained Class by Judas Priest, from 1978. So I just wanted to make [Watershed] exciting. We’ve been working in this direction since the beginning, but now it finally feels like we’ve let down the guard a little bit. I’m like, “Fuck it—just do this funk part.” It doesn’t matter anymore. This is us.
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