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Opeth - Working On New Songs


Opeth haven't said much about their new album so far but in a recent interview with FaceCulture, guitarist Fredrik Åkesson has revealed that the band is writing and demoing new music for their next album. Due out sometime in 2019, it will be the follow-up to 2016's Sorceress.




On the progress of the new album: "We're very much into the demoing. I've recorded a lot of solos so far. And Mikael (Åkerfeldt) has almost already written 12 songs for the new album, so we have more material than enough for an album. But I think we will at least try to finish 15 songs. So hopefully we'll work on song ideas very soon."

Regarding the release set for the first quarter of 2019: "I'm not sure if it's gonna happen, but we're working towards that, and the songwriting goes very well". "Mikael has been very productive these last? since January, basically. We did the last touring for Sorceress in November."

In terms of the musical direction of the new material: "Compared to the last three albums, I would say, if I can reveal anything, this album is more complex, more energetic, and I think it's gonna be something."

"The first filter is the guys in the band, I would say, If we enjoy it, we can only hope that people that enjoy listening to Opeth will enjoy it; that would be nice. But if we're happy with it, we will release it; it's quite simple. I think this is kind of a Mikael question in a way, since he's the creative director for the band, so I know, speaking for him a little bit here, that he always tries to push everything into something new. And I think people will enjoy this new album."

Source: youtube.com
Band profile: Opeth
Posted: 12.07.2018 by BloodTears


Comments

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Comments: 40   Visited by: 308 users
12.07.2018 - 14:27
Metren
Dreadrealm
Funny (sad, actually) that back when Opeth were putting out a new album almost every year, their music was so much superior. Now they're releasing an album every 2-3 years and it's all rather mediocre. I guess age catches up with us all.
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My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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12.07.2018 - 14:35
Mercurial

I heard a rumour this is going to be nothing but layered death growls dispersed with solos.
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12.07.2018 - 14:50
Enemy of Reality
Account deleted
Written by Metren on 12.07.2018 at 14:27

Funny (sad, actually) that back when Opeth were putting out a new album almost every year, their music was so much superior. Now they're releasing an album every 2-3 years and it's all rather mediocre. I guess age catches up with us all.


There's this theory that after a band releases their most heavy and obscure album (ghost reveries), they dont know what to do anymore.
Its either this or the lack of fresh new ideas.
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12.07.2018 - 14:57
Daniell
_爱情_
Written by Guest on 12.07.2018 at 14:50

There's this theory that after a band releases their most heavy and obscure album (ghost reveries), they dont know what to do anymore.
Its either this or the lack of fresh new ideas.

Ghost Reveries the heaviest? No.
Obscure? No.
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12.07.2018 - 14:58
Daniell
_爱情_
I find it hilarious that some people already know the quality of the album in the works.
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12.07.2018 - 15:03
Mercurial

Written by Daniell on 12.07.2018 at 14:58

I find it hilarious that some people already know the quality of the album in the works.

Who? I don't see anyone doing that here. Just comments about the band's quality in recent years. You seem so itchy in commenting on what other people think you didn't read stuff right.
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12.07.2018 - 15:43
Metren
Dreadrealm
Written by Mercurial on 12.07.2018 at 15:03

Written by Daniell on 12.07.2018 at 14:58

I find it hilarious that some people already know the quality of the album in the works.

Who? I don't see anyone doing that here. Just comments about the band's quality in recent years. You seem so itchy in commenting on what other people think you didn't read stuff right.


Well, let's not forget that those who keep an open mind can see how everything bands like Opeth, Immortal, and Enslaved release is actually really really good, all one needs is an open mind of openness and openty.
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My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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12.07.2018 - 15:58
ManiacBlasphemer
Black Knight
Written by Daniell on 12.07.2018 at 14:58

I find it hilarious that some people already know the quality of the album in the works.


If it will follow the same line as the previous 3 albums, then it is predictable. Opeth were good when playing progressive death, not when emulating Rush and other prog rock giants.
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12.07.2018 - 16:27
BlankFile

More 70´s Progressive Rock or real Opeth this time?
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12.07.2018 - 16:42
Daniell
_爱情_
Written by Metren on 12.07.2018 at 15:43

Well, let's not forget that those who keep an open mind can see how everything bands like Opeth, Immortal, and Enslaved release is actually really really good, all one needs is an open mind of openness and openty.

Latest Opeth was barely good. Latest Enslaved was weaker than at least 3 previous releases. Latest Immortal is quite good.
If what you wrote you concluded from my older posts, your conclusions were incorrect.
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12.07.2018 - 17:14
Metren
Dreadrealm
Written by Daniell on 12.07.2018 at 16:42

Latest Opeth was barely good. Latest Enslaved was weaker than at least 3 previous releases. Latest Immortal is quite good.
If what you wrote you concluded from my older posts, your conclusions were incorrect.


Didn't you score Opeth's latest with a 7.9 in Your review? And didn't You say Northern Chaos Gods was "Very good" as opposed to "quite good" under SSUS' review? You're allowed to change Your opinion of course, but sometimes Your comments do give off the impression that You're "white-knighting" for bands by trying to interpret or second-guess the comments of others. I don't say this to pick a fight either, it's just an observation and my poking fun at Your comments, was meant to be taken as light-hearted banter, nothing more.
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My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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12.07.2018 - 17:47
Drekavaц
Account deleted
Mikael, no more clean vocals for you, lol...
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12.07.2018 - 17:51
Daniell
_爱情_
Written by Metren on 12.07.2018 at 17:14

Didn't you score Opeth's latest with a 7.9 in Your review? And didn't You say Northern Chaos Gods was "Very good" as opposed to "quite good" under SSUS' review? You're allowed to change Your opinion of course, but sometimes Your comments do give off the impression that You're "white-knighting" for bands by trying to interpret or second-guess the comments of others. I don't say this to pick a fight either, it's just an observation and my poking fun at Your comments, was meant to be taken as light-hearted banter, nothing more.


Opeth - 7.2. Barely good. Good starts at 7
Immortal - quite good, very good, basically the same thing. I still think so by the way. NCG is much better than ASF, weaker than SoND. An even 8 in my opinion.

You're probably right. I tent to defend big bands a lot. My reasoning is simple. "The general public", if I may call metal fans that, usually loves bands' early output and dismisses their later output. While I agree that most of the time bands peak in the early stages of their careers (assuming these are long careers), up to, say, their 4th/5th albums. But it doesn't mean that their newer output must necessarily be bad. My observation is that people will usually dismiss a late album by a big bang out of hand. Without giving it a proper listen. Most of these big bands do not deserve such contempt.

And please don't worry about me taking anything too seriously. After all, we're just two guys chatting on the internet. No need for anyone to get worked up
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12.07.2018 - 18:01
Metren
Dreadrealm
Written by Daniell on 12.07.2018 at 17:51

Opeth - 7.2. Barely good. Good starts at 7


Oh, you adjusted the original score of Your review apparently. Nothing wrong with that.

Written by Daniell on 12.07.2018 at 17:51

You're probably right. I tent to defend big bands a lot. My reasoning is simple. "The general public", if I may call metal fans that, usually loves bands' early output and dismisses their later output. While I agree that most of the time bands peak in the early stages of their careers (assuming these are long careers), up to, say, their 4th/5th albums. But it doesn't mean that their newer output must necessarily be bad. My observation is that people will usually dismiss a late album by a big bang out of hand. Without giving it a proper listen. Most of these big bands do not deserve such contempt.


I guess it is positive that someone takes the bands' side haha. Especially with bands that have given us so much classic material. Though I am still of the opinion that most bands should stick to concerts (if they even still have that in them) after the members are 40+. Generally, the quality of their new albums seems to go down around that point.

Written by Daniell on 12.07.2018 at 17:51

And please don't worry about me taking anything too seriously. After all, we're just two guys chatting on the internet. No need for anyone to get worked up


I didn't think You got worked up at all, btw. I know You're a chill dude like most of us here on MS. It's just that I've been told by friends that I come across as aggressive when speaking online (as opposed to face-to-face), so I always feel the need to make it absolutely clear that I don't mean to be aggressive. As you said, we're just chatting and it's not like we're discussing human rights or ethics or whatnot. Art is important, but never important enough to get emotional in a discussion imo.
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My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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12.07.2018 - 18:15
ManiacBlasphemer
Black Knight
Written by Daniell on 12.07.2018 at 17:51

Opeth - 7.2. Barely good. Good starts at 7
Immortal - quite good, very good, basically the same thing. I still think so by the way. NCG is much better than ASF, weaker than SoND. An even 8 in my opinion.

You're probably right. I tent to defend big bands a lot. My reasoning is simple. "The general public", if I may call metal fans that, usually loves bands' early output and dismisses their later output. While I agree that most of the time bands peak in the early stages of their careers (assuming these are long careers), up to, say, their 4th/5th albums. But it doesn't mean that their newer output must necessarily be bad. My observation is that people will usually dismiss a late album by a big bang out of hand. Without giving it a proper listen. Most of these big bands do not deserve such contempt.

And please don't worry about me taking anything too seriously. After all, we're just two guys chatting on the internet. No need for anyone to get worked up


This is not a general trend, this is simply the case with most bands. Most bands simply release their best output in their early days, as metal usually is a young guy's thing, not an old farts thing. Bands that go over 10-15 years tend to be creatively drained, and they either recycle their usual stuff or venture into areas where they are simply not as good as they were when they were doing their own thing. However there are a few bands that became better with age, and I can think of Enslaved in particular, who's later prog phase being much better than the black metal days. AEO and RIITIR in particular were their peak of creativity.

Your reasoning is quite lacking though. You are more lenient with big bands just because you speculate a trend set up by the general public, who berates their later works just for the sake of it. While this may be the case with some big names, it is not the case with all big names.
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12.07.2018 - 18:40
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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12.07.2018 - 19:16
Deviant

For me, it's not really the fact that they're not death metal anymore, I just think their new stuff is weak. I loved Damnation, and I thought most of Heritage was decent, but Pale Communion and Sorceress just didn't do anything for me. It's not like I didn't give those albums plenty of chances either, because Opeth is one of my favorite bands.

I think it will be interesting to see what they do next.
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12.07.2018 - 19:37
Tuonelan

Sometime in their 30s-40s most people figure out that all the shit they got worked up about in their 20s wasn't nearly as dramatic and important as they made it out to be. Makes it kinda hard to do extreme metal when your extremes all feel kinda childish.

I think the biggest change in Opeth's sound is that Åkerfeldt stopped writing evil guitar riffs with accompaniment and started writing things that were spread out more between the different instruments. Åkerfeldt said as much in interviews when he talks about how he spends more time when playing the old stuff where he has to concentrate on his own playing where in the new stuff he's listening to the other guys and trying to play music with them.
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Hopepunk living on a grimdark timeline
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12.07.2018 - 19:58
Zap
Guest
There's only two ways Mikael could make me excited about a new Opeth album. Either by stating -and not in a joking way- that it's their heaviest album yet, or by revealing some weird new direction ("we made an electronic album" or "we went fully acoustic on this one" or "we replaced our guitars with banjos")
If it's similar in sound to the last three then I'm just not interested anymore. Maybe one day they can make a prog rock album that's actually interesting but after three attempts they haven't shown their potential in that regard.
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12.07.2018 - 20:09
Maco
Pvt Funderground
Oh new Opeth... whatever
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Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
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12.07.2018 - 20:21
Enemy of Reality
Account deleted
Written by Daniell on 12.07.2018 at 14:57

Written by Guest on 12.07.2018 at 14:50

There's this theory that after a band releases their most heavy and obscure album (ghost reveries), they dont know what to do anymore.
Its either this or the lack of fresh new ideas.

Ghost Reveries the heaviest? No.
Obscure? No.


That's top notch argumentative skill. You changed my perspective entirely. Ive never been so wrong.
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12.07.2018 - 22:20
Daniell
_爱情_
Written by ManiacBlasphemer on 12.07.2018 at 18:15

Your reasoning is quite lacking though. You are more lenient with big bands just because you speculate a trend set up by the general public, who berates their later works just for the sake of it. While this may be the case with some big names, it is not the case with all big names.

I didn't say all big names.
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12.07.2018 - 22:22
Daniell
_爱情_
Written by Guest on 12.07.2018 at 20:21

That's top notch argumentative skill. You changed my perspective entirely. Ive never been so wrong.

No matter how sarcastic you try to be, Ghost Reveries is neither Opeth's heaviest album, nor is it obscure.
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13.07.2018 - 00:20
EloZ

Orchid, Morningrise, My arms your hearse, Still life, Blackwater park, Deliverance, Ghost reveries and Watershed, even Damnation (the album is very well conceived)... Then it's something else, not Opeth. They've gone too far for me. I used to love them but it's over. They are another kind of band. I'm not going to give 'em another chance after what I heard on Heritage (the worst album ever), Pale Communion and Sorceress. But of course it's only my opinion because music taste is something so personal!
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13.07.2018 - 00:29
Opethian

More elevator rock music? I'm starting to share the same enthusiasm for new Opeth as I do for new Cradle of Filth or Borgir. No thanks...
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13.07.2018 - 03:48
Nicko's Nose

Written by ManiacBlasphemer on 12.07.2018 at 15:58
when emulating Rush

Nothing they have released sounds like Rush.
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13.07.2018 - 04:05
Karlabos
Meat and Potatos
Written by Opethian on 13.07.2018 at 00:29

More elevator rock music? I'm starting to share the same enthusiasm for new Opeth as I do for new Cradle of Filth or Borgir. No thanks...

Not even the Opethian admires Opeth anymore... We are doomed
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"Aah! The cat turned into a cat!"
- Reimu Hakurei
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13.07.2018 - 10:16
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Honestly Sorceress is their only album that I don't enjoy, even though I still regularly listen to Strange Brew. I actually prefer Pale Communion and Heritage to Damnation and Watershed which I find pretty lackluster compared to what came before them. But if the new album will follow in the shoes of Sorceress I can't really see much in store for Opeth. Mikael's vocals just can't do it anymore and feel really strained (i'm not even talking about growls).
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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13.07.2018 - 11:03
Metren
Dreadrealm
Written by Karlabos on 13.07.2018 at 04:05

Not even the Opethian admires Opeth anymore... We are doomed




Best laugh I've had all day. Thanks.
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My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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13.07.2018 - 11:51
musclassia

If it's gonna stay in the prog rock style they've been doing, hopefully it'll be closer to Pale Communion than Sorceress or Heritage. Thankfully, aside from one pointless argument, the opinions shared here thus far are very reasonable. There seem to be two extremes on the topic of Opeth (usually more on Facebook/Youtube where the standard of discourse is already pretty pathetic); those who act as if Heritage onwards is an unforgivable betrayal (remember one melt crying that he couldn't bear to listen to Still Life anymore because of the more recent music), and those that claim that those who dislike the later albums are close-minded neanderthals. In terms of duration and extent of praise, I'm not sure if there's been a more widely acclaimed streak of albums from a metal band than Orchid to Watershed, so I feel like Opeth have givens fans of that style more than enough music to sink into such that they can explore what they want to make without receiving such vitriol as some people send their ways. Yet at the same time, the simple reality is that the current stuff is very retro-inspired, and to a lot of people, including myself, just not that interesting compared to either their past material or the current output of other progressive rock/metal acts. Too much of it is lacking the whole 'Opeth' atmosphere that makes their music, including the softer songs and the Damnation album, so compelling.
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