OPETH's 'Heritage' Cracks U.S. Top 20

"Heritage", the new album from Swedish progressive metallers OPETH, sold 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 19 on The Billboard 200 chart.

OPETH's previous studio CD, 2008's "Watershed", opened with more than 19,000 units to land at No. 23.

"Watershed" was the follow-up to the band's acclaimed "Ghost Reveries" CD, which debuted at No. 64 on the Billboard chart back in September 2005 with first-week sales of just under 15,000.

OPETH's 2003 album, "Damnation", premiered with a little over 5,000 copies.

"Heritage" was produced by OPETH vocalist/guitarist Mikael kerfeldt and was recorded earlier this year at Atlantis studios (formerly Metronome studios) in Stockholm. Mixing duties were handled by Steven Wilson (PORCUPINE TREE) and kerfeldt. Longtime collaborator Travis Smith also worked with kerfeldt to create, design and execute the album's artwork, which can be seen below.

"Heritage" first-week chart positions so far:

Denmark: #8
Norway: #8
Germany: #9
Netherlands: #10
Australia: #12
Austria: #16
U.S.A.: #19
U.K.: #22
France: #24
New Zealand: #26
Ireland: #34
Belgium: #87

"Heritage" was released in several configurations that will certainly incite the interest of OPETH's legion of fans, known for their passion for collecting and collectibles. The album was made available as a standard version; as a special edition loaded with extras; as a box set exclusive to the Roadrunner and the band's own official Omerch webstore; and as a double LP.

Standard CD

01. Heritage
02. The Devil's Orchard
03. I Feel The Dark
04. Slither
05. Nepenthe
06. Hxprocess
07. Famine
08. The Lines In My Hand
09. Folklore
10. Marrow Of The Earth

Special-Edition Digipack CD/DVD

As above plus additional DVD including:

* Bonus audio tracks: "Pyre" and "Face In The Snow"
* 5.1 mix of the whole album
* "Making of the album" documentary
* Card to download the bonus tracks
* Limited-edition OPETH coin (until stocks last)

The Deluxe Box Set:

* Double-LP set of "Heritage" with exclusive lenticular artwork (180-gram vinyl
in gatefold jacket)
* Custom gatefold jacket that houses the "Heritage" special edition CD/DVD set
(includes 2 bonus tracks, 5.1 audio mix of album and "Making Of Heritage" documentary)
* Exclusive 7" of 2 bonus tracks
* Litho print of album cover
* Oversized 16-page booklet with exclusive photos and artwork
* All content housed in custom slipcase
* Receive a digital download of the album the day before release

In a recent interview with Radio Metal, kerfeldt stated about "Heritage", "I never heard music like that, so I can't compare it to other bands. If you want to compare it to another band, it has to be us. But still, it's different. For me, it kind of makes sense, because I've been doing this for such a long time. So it's not a massive departure for me and for the guys in the band. But for fans, if they are, for example, into 'My Arms, Your Hearse' [OPETH's third album, released in 1998], it might be a bit different. But I'm hoping that a lot of people are ready for this type of album from us. The music is all over the place. It's hard to define the album and say it sound like this or like that. There are no songs that represent more the album than any other songs. It's an album as whole. You can't listen to only one song and you'll know what the album is going to be like. Because, like I said, it's all over the place."

OPETH made its live debut with keyboardist Joakim Svalberg (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, GLENN HUGHES) at the 10th annual Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival on June 10, 2011 on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville.

Keyboardist Per Wiberg, who joined OPETH in 2005, was relieved of his duties in April as part of a mutual decision with the remaining members of the band.