OPETH Confirmed For Italy's EVOLUTION FESTIVAL

Swedish metallers OPETH have been confirmed for the Evolution Festival 2008, set to take place Saturday, July 12 at Idroscalo in Milan, Italy. Also scheduled to appear are IN FLAMES, PAIN OF SALVATION and GAMMA RAY. More acts will be announced on January 25.

OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt recently spoke to Revolver magazine about the group's forthcoming follow-up to 2005's "Ghost Reveries", tentatively due in the spring via Roadrunner Records.

"The music is much more complex," he said. "The metal parts are even faster and a lot more technical than the last one. It's really hard to play some of this stuff. I mean, I wrote it and even I have trouble playing parts of it. I think it's going to be hard for some people to get into. It's definitely not a commercial-sounding record. The arrangements are exhausting. And it's much darker. Even the major patterns are very dark, while I think 'Ghost Reveries' had some light."

When asked if the songs were influences by anything musical, Mikael replied, I was hugely inspired by Scott Walker, who's an avant-garde artist and crooner. Last year he put out a record called 'The Drift', which is quite extreme and frightening, and it made a huge impact on me. Immediately, I wanted to do something like that. It just felt right. Also, with the situation the band has gone through over the last couple of years with the lineup changes, I just wanted it to be this way. I didn't want it to be a happy-sounding record."

OPETH's "The Roundhouse Tapes" high-definition-filmed DVD has had its projected release date pushed back to September 2008 from the previously announced early 2008. This will also feature lots of fan interviews, band interviews, soundcheck footage and live photos, along with exclusive menu music written by mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt and keyboardist Per Wiberg.

OPETH's "The Roundhouse Tapes" double CD has sold 2,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The set contains "a captivating OPETH performance from the Camden Roundhouse, London, UK, on November 9, 2006, and sees the band in scintillating form churning out a selection of classics from their illustrious career," according to a press release.

The band will take part in DREAM THEATER's "Progressive Nation" in the spring, a package tour that will also feature the talents of 3 and BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME.

"Ghost Reveries" has sold around 90,000 copies in the United States since its 2005 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.