OPETH Mainman Comments On Upcoming North American Tour

Swedish progressive metallers OPETH will return to North America in support of their most recent studio album, "Heritage". Released September 20, 2011, it garnered rave reviews from everyone from Rolling Stone who called the album "a career record that reimagines prog as actual rock 'n' roll" to Pitchfork saying "a pretty, well thought out collection” to NPR who called it "equally vast, thoughtful and heavy." The tour will kick off on April 18 in Buffalo and will take the band throughout North America on a 30-plus-city tour. KATATONIA has been confirmed as direct support for the tour.

There will be several dates of note during OPETH's North American run. On April 20, OPETH will be making a stop to headline alongside ANTHRAX, HATEBREED and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES at the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival. The April 28 show in Clifton Park, New York will see OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt's STORM CORROSION collaborator and friend Steven Wilson of PORCUPINE TREE join OPETH for a special evening that is not to be missed. There will also be two rare and intimate evenings with OPETH planned for Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on April 29 and The Roxy in West Hollywood on May 24. These shows will allow fans the unique opportunity to experience OPETH like never before.

OPETH will also be offering VIP packages throughout the tour that will allow fans the following:

* 1 ticket to the show
* Access to a meet-and-greet with the band
* Early entry to venue after meet & greet
* OPETH fan pack which includes:
- Exclusive VIP T-shirt
- Exclusive VIP double 12" clear vinyl of Heritage
- OPETH tour photo book
- Commemorative VIP laminate & lanyard

Fan club pre-sales begin on January 10 followed by public on-sales on January 11 and January 12.

Commented OPETH vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt: "Looks like we're coming back to North America in the spring. Again we're a 'buddy' package as we're going with KATATONIA once more. On top of that, Steven Wilson will be added to the bill in Albany on the 28th of April. Very much looking forward to this and we hope you are too.

"We've deliberately booked ourselves in some small sized venues in areas where we could play quadruple capacity venues. Why? I don't know, really. It was my idea. More intimate shows are usually my personal favorites. I know since we played everything from bars/cafes to arenas, and I know what I prefer personally.

"Setlist-wise, we've been all over the place for the last 200 shows. It will be a mixed set, hopefully something for everybody.

"The band is on top form and I think we'll be able to deliver a show that will be memorable to you. At least I hope so."

The dates are as follows:

Apr. 18 - The Town Ballroom - Buffalo, NY
Apr. 20 - New England Metal & Hardcore Festival Worcester, MA
Apr. 21 - Capitole - Quebec City, QC
Apr. 23 - Halifax Forum - Halifax, NS
Apr. 24 - Casino New Brunswick - Moncton, NB
Apr. 26 - Guelph Concert Theatre - Guelph, ON
Apr. 27 - Crocodile Rock - Allentown, PA
Apr. 28 - Upstate Concert Hall - Clifton Park, NY
Apr. 29 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
Apr. 30 - NorVa Theater - Norfolk, VA
May 02 - Culture Room - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
May 03 - State Theatre - St. Petersburg, FL
May 04 - Georgia Theatre - Athens, GA
May 05 - Lincoln Theatre - Raleigh, NC
May 06 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC
May 08 - Buster's Billiards & Backroom - Lexington, KY
May 09 - The Vogue - Indianapolis, IN
May 10 - The Machine Shop - Flint, MI
May 11 - Mojoe's - Joliet, IL
May 12 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
May 14 - The Venue - Fargo, ND
May 15 - Wooly's - Des Moines, IA
May 16 - Pop's - Sauget, IL
May 17 - Bourbon Theatre - Lincoln, NE
May 18 - Cain's Ballroom - Tulsa, OK
May 20 - Fox Theatre - Boulder, CO
May 21 - Fox Theatre - Boulder, CO
May 23 - Rialto Theatre - Tucson, AZ
May 24 - The Roxy - West Hollywood, CA
May 25 - The Canyon Club - Agoura Hills, CA
May 26 - The Catalyst - Santa Cruz, CA

In a recent interview with Uppsala Student Radio 98.9, Åkerfeldt stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2011's "Heritage" album: "I have one new song, which I really like, a new song. It's the most miserable song I ever wrote, and it's beautiful, I think. And then I have a song that we jammed, actually, on tour. I came up with a little lick and became a bit of a director and just told everyone to play this and that, and we started jamming on something. And it sounded, immediately from the beginning, which was also my idea, it sounded like the band GOBLIN, if you heard them, the Italian [progressive rock] band. So it's a crazy riff, a GOBLIN rip-off, and the song is called 'Goblin', which is a good title, I think. And we're gonna record it. I'm not sure if that will be too much of a fucked up song to be on the record, because there will definitely only be one song ever we do that is gonna sound like that. So maybe it'll just be some extra thing that we have. But it's really good; I love it. But then again, it's just because of the closeness to GOBLIN."

OPETH performed a special "unplugged" show on November 16, 2012 at the Union Chapel in London, England.

"Heritage" 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.