OPETH's FREDRIK ÅKESSON Explains How Drummer WALTTERI VÄYRYNEN Landed Gig As Replacement For MARTIN 'AXE' AXENROT

In a new interview with Rock Antenne's David Loebe at Guitar Summit 2024, OPETH guitarist Fredrik Åkesson spoke about the September 2022 addition of drummer Waltteri Väyrynen (PARADISE LOST, BLOODBATH, BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT) to the group's ranks. Väyrynen replaced stand-in drummer Sami Karppinen who had been the temporary replacement for Martin "Axe" Axenrot since the fall of 2021.

Fredrik said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, we had a guy that helped us out in between, a guy called Sami, who actually was Axe's drum tech. So he did the two American tours we signed up for, and also the festival summer season. And then we had Waltteri in mind because we saw him play the track 'The Devil's Orchard', which is… He's more of, I would say, an extreme metal drummer, but in OPETH, you need to have a bigger spectra, you need to know the prog, the more calm stuff and tasteful stuff, and he played that track, which is not a death metal track, but he just nailed everything; he really had the entire spectra as a drummer — all the different elements that are required within OPETH, because we kind of switch in between '70s prog rock, hard rock, metal, death metal, progressive metal, blah, blah, blah, etc. Some slightly jazzy stuff as well. But we did three tours with Waltteri before we recorded the [upcoming OPETH] album ['The Last Will And Testament'] with him. So he just nailed everything directly. When we went into the studio, the first track we recorded was one that we released so far, 'Paragraph Three', and he just nailed it on the first take. So, [we went], 'That's it.' But he was, of course, as I would be, 'No. Another one.'"

In August 2022, one of Axenrot's BLOODBATH bandmates, vocalist Nick Holmes (also of PARADISE LOST),told BLABBERMOUTH.NET that the drummer's refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19 led to his exit from OPETH.

Axenrot has not publicly commented on his exit from OPETH and it is not clear if his vaccination status is the only reason he is no longer playing with the band.

Axenrot officially joined OPETH nearly two decades ago as the replacement for Martin Lopez, who left the band in May 2006 after being plagued by illness and anxiety attacks, which forced him to miss several of OPETH's tours.

"The Last Will And Testament" will be made available on November 22 via Reigning Phoenix Music/Moderbolaget. The LP was written by guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt, with lyrics conferred with Klara Rönnqvist Fors (THE HEARD, ex-CRUCIFIED BARBARA). "The Last Will And Testament" was co-produced by Åkerfeldt and Stefan Boman (GHOST, THE HELLACOPTERS),engineered by Boman, Joe Jones (KILLING JOKE, ROBERT PLANT) and OPETH, with Boman, Åkerfeldt and the rest of OPETH mixing at Atlantis and Hammerthorpe Studios in Stockholm. The strings on "The Last Will And Testament" were arranged by Åkerfeldt and returning prog friend Dave Stewart (EGG, KHAN) and conducted by Stewart at Angel Studios in London. Not one to miss a beat, visual artist Travis Smith returns to the fold, crafting his 11th cover, a haunting "photograph" reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's infamous "Overlook Hotel" photograph. Miles Showell (ABBA, QUEEN) also revisits mastering and vinyl lacquer cutting at Abbey Road Studios in London.

Åkerfeldt rolls out the red carpet for storied flautist and JETHRO TULL mainman Ian Anderson. Not only do Anderson's signature notes fly on "§4" and "§7", he narrates on "§1", "§2", "§4", and "§7". Joining Anderson, EUROPE's Joey Tempest lends a backing vocal hand on "§2", while Åkerfeldt's youngest daughter, Mirjam Åkerfeldt, is the disembodied voice in "§1".

"The Last Will And Testament" is a concept album set in the post-World War I era, unfolding the story of a wealthy, conservative patriarch whose last will and testament reveals shocking family secrets. The narrative weaves through the patriarch's confessions, the reactions of his twin children, and the mysterious presence of a polio-ridden girl who the family have taken care of. The album begins with the reading of the father's will in his mansion. Among those in attendance is a young girl, who, despite being an orphan and polio-ridden, has been raised by the family. Her presence at the will reading raises suspicions and questions among the twins.

"The Last Will And Testament" is the darkest and heaviest record OPETH has made in decades, and it is also the band's most fearlessly progressive. A concept album recounting the reading of one recently deceased man's will to an audience of his surviving family members, it brims with haunting melodrama, shocking revelations and some of the wildest and most unpredictable music that Åkerfeldt has ever written.

The follow-up to 2019's widely acclaimed "In Cauda Venenum", "The Last Will And Testament" is set in the shadowy, sepia-stained 1920s. It slowly reveals its secrets like some classic thriller from the distant, cobwebbed past, with each successive song shining more light on the stated machinations of our dead (but definitely not harmless) protagonist. The emotional chaos of the story is perfectly matched by OPETH's vivid but claustrophobic soundtrack, which artfully winds its way towards a crestfallen but sumptuous finale. Masters of their own idiosyncratic musical domain, OPETH have never sounded more unique.

Photo by Terhi Ylimäinen