• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

OPETH's FREDRIK ÅKESSON Says 'Majority' Of Band's Fans Have Embraced 'Pale Communion'

October 21, 2014

GetYourRockOut recently conducted an interview with guitarist Fredrik Åkesson of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the reaction to OPETH's latest album, "Pale Communion":

Fredrik: "I don't read everything on the Internet, so there's probably a lot of shit throwing on there, as always, but it feels like the majority of OPETH fans get the idea. And still, the death metal part is a huge part of the OPETH sound. In the setlist, we try to play everything from every album, and that's what we do in this set; we play [songs] from every album, apart from the first [one], 'Orchid'. So, I think, if you're an old-school fan, you definitely get your dose of the death metal era as well. For the future, we don't know what's gonna happen. [There] might be an extremely brutal album ahead in the future."

On whether OPETH will take the "Pale Communion" sound even further on the next album:

Fredrik: "Maybe. It's so hard to say. It would only be speculations, to talk about the future, because I think we like to be a bit unpredicatable in that sense. And we don't know what's gonna happen. It's kind of exciting to have it like that. But I think, in a way, 'Heritage' and the last album, 'Pale Communion', is probably a continuation of 'Heritage' in a way. It's more late '70s/early '80s in the sound aspect. The drums are brought up a bit more, and I think this album has a bit more melody to it, and it's probably a bit easier to digest, maybe."

OPETH's eleventh studio album, "Pale Communion", sold around 13,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 19 on The Billboard 200 chart.

"Pale Communion" was released on August 26 via Roadrunner Records. The cover artwork was once again created by Travis Smith — with art direction by Mikael Åkerfeldt. The CD was produced by Åkerfeldt and mixed by longtime collaborator and PORCUPINE TREE frontman/guitarist Steven Wilson.

Find more on Opeth
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).