OPETH's MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT Doesn't Think He Could Work With Any Of His Musical Idols

Guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH recently answered a number of fan-submitted questions on a wide range of topics for the video question-and site asQme. Check out the clips below.

Asked if he would ever consider putting together a supergroup to record a new album, Mikael responded: "I'm not sure if that's for me, to be honest. I think the band today is as good as it gets for me. I don't really have any wishes to work with anyone. Of course, I have idols, heroes of mine that I look up to, but I don't think I could work with them… One of my heroes is Ritchie Blackmore [RAINBOW, DEEP PURPLE], but I couldn't work with him. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna tell him I have a riff? It doesn't work like that. So I'm not sure what to answer to that question."

During an interview with Australia's The Rockpit, Mikael spoke about the sharp musical turn OPETH took with 2011's "Heritage" album and its follow-up release, 2014's "Pale Communion". He said: "I do understand and appreciate that 'Heritage' was a little bit of a shock to fans who are more into the heavy, death metal type of sound, and maybe it's a bit much to expect them to take it all in so we got a bit of shit for that record. I love that album with a passion, because, for me, it was natural, but I have seen that with the coming of the 'Pale Communion' record that people come up to me and say, 'I did not like 'Heritage' when it came out, but when you put out 'Pale Communion', I finally understood 'Heritage' and now I'm starting to like it.' So I'm hoping it's going to escalate into a love for that record."

He continued: "People have been more gentle with us with 'Pale Communion' coming out, but there is still... Like, I don't have social media, I don't correspond with the fans in that sense, so I don't really get a lot of the confrontations about what the hell we are doing. My overall response to that question would be that people might be getting used to and maybe understand a little bit better about what we are trying to do. And, for me, that is good, of course. I never had a problem. For me, it was never a big step. For everybody in the band, it was not a massive thing for us to do 'Heritage', but I do accept that it might have been too curvy of a curveball for people who are not in the band, but now it's starting to calm down a little bit."