OPETH's MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT Says He 'Never Talked' To BILL KELLIHER, BJÖRN GELOTTE About Possible Collaboration

OPETH vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt has shot down rumors of a possible side project with MASTODON guitarist/vocalist Bill Kelliher and IN FLAMES guitarist Björn Gelotte, explaining that he has "never talked" to the other two guys about it.

Kelliher recently said that he was hopeful that the collaboration with Åkerfeldt and Gelotte would see the light of day, telling RockSverige.se: "We haven't really gotten [as] far [as writing music together] yet. It's harder than I thought it would be… [But] it is definitely a plan."

Regarding how the idea for the project came about, Kelliher said: "We were on tour together, you know, and I was writing stuff and I was, like, 'Hey, how about I send you a riff,' and [I told Björn], 'You could play anything you want' and he's, like, 'Well, if you send it to me, it's going to be metal.'"

Kellier added: "I could never get my riff to sound perfect, or as close to perfect as I wanted it to, to send it to him so. I stalled out on that. I've got to re-do it and try it again."

But in a brand new interview with RockSverige.se, Åkerfeldt claimed that had never discussed the collaboration idea with Kelliher and Gelotte. He said: "I don't know of this. He's really cool, no doubt about it, and Björn is too, but we've never talked about this."

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.

IN FLAMES' new CD, "Siren Charms", opened with around 9,000 units in to land at No. 26.

MASTODON's sixth album, "Once More 'Round The Sun", sold around 34,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart. The record arrived in stores on June 24 via Reprise Records.