OPETH

Everybody likes to complain, but nobody considers the consequences. When OPETH's Mikael Åkerfeldt decided to ditch death metal vocals after 2008's universally acclaimed "Watershed", a lot of the bands most devoted bands got their knickers in a twist and many of them have been bleating about it ever since. Meanwhile, OPETH have gone from strength to strength, expanded their fervently progressive sound in numerous new directions and become more popular and critically lauded than ever. The idea that someone would listen to the genre-defying grandeur of 2014's "Pale Communion" or the esoteric opulence of 2019's "In Cauda Venenum" and still complain about the lack of death growls is baffling. Åkerfeldt has stated that part of the reason why he declined to bring them back over the last decade-and-a-half is that he was waiting for fans to stop talking as if vocals were the be all and end all of OPETH's existence. Clearly, at some point he has decided that the pro-growl lobby have quietened down enough, because, as widely advertised, "The Last Will & Testament" sees the return of the immortal Åkerfeldt death metal vocal, in tandem with some of the heaviest and darkest material that he has written in a very long time.

But before anyone starts crowing about OPETH going backwards, it needs stating that the band's 14th full-length album is in no way lazy, revisionist or backward-looking. The evolution that began way back in the early '90s is not going to stop here, and the notion that Åkerfeldt would try to recreate past triumphs is just plain silly. The truth is that the growls are back because the music demanded it. "The Last Will & Testament" is a concept album about the reading of a will, and the consequences and events that follow on from its many revelations. This is a dark record with a dark theme, and while there are certainly moments that come closer to the progressive death metal of OPETH's old days than anything they have done in recent times, the ongoing development of Åkerfeldt's songwriting ensures that even the heaviest parts are closer in spirit to "In Cauda Venenum" than "Blackwater Park".

Not that any of this matters, of course. The headline should really be that OPETH have delivered another classic, and quite conceivably the most inventive, progressive and challenging album of their careers. A deeply atmospheric study of what happens when a patriarch dies and causes chaos with the secrets he reveals in his will, with JETHRO TULL legend Ian Anderson playing the part of the deceased, this is OPETH with the brakes off and the prog fader thrust into the red.

But yes, it's also the most vicious record they have made in years. Opener "§1" (all the songs are numbered paragraphs, with one exception) was rapturously received when it emerged a few months ago, but amidst celebrations about returning growls, the fact that it was a profoundly strange and intricate introduction to the new album was largely overlooked. A seamless blur of nimble time signature shifts, churning, deathly belligerence, adornments and trimmings straight from the left-field prog handbook, it conjures an atmosphere of icy, chattering dread that is quite unlike any previous OPETH creation. Likewise, "§2" is so full of twists and turns that it disorients and dazzles in equal measure. Pompous, big rock riffs collide with Ian Anderson's ominous voiceover, a keening guitar motif and ghostly vocal harmonies, as rich Mellotron tones bubble up from the depths, and Åkerfeldt spits fire like a man born to do it (and with Satan's approval). More familial secrets are spilled in "§3", wherein jagged guitar lines and a lolloping, doomy shuffle conspire to ratchet up the narrative tension. Important themes surface — "Carnal shame… a secret treaty… the lovers' bond…" — as the music snaps from billowing crescendo to chilling quiet and back again, oozing drama with every step.

Fans of the death growl will be initially thrilled by "§4", which kicks off with Åkerfeldt in snarling colossus mode, but the song's progress is wayward and endlessly dynamic. Delicate chamber music blossoms and dissolves, before a serpentine groove slinks into view, with Ian Anderson's flute soaring magically over a spectral fog of guitars. One mutation later, and OPETH are heavy again, and stealthily pursuing a stuttering groove to its bitter, befuddled end. Next, "§5" provides a remarkable showcase for drummer Waltteri Väyrynen, who propels everything along with great elegance and understated power. Another fascinating collision between macabre extremity and sweetly nuanced prog rock, its spiraling, Eastern strings and theatrical structure blend wonderfully with the eccentric, boundary-spurning death metal and slick syncopation that Åkerfeldt has pulled from his febrile creative mind.

"Remember grief is a fickle sickness," sings the OPETH singer during "§6", eliciting yet more tension. In contrast, the song itself is the catchiest thing here, and has a repeated melodic refrain that has "earworm" written all over it. Fast and temperamentally furious, it leans hard into hazy, psychedelic prog, with evil circus melodies, synth solos and ruthless double-kicks driving the surreal nightmare home. Not for the first or last time, Fredrik Åkesson delivers a guitar solo that will wrench the breath from listeners' lungs.

If it's ferociously imaginative progressive metal you want, you've got it. The story ends with "§7": a meandering, gothic sprawl, full of whispered exposition, avant-garde flourishes and grand, sweeping melodies that shimmer over precise but unpredictable grooves and bursts of snarling aggression, with strange undercurrents that glue all these disparate strands neatly together. The narrative's grim and desolate conclusion (essentially: you can't trust anybody and blood is not necessarily thicker than water) dissolves away as the song fades to black, but it is the closing "A Story Never Told" that brings "The Last Will & Testament" to a more satisfying conclusion. One of Åkerfeldt's most beautiful ballads (with another absolutely mind-blowing solo from Akesson),it is a song that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago, when OPETH's progressive aspirations were only just beginning to bear fruit. Today, they are a more sophisticated and instinctive band, making music that prides in its prog principles, while striving to do something new, exciting and daring with them. And yeah, the growls are cool, but the sum of OPETH's parts is way cooler.

This year, no one else comes close.