Opeth frontman and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt is unabashedly a fan of the classics, namely Deep Purple in this instance.
Åkerfeldt tells Music Radar that he firmly believes top-form Deep Purple easily puts aside both Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, adding that the latter "wouldn't stand a chance."
“When Deep Purple are on top form, there is no other band that can rival that. You couldn’t put Led Zeppelin against Deep Purple on top form… they would disappear. And especially Black Sabbath, they wouldn’t stand a chance! It’s high energy at the top of its game.
“I think Ritchie Blackmore was at his best between 1970 and 1973. He made some fantastic records after that of course, some of which people might think were lacklustre, like Burn or Stormbringer. He still played great on those records, but maybe he was a little jaded.
“This version of Child In Time is my favourite; it’s what I put on when I’m in the mood to listen to that song. I actually found my first copy in a garbage heap, where people just dump their fuckin’ household rubbish. There was a stack of records with this on top… for some reason, I felt like a criminal for taking the whole pile so I didn’t. I’ve been upset with myself for not taking all of it ever since… because I’ll never know what else was there! But at least I got my first copy of Made In Japan.”
The article is about Åkerfeldt's favorite live albums, which is a very timely topic considering Opeth just put out Garden of the Titans: Live at Red Rocks. He also mentions Judas Priest's Unleashed In The East, Thin Lizzy's Live And Dangerous, Iron Maiden's Live After Death and Morbid Angel's Entangled In Chaos.
