Ever since 2005's Ghost Reveries, it seems as though everyone should expect to wait about three years between Opeth records. The break in that streak was 2016's Sorceress, which came two years after 2014's Pale Communion and was the band's Nuclear Blast debut, as well as its debut on its own label Moderbolaget.
Unfortunately it seems like the wait for whatever Opeth will do next is going to be a bit longer, as frontman and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt tells Eon Music that the next one won't come until "maybe the end of… or mid-2019." Åkerfeldt adds that he wants to "have a sabbatical, because we've been doing this for a long time, so I want to keep away and just be with my kids. Once I write songs, I want to sit and be."
So what can we expect after the brief hiatus? Well, something twisted.
"Sorceress, for me, is old hat. It's a lovely record, but it's back 'there.' I'm not lingering on it because it's old now. I'm not lingering on this record as being a beacon of hope for anything — it's just what we did then, and I'm hoping next time we're going to do something different, and I hope, something twisted. Nothing necessarily great, but twisted at least."
Åkerfeldt has been doing Opeth consistently since 1990, so a break does seem to be in order. Plus, who knows what the hiatus will do for the music? Coming back to anything with a fresh and rested pair of ears does wonders sometimes, if not opens a ton of doors.
