Rob sat down with Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson to discuss the band's upcoming album, their views on religion and what they consider "heavy" to mean nowadays.
On the topic of what's "heavy" Mikael had to say this:
"I don’t think it’s traditional heaviness, like when you talk about heavy and metal music." says frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt. "I kind of reevaluated what I think is heavy in the last couple of years and turning up the distortion and tuning down and triggering the drums doesn’t make it heavy to me anymore. It just sounds like nothing. So, we went the other way. We never tuned down. We kind of lost distortion and tried to opt for a more normal type of drum sound, like a real drum sound. I think it makes it sound heavier. Some of those parts that are slow and doomy just sound heavier. But it’s also emotionally, a heavy record."
On their views of religion:
"I would say we’re atheists. Like many other metal bands, we were into satanism and stuff like that. Growing up in Stockholm, and forming a band in the late '80s, it comes with the territory. It was a gimmick in those days, just like it is today with the satanic bands. But we never had any religious beliefs ourselves. I think it’s still interesting with the occult. I always had a fascination for it. But it’s not something I want to push on to."
Additionally, the band revealed they hope to have the album out in June, with a European festival run in the summer and a North American tour in the fall.
