Opeth
Photo by Michael Johansson
I also have to add that we did this interview in Swedish and it has since then been translated into French for the Transit Magazine and then to English for you readers at Nocturnal Horde. Mikael might have used different words if we have done it it English, but here's the translation I made and I tried to be as close to what he told me. Enjoy!
After the difficult recordings of "Deliverance" and "Damnation" you are now back with "Ghost Reveries". Can you tell me a little where and with whom you recorded it?
We recorded "Ghost Reveries" in Örebro, which is about two hours from Stockholm. We produced it ourselves and recorded it with Jens Bogren who's 25 years old and very good, very precise and attentive. I think that he will become one of the best producers in the metal scene here in Sweden. Everything went very well.
You also rehearsed some weeks before attacking the studio recording.
Yes, we did. It was of course not the first time, but probably the first time since "Still Life". It was very cool to play the songs, especially after the chaotic recordings of the two latest albums. On the last tour, we discussed how to proceed for the next album and how to do a better work. I composed all the songs before entering the studio which I haven't done since… I don't remember. Then we rehearsed for about three weeks. It was very good for everyone so we could work on our respective parts and for me as well so I had the opportunity to modify certain things and arrange differently other ones.
Do you think you will work with Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree again?
Yes, I think so. We asked him this time, as well, but he was out on tour with Porcupine Tree so it was impossible to do it this time. As we have always produced everything by ourselves, he was mostly there as a co-producer, but it's true that it was a bit unusual not to have him around us this time. I really think that we will work together again in the future may it be for Opeth or another project.
Your line-up hasn't changed since "Still Life" from 1999. Per Wiberg from the band Spiritual Beggars, has toured and recorded with you lately. Is he a permanent member of Opeth now?
He is a member of Opeth now, the contract has been signed. He has of course toured with us and it was predicted that he would join us. He wasn't certain on how things would turn out as he's got his band Spiritual Beggars and another blues band called Sky High. He had to think for a while, because joining Opeth isn't an easy obligation due to our long touring periods and a big amount of work as well. But he really likes the band and he is a very good friend as well. I'm really glad to have him with us.
Opeth has of course it's own style which evolve everytime and I think that "Ghost Reveries" is really good and interesting. How would you define your style today?
I don't know. It's difficult to tell exactly which style it's about. Some songs haven't anything to do with metal anymore. We have of course extreme passages and others much more laid back on every of our albums. We are anyways accepted in the metal world, because we have made the albums we have. Though we have made calm albums as well, we admit to having diverse influences on each album and it's the only way of composing that works for us. But if some people absolutely don't know about us, I usually answer that we play hard-rock as I consider hard-rock to be very wide.
The lyrics on "Ghost Reveries" are very dark, and I read that you had written three songs that are inspired by occultism. Can you tell something about it?
Actually, all of them are, except the last one. I started to write a concept... My wife have some books dealing with satanism and occultism and other things as well. I simply tried to find a subject that interested me and as I already had written about that subject when I was about fifteen, I thought it could be interesting now that we are more mature. A little more adult reworking of the subject, a lesser childish way, than the approach in the past. Even if all the stories are fictional, none of them are written to say that we are satanists. I thought it could be fun to return a little to the subject, from where death and black metal came from.
You had a contest on your website, asking the fans to draw you in the style of a Rainbow album cover, where did you get that idea?
I wanted the group to be drawn and instead of asking an artist, we thought about this contest idea. We got many pictures and it's an American from New Jersey who won.
But the principal artwork was done by Travis Smith, right?
It's Travis, yes. I was in search for a different kind of picture but I didn't find the one I wanted and then Travis sent me many different ones and the one of them ended up being the cover artwork. I find it very beautiful but also a bit mystical with a gothic touch in it. I thought that I couldn't find better and his work matched the ambiance of the album very well. He is very open minded and he can do almost everything you want.
Did he listen to the album to get inspired?
No, he only got the lyrics and the title of the album.
You have also signed a new record deal with Roadrunner, how does it feel to be with them?
Everything seems very well. It's a huge company and it's of course a little different than before. Because they have other politics in America, which differs from ours overhere, but we pointed out when the ideas and suggestions didn't fit us. I trust them and it's good to know that our album will be available in the majority of stores as well.
Do you like any of the bands signed to Roadrunner today?
Let say more I liked the label more before, than I do today, above all here in Europe when Roadrunner came out with classics as Mercyful Fate, King Diamond and Pestilence. There were so many good guitar players back then. I like the label roster a bit less today, even if there are some good bands on it, due to some shit as well.
You will soon be on a European tour with Extol?
In fact we're back from a tour of festivals in the USA, and tonight we play here at Hole In The Sky. The 6th of September we'll start our tour of several big cities and we will be back later this year in other cities.
Haven't you done a video for the new album?
Yes, we did it in L.A with a director who has worked for Queens Of The Stone Age. I haven't seen it yet but I think that the result will be interesting. It's for the song 'The Grand Conjuration'.
You released the excellent DVD "Lamentations", do you think you will work on a new one?
Yes, we've been discussing to do a new one, even if nothing has yet been planned. I'd like to do one that covers our entire career.
What have you listened to lately, anything from the metal scene that you like?
I haven't found anything I like in metal lately, even though I like the new Madder Mortem album. Otherwise, I like to collect albums from the seventies and I use a lot of money on Ebay as well. Yesterday I got seven new vinyls home, one of them was by the group Galia.
A little disgression, you played at Wacken this year with Bloodbath - how was it?
It was excellent! I came back from the USA after seven weeks and the day after I ended up at the rehearsal place. I did that concert for my friend Jonas. I don't have to do anything with them anymore. It was a unique concert, like the first EP should have been. Though then it became a group and I don't have enough time to invest in such.
You have two cats, Isaac (of York) and …
Maurice (de Bracy)
My brother read that Isaac likes to eat a cake named "load of saffron" and then was shitting yellow everywhere, still doing it?
(Laughs) Yes he has done that. As soon as Isaac has the chance to catch some food he does it. He's a real food thief. Last time Peter came at my home, he had some cakes in his bag and Isaac took care of them. If we forget something, like a glass of water, he will spill it. But in general he's a calm and loving cat. I have a daughter now, and she can touch him in many special ways or make lots of noise next to him, he always stay very nice and calm.
How's Melinda doing?
She's doing fine, thank you. She will soon begin to walk. We have bought a little wagon to help her walk which drives her crazy and she screams damn a lot when she hangs on it. She's doing real fine, when I came back from this long tour she looked at me for about ten minutes and then everything was like before.
Glad to be a daddy then?
The best thing that can happen. Enormous!
Thanks a lot for the interview. Last words to the readers of Nocturnal Horde?
Buy our album or at least download it, listen to it and come and see us on tour.
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