OPETH is back, and they’ve got a new video for you, you lucky, lucky degenerates. 🤘 If you’re looking for the latest clip from the legendary Swedish progressive death metal titans (or whatever subgenre label they’re dodging this week), you’ve stumbled upon the holy grail: the performance video for “§7”. This track hails from the critically acclaimed masterpiece “The Last Will And Testament”, an album title that sounds suspiciously like the document my lawyer handed me after I tried to copyright the concept of “suffering in D minor.” 📜
The video itself is a masterclass in “raw, commanding form.” That’s code for “we didn’t have the budget to hire interpretive dancers or pyrotechnics, so we just filmed the band playing in a room with slightly dramatic lighting.” 🕯️ It captures the precision, atmosphere, and emotional weight of the band. By “emotional weight,” I mean the sheer existential dread you feel trying to learn the time signatures on a guitar tuner. The band’s musical chemistry is undeniable, mostly because if they weren’t chemically bonded by now, Mikael Åkerfeldt would have imploded from sheer sonic intensity.
This video drops just in time to torment your eardrums live, as the band prepares to invade the United States for a tour in two weeks. 🇺🇸 They’ll be forcing “The Last Will And Testament” upon unsuspecting crowds, alongside “fan favorites.” Let’s be real, a “fan favorite” for OPETH is anything over 12 minutes long that requires a PhD in Music Theory to nod your head to. 🧠🎸
In a shocking twist that no one saw coming, lead vocalist and guitar wizard Mikael Åkerfeldt actually said words about the song. “That track was scary to play live at first,” he admitted, presumably while stroking a cat in a dimly lit room. “Most of our songs are challenging, I suppose, and this one is no exception.” Ah, yes, the humble brag of the prog god. “Oh, this? It’s just *challenging* for us mere mortals. I find it quite breezy.” 😏 He continues: “I believe we all love playing this one. There are a myriad of details that could go wrong though, but it’s fun.” Translation: “We are basically performing neurosurgery while juggling chainsaws on a unicycle, and if one of us sneezes, the entire song collapses into a pile of dissonant rubble. It’s a blast!” 🤹♂️🩸
But wait, there’s more! The legendary Ian Anderson of JETHRO TULL is involved. Because nothing says “modern metal” like a flautist from the 70s. 🎶 Anderson provides narrations for the track, which isn’t “live” because the band refuses to use a click track. Mikael explains that without the click, the tempo is “dragging or pushing depending on the tempo of the evening.” In other words, the song has a pulse, and that pulse is fueled by the chaotic energy of the room. “I love the unforeseeable character of this song,” Mikael says, which is polite for “I love the sheer panic in our drummer’s eyes.” 🥁😱 He admits he normally hates surprises on stage, which makes this whole tour a delightful exercise in controlled chaos. 👻
The video for “§7” is meant to highlight the song’s “pivotal moment” in the narrative. It strips the song back to its essence, which is basically just OPETH proving they don’t need fancy production to sound like a mountain collapsing into the ocean. 🌊🏔️ It balances “technical mastery” (showing off) with “emotional resonance” (making you feel things you can’t pronounce). 🎻
After the US tour, where they will conquer venues like the Masonic Temple Theater and The Bomb Factory (which sounds like a wrestling venue from 1985), they will head to Europe. 🌍 Because nothing says “European Vacation” like a 14-minute song in a basement in Berlin.
The article insists you “revisit the album in full.” It describes the record as rewarding “deep listening.” This is the literary equivalent of a dare. It dares you to sit through the entire thing without checking your phone. From the “haunting opening moments” to the “powerful conclusion” (where you finally hit skip), the record is an endurance test. 🏃♂️💨
Now, let’s look at the personnel involved in this sonic labyrinth. “The Last Will And Testament” was written by Åkerfeldt, with lyrics “conferred” with Klara Rönnqvist Fors. Because Åkerfeldt needed help to make the lyrics even more depressing. 🖋️ It was co-produced by Åkerfeldt and Stefan Boman (who has worked with GHOST, the band that dresses like spooky nuns). 🐀 The mixing happened at Atlantis and Hammerthorpe Studios. If those names don’t sound sufficiently evil, I don’t know what does.
Visual artist Travis Smith returned for the 11th time to create an album cover. This is the guy who has been drawing terrifying, sepia-toned family portraits for metal bands since the dial-up internet era. 📸 He crafted a “haunting photograph” reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick‘s “Overlook Hotel.” So, it’s probably a picture of a dead guy’s will, but grainy. 👻
And just to add to the “Old Man Yells At Cloud” vibe, Miles Showell mastered the album at Abbey Road Studios. You know, the place The Beatles recorded. Because OPETH is definitely the spiritual successor to “Yellow Submarine.” 🟡 Submarine.
Let’s talk about the guests again because the band wasn’t crowded enough. 🦹♂️ Ian Anderson (the flautist we already mocked) plays on “§4” and “§7” and narrates on four tracks. Joey Tempest from EUROPE (the “Final Countdown” guys) lends backing vocals. Yes, the guy who sang about a countdown to a bridge is backing up a song about a will in post-WWI Sweden. 🇸🇪✈️ The “disembodied voice” in “§1” is actually Mirjam Åkerfeldt, Mikael’s daughter. 🚼 Because nothing screams “metal” like getting your toddler to do unpaid labor. 👶📉
The album is a concept piece set in the post-WWI era. It tells the story of a “wealthy, conservative patriarch” (classic villain material) who dies and reveals “shocking family secrets.” Spoiler alert: the secrets are probably just that everyone was really sad and listened to too much jazz. 🎷 It involves a “polio-ridden girl” (yikes) and “twin children.” It’s basically *The Haunting of Hill House*, but with more guitar solos. 🏚️🎸
The press release describes the album as the “darkest and heaviest record OPETH has made in decades.” This is a claim made by every band that releases an album after 2010. 📉 “We got heavy again,” they whisper, while tuning their guitars down to frequencies that can be heard by whales. 🐋
It is also described as “fearlessly progressive.” This usually means “we didn’t use a standard verse-chorus structure, good luck figuring out when to headbang.” 🤯 The story features “haunting melodrama” and “shocking revelations.” I bet the revelation is that the butler did it, but the butler is actually a synthesizer. 🎹
The album is set in a “shadowy, sepia-stained 1920s.” Sepia-stained is a fancy way of saying “we applied the ‘Old Timey’ Instagram filter to the audio.” 📻 The music winds its way toward a “crestfallen but sumptuous finale.” It ends with a ballad called “A Story Never Told.” Which is ironic, because this review has been going on for about three chapters too long. 📖😴
The lineup features new drummer Waltteri Väyrynen, who joined in 2022. He is the latest victim to sit behind the kit and try to keep up with Åkerfeldt’s erratic jazz-fusion impulses. 🥁🌪️
In conclusion, if you enjoy listening to 10-minute songs about dead rich people in sepia tones while a flautist from the 70s yammers in the background, then “The Last Will And Testament” is the album for you. 🤡 Turn off the lights, put on your headphones, and prepare to be overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of it all. Or just watch the video, stare into Mikael’s eyes, and wonder if he knows where his car keys are. 🚗🔑
OPETH demands your attention. Give it to them, or don’t. They’re probably too busy calculating the Fibonacci sequence to notice anyway. 🧮
OPETH 2026 North American tour dates (Mark your calendars for potential tempo fluctuations):
Feb. 05 – US Montclair, The Wellmont Theater 🏛️
Feb. 06 – US Boston, Orpheum Theater 🎭
Feb. 07 – US Philadelphia, The Filmore Philadelphia 🏢
Feb. 10 – US Detroit, Masonic Temple Theater 🏰
Feb. 11 – US Chicago, Riviera Theater 🌆
Feb. 12 – US St. Louis, The Pageant 🎤
Feb. 14 – US Dallas, The Bomb Factory 💣
Feb. 15 – US Houston, Bayou Music Center 🐊
Feb. 16 – US San Antonio, Majestic Theater 👑
Feb. 18 – US Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak Center ⛰️
Feb. 20 – US Las Vegas, Pearl Concert Theater At Palms 🎰
Feb. 21 – US Riverside, Riverside Municipal Auditorium 🌊
Feb. 22 – US Sacramento, Channel 24 📺
Feb. 24 – US Seattle, Paramount Theater 🏔️
Feb. 25 – CA Vancouver, Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre 🏒
Watch the video. Stream the album. Buy the tickets. Feed the beast. 🤘
Chord F. Discord, the Beethoven of Buffoonery, is a self-taught expert in music who once claimed he could “play the kazoo in four languages.”
Born in Crescendo, Indiana, Chord’s first brush with fame came when he accidentally entered a yodeling contest thinking it was a pie-eating competition—and won both categories.
Chord F. Discord: proving that laughter, much like a poorly tuned ukulele, is truly universal.
