OPETH’s MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT Interviewed At METAL HAMMER GOLDEN GODS AWARDS

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Guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metallers OPETH was interviewed at this year’s Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, which was held earlier on June 16 in London, England. You can now watch the chat below.

OPETH‘s highly anticipated eleventh studio album, Pale Communion, will be released on August 26 via Roadrunner Records. The cover artwork was once again created by Travis Smith — with art direction by Åkerfeldt.

Pale Communion, which was produced by Åkerfeldt and mixed by longtime collaborator and PORCUPINE TREE frontman Steven Wilson, was heralded by the lead single “Cusp Of Eternity”. Pre-orders for Pale Communion made via the iTunes Store will receive an instant download of “Cusp Of Eternity” as well as a second album track, to be released on July 15, with multiple configurations also available via both the Roadrunner Records webstore and O Merch.

In a recent interview with NoiseyÅkerfeldt stated about Pale Communion: “Normally when I start writing for a record, I’m a bit nervous. You don’t know whether or not you’re going to be able to come up with something that you like or come up with something at all, to be honest. I was inspired because pretty early on, I wrote a song on the new album — the last song on there, which I ended up being really happy with. So I had some type of guidelines which was more melody, I think.”

He continued: “[2011’s] Heritage was somewhat deliberately f*cked up all over the place because I love f*cked-up-all-over-the-place-type music, but I wanted to do something more melodic with this album, so there’s stronger vocal melodies and more melodies overall for this album. I was pretty consistent with that frame of mind throughout the writing process, so at least I had a plan with this album, and I normally don’t, to be honest.”

Source: Blabbermouth