“I found the right technique for growling very early on and I am still using the same technique this day” – Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt reveals his story as a metal vocalist

Swedish progressive metallers Opeth have announced that they will release their fourteenth studio album, “The Last Will and Testament”, on October 11 via Reigning Phoenix Music. Pre-order the album here.

Accompanying the announcement was the release of the first single, “§1”, which sees the outfit returning to their classic sound with the addition of growls.

Vocalist/Guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt shares: “I have become quite interested in family, and the idea that blood is not always thicker than water. I became interested in how family members can turn on each other. I saw an interview with this guy whose family had all turned against him, over the inheritance, so I wrote a song about that on the last record. The idea stuck with me, and then along came the TV show Succession, and I loved that series. That was in the back of my head too. It felt like an interesting topic that you could twist and turn a little bit”.

Chaoszine sat down with Mikael Åkerfeldt after the band’s performance at Tuska Festival in Helsinki, Finland on June 30th and discussed about Åkerfeldt’s story as a metal vocalist from the very early days until present. You can check out the entire episode to the video series below: