Opeth
Opeth is a progressive death metal act hailing from Sweden. Although plagued by numerous lineup changes lately, the band still remains a force to be reckoned with. The band adds several mellow elements to their music like acoustic guitar interludes and even jazz. The vocalist, Mikael Akerfeldt is widely regarded as the best vocalist in the heavy metal genre. His clean singing is warm and has a hypnotic feel to it while his growls are truly demonic, dragged straight from the depths of hell. Their unique blend of melodic and progressive elements has leaded them to be classified separately from the death metal genre. Akerfeldt has already started writing on the band’s next album. Judging from whatever material he has written so far, the album is going to be dark, hyper technical and brutally heavy. The band recently had two line up changes, first drummer Martin Lopez left mid way through a tour then the came the heartbreak of lead guitarist Peter Lindgren quitting after 16 yrs in the band. Martin Lopez had this almost magical ability to seamlessly shift between slow jazzy drumming and outright brutal double bassing. The sudden departure of long time friend’s maybe the reason that might have shaken Akerfeldt into penning violent, misanthropic music.