"I think primarily about the people involved in it, not so much about the songs on the album. The songs are still in my life, half of the people who worked on it aren't," Mikael Åkerfeldt replies when asked what the first thing that comes to his mind about "Blackwater Park" is. 20 years have passed since the album was released in March 2001, which on the one hand decisively boosted Opeth's career, and on the other raised the genre of progressive metal to a new level. Guitarist, singer and main songwriter Åkerfeldt, bassist Martín Méndez and producer Steven Wilson look back.
He wanted to write a masterpiece. This was the declared aim of Mikael Åkerfeldt in the creation of "In Cauda Venenum". He moved on a terrain unknown to him: for the first time the Swede recorded an album in his mother tongue. In an interview, he explains how this decision affected the thematic orientation of the lyrics and why an English version of the album appears alongside the original version. Åkerfeldt also reveals what prog means to him. He has little to do with the term as a genre. Nevertheless, the 45-year-old sees the progressive idea as essential for the constantly changing career of his band.
Opeth, Spiritual Beggars, Anecdotes, Kamchatka or Candlemass: Just this small selection of bands, with whom Per Wiberg has already worked as a keyboarder, doesn't read badly. The multi-instrumentalist only lacked a real solo album in his vita. In an interview, the 50-year-old Swede offers interesting insights into his creative cosmos and also let his band King Hobo, whose review can be found further back in the magazine, elicit a few words about their new album.
eclipsed: Per, you have so many interesting bands and projects going on, why a solo album?
The renunciation of guttural singing, which began with "Heritage" and continues at least in the studio, has already lasted seven years. A live document of this era (apart from an exclusive magazine release in 2011) remained indebted to Opeth for a long time. On "Garden Of The Titans: Live At Red Rocks Amphitheatre" they now show how well "old" and "new" Opeth go together - and that according to guitarist Fredrik Åkesson they sound even better than on record.
The history of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre as a sought-after place for musical culture begins with the former owner of the fashion magazine "Cosmopolitan": John Brisben Walker organises the "Grand Opening of the Garden of the Titans" in 1906. For Fredrik Åkesson, who appears exactly 111 years later, the rock formation is one of the most remarkable venues of all. Opeth therefore decided to do the same with U2 and Neil Young and produce a concert film there.
LED ZEPPELIN - The Last Remaster?
"That's it," my ass! Jimmy Page has charmingly told us about the new editions of "Presence", "In Through The Out Door" and "Coda". With "The Complete BBC Sessions" the 72-year-old Englishman once again enters the Remasters-Ring and adds eight songs to the live recordings from the late 60s and early 70s as well as a lot of discussion needs. We report what awaits the fan and discuss with Jimmy Page the new extended and revised re-release - possibly the last remaster.
THE BEATLES - Always on the move
The Opeth fans are still divided. And if you take Mikael Åkerfeldt at his word, this will probably not change in the foreseeable future. Especially those fans who have always followed the creeping change from Death Metal to Åkerfeldt's personal preferences like Psychedelic, Krautrock and obscure progressive material with suspense will probably receive "Sorceress" with open arms again, because the Swedes continue their search for traces in the sixties and seventies on album number twelve.
Interviews with Mikael Åkerfeldt are hard to come by this September. Even for labels and management, the Opeth boss has not been within reach for a long time. But God and the world would like to talk to the singer/guitarist about the new album "Sorceress". "Write it quietly, it's a cool story," says nature fan Åkerfeldt laughing at the question of whether he has once again hidden from the public in the forest. A quite significant statement. And once you have the 42-year-old father of two children wrapped, you can be happy about an extremely eloquent, witty, friendly and above all very talkative interview partner. He then likes to ignore agreed talk times once in a while and overdraws them. In addition, Åkerfeldt once again shows himself to eclipsed as an enthusiastic progfan and fanatical vinyl collector. The own album moves thereby fast times into the background.
BLUES PILLS - Little Boy Preacher (3:33)
Album: Lady In Gold (2016)
Label/Distribution: Nuclear Blast/Warner
www.bluespills.eu
After the smooth introduction with the title track, the second Blues Pills-Longplayer really takes off with "Little Boy Preacher". Both on the album and on the sampler song the band from Örebro seems more soulful, subtle and mature. Elin Larsson in particular benefits from this orientation.
The story of rock photography
Jimi Hendrix in Monterey on his knees in front of his burning guitar, conjuring up the flames; Janis Joplin laughing on a couch, his left arm up his hip, in his right hand a bottle of Southern Comfort; Johnny Cash with a rage-distorted face, his right middle finger drawn like a weapon; Jim Morrison with his bare upper body as the embodiment of the voluptuous shepherd god Pan as well as the hedonistic worry-breaker Dionysos; David Bowie with his face at the level of Mick Ronson's pelvis...
JOHN GARCIA - The free swimmer
