Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt says that the writing process behind upcoming 12th album Sorceress was inspired by the “negative aspects of love.”
The follow-up to 2014’s Pale Communion is due out on September 30, with the band releasing a lyric video for the title track this week.
Speaking of the meaning behind the album tracks, Akerfeldt tells Rolling Stone: “I’m not talking about specific people in my past, girlfriends or ex-wives or anything like that.
“I’ve struggled a little bit in my relationships these last couple of years, and that has inspired me, I think, to write. Not that I deliberately sat down trying to write these types of lyrics. That’s literally what came out when I started trying to write. It’s only in retrospect that I kind of understood what it’s about.
“I was trying to draw inspiration from the negative aspects of love: the jealousy, the mindfucks, the paranoia and everything that comes with what’s ultimately a beautiful feeling.
“It’s something that I value extremely highly in my life, but it really can have a damaging effect on you, which it did on me.”
Continuing to address their shift in musical direction over the years, Akerfeldt compares their evolution to that of Bob Dylan’s career path and the outrage some felt when he moved from acoustic folk to electric in the mid-60s on the release of Bringing It All Back Home.
“We made a reverse Bob Dylan,” Akerfeldt adds. “The artists I admire and the bands that I love most are the ones who had different phases of music. That’s how I think music should be.”
Opeth begin a North American tour on September 29, followed by European dates in November and an appearance at London’s Wembley Arena on November 19.
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Opeth: Sorceress tracklist
- Persephone
- Sorceress
- The Wilde Flowers
- Will O The Wisp
- Chrysalis
- Sorceress 2
- The Seventh Sojourn
- Strange Brew
- A Fleeting Glance
- Era
- Persephone (Slight Return)
Opeth 2016 tour dates
Sep 29: Pittsburgh Stage AE, PA
Sep 30: Silver Spring The Fillmore, MD
Oct 01: New York Radio City Music Hall, NY
Oct 02: Boston House Of Blues, MA
Oct 04: Motreal Metropolis, QC
Oct 05: Toronto Massey Hall, ON
Oct 07: Detroit The Fillmore, MI
Oct 08: Akron Goodyear Theater, OH
Oct 09: Chicago Riviera Theatre, IL
Oct 10: Minneapolis First Avenue, MN
Oct 12: Oklahoma City Diamond Ballroom, OK
Oct 13: Houston Warehouse Live, TX
Oct 14: Austin Emo’s, TX
Oct 15: Dallas Gas Monkey, TX
Oct 18: Las Vegas Brooklyn Bowl, NV
Oct 19: Tempe The Marquee, AZ
Oct 21: Sacramento Ace Of Spades, CA
Oct 22: San Francisco The Warfield, CA
Oct 24: Portland Roseland Theater, OR
Oct 25: Seattle The Moore, WA
Oct 26: Vancouver Orpeum, BC
Nov 05: Stockholm Annexet, Sweden
Nov 06: Oslo Konserthus, Norway
Nov 07: Copenhagen DR Koncerthuset, Denmark
Nov 08: Hamburg Docks, Germany
Nov 10: Vienna Arena, Austria
Nov 11: Stuttgart LKA Longhorn, Germany
Nov 12: Munich Theaterfabrik, Germany
Nov 13: Zurich Volkshaus, Switzerland
Nov 14: Milan Alcatraz, Italy
Nov 16: Cologne E-Werk, Germany
Nov 18: Tilburg 013, Netherlands
Nov 19: London SSE Wembley Arena, UK
Nov 21: Paris Le Trianon, France
Nov 23: Luxembourg Den Atelier, Luxembourg
Nov 24: Berlin Astra Kulturhaus, Germany
