Opeth praise crowd reaction to Sorceress tracks

Opeth
Opeth

Opeth say fans have been demanding they play tracks from new album Sorceress while out on the road.

They released their 12th record in September this year – with frontman Mikael Akerfeldt reporting that the reaction to the new tracks has been overwhelmingly positive.

He says in a video filmed by their label Nuclear Blast: “They go down really well. It’s one of the first times I can remember that people on this tour are yelling out for songs the new record.

“Normally when you play live, they’re yelling out for songs you did 15 years ago. It’s nice. They’ve actually listened to the record and liked it.”

Guitarist Fredrik Akesson credits the fact the label issued lyric videos for Will O’ The Wisp and The Wilde Flowers before they hit the road with their rise in popularity.

Akesson says: “The new ones we play, you can definitely tell the people have listened to them and appreciate them.

“We thought before we started touring for Sorceress that since you guys did all the lyric videos – we’d pick only those songs as we started just a day before the album came out. It seems like people really paid attention to those.”

Lasts week, Opeth drummer Martin Axenrot came top in Music Radar poll of best prog drummers this year.

Opeth will head out on tour across Australia and New Zealand in February, and have also been confirmed for Hellfest, France, in June 2017.

Opeth tour dates 2016⁄2017

Feb 02: Auckland Power Station, New Zealand
Feb 04: Fortitude Valley Tivoli, New Zealand
Feb 06: Sydney Opera House, Australia
Feb 07-08: Melbourne 170 Russell, Australia
Feb 10:Torrensville Thebarton Theatre, Australia
Feb 11: Northbridge Metro City, Australia
Jun 16-18: Clisson Hellfest, France

Mikael Akerfeldt: The essence of Opeth is change

Scott Munro
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Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.