Opeth Releases Track-by-Track Commentary From Mikael Åkerfeldt for The Last Will and Testament
Everyone is shitting themselves over the fourteenth album from Swedish prog metal heroes Opeth, The Last Will and Testament, which was just released on Friday. The reviews are all positive, the fans are going wild, it’s definitely a success for Opeth. Now, if you want to learn more about the background of the album, the band posted the entire thing on YouTube with commentary from guitarist and vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt going track-by-track explaining the story behind the album.
The band announced the track-by-track commentary on their Instagram this morning, saying:
“An extensive ‘The Last Will And Testament’ track-by-track album stream, including comments by Mikael Åkerfeldt, is now available on @officialopeth’s YouTube channel.
“Dive deep into the album & don’t forget to stream/order it.”
The way it works is that the YouTube video plays each of the eight tracks in its entirety and, after each track, it cuts to a clip of Åkerfeldt giving his commentary on the track. In the first commentary clip (that was transcribed by MetalSucks) Åkerfeldt explains the plot of the album:
“All the lyrics on the record are based on a story that I developed about a patriarch, conservative, religious, mean, ruthless man who’s passed away and he leaves behind his three children, and the record starts when they are summoned to attend the reading of their father’s last will and testament. And throughout the record, he will reveal secrets about himself, about his own life, about his regrets. He displays signs of paranoia, hate, desperation, and some secrets will directly affect his children and what they thought they knew about themselves. And there’s also twist in the end to this story. So it’s quite elaborate concept record this time around.”
The entire album and commentary combined comes out to a total of 1 hour and 22 minutes in length, so strap in for a really long ride through this album. But, if you’re a really big Opeth fan, it might just be worth it.
