OPETH announces “a long break” after completion of Latin American tour
04-11-2025
In a new interview with Brazil’s 89 A Rádio Rock, OPETH bassist Martin Mendez was asked what fans can expect from the band’s ongoing Latin American tour, which kicked off on November 1 in Santiago, Chile. Martin responded: “ This time around we will have our own show. It’s gonna be longer compared to the last Latin American tour we did, when we were supporting great bands. So, yeah, it’s gonna be a full show. And I’m pretty excited. This is the last run for this album. So after this one, we will take a pretty long break. So, yeah, I’m pretty excited and looking forward to it.”
Asked if OPETH is taking a long break in order “to relax” or if there are plans for the band to work on a new album, Martin said: “Both. I think we need to relax first, and then recover, get some new energy, and then start thinking about new music. Yeah.”
OPETH‘s Latin American tour will conclude on November 11 in Mexico City.
This past February, OPETH vocalist and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt told BLABBERMOUTH that he doesn’t “particularly enjoy touring that much. There are aspects that I do like. The shows in themselves are the highlight of the day, I would say,” he explained. “But if you’re not feeling it, they can also be a bit of a curse. I’ve been battling insomnia connected to touring, like nervousness. I put a lot of pressure on myself for some reason — more now than before. The insomnia has made me feel quite wobbly and insecure when we play shows. Once I’m up there, it’s kind of business as usual. After a couple of songs, I don’t feel as wobbly, and after a while, I might be able to enjoy it.”
He continued: “Touring, for me, is like working in a factory. It doesn’t feel ‘musical’ to me. We’re chasing the recorded versions and trying to play them as perfectly as we can. Of course, we can never do that. We sound good; I think the band sounds better than ever. I sing well. We’re tight. We are better than ever, but we’re still chasing a ghost, I think, up there. I don’t necessarily feel that it’s creative work. It’s repeating something that you did, in some cases, many years ago. When I’m in the zone and feel confident, I like that type of interaction with the crowd. Of course, I’m fucking amazed that people are coming to see us, more so now than ever. We’re doing really well. I feel like an ungrateful bastard for not enjoying it as much, but it’s always been like that for me. I love the creative work. I really want us spend more time writing music, as opposed to repeating old music.”
Asked if it has always been like that, Mikael said: “Me, like many other people with my background, like musicians or artists, you want to ‘make it.’ In the early days of touring, that’s exactly where I wanted to be. I’m a bum. I didn’t have anything going for me in my working life until this band. I wanted to show the naysayers — basically, the whole of Swedish society — that it’s a pipe dream to think you’re going to play this weird music and that people will like it and travel the world. It felt impossible. Once I started touring a lot, I was exactly where I wanted to be. Then I guess we overdid it to some extent. That allure of touring lost its luster. After that, it was a normal thing for me. You do a record, then go on a world tour. Then it started to get less and less exciting. At the same time, I developed my musicality, so in that sense, I still feel that I have more and more to give. I’m constantly interrupted by the notion of touring and actual touring.”
“The Last Will And Testament”, OPETH‘s fourteenth studio album, was released in November 2024 via Reigning Phoenix Music/Moderbolaget.
Last Jamuary OPETH released a performance video for “§7”, a track from their album “The Last Will And Testament”. The video captures the band in raw, commanding form, spotlighting the precision, atmosphere, and emotional weight that define OPETH at this stage of their career. Focused and unembellished, the performance highlights the band’s musical chemistry and the intensity at the heart of the track.
Watch the performance video for “§7” below.
The release arrives ahead of OPETH‘s upcoming U.S. tour, which kicks off in two weeks and will see the band bringing the music of “The Last Will And Testament” to stages across the country alongside fan favorites from their storied catalog.
OPETH‘s Mikael Åkerfeldt comments: “That track was scary to play live at first. Most of our songs are challenging, I suppose, and this one is no exception. I believe we all love playing this one. There are a myriad of details that could go wrong though, but it’s fun. It keeps you on your toes. And of course, then there’s Ian Anderson‘s narrations, which is the only thing in our set that isn’t ‘live’. Since we don’t play to a click track, it’s dragging or pushing depending on the tempo of the evening. Again, it’s fun and I love the unforeseeable character of this song in a live setting. That’s a bit odd since I normally want to feel completely secure and really know what I’m doing. I generally don’t like surprises on stage.”
“§7” serves as a pivotal moment within the album’s broader narrative, which has been widely praised for its cinematic flow, depth, and fearless exploration of light and shade. By stripping the song back to its essence, the new video reinforces OPETH‘s ability to balance technical mastery with emotional resonance — a duality Mikael Åkerfeldt has often highlighted in the band’s work.
Watch “§3”and “§1” below.
Åkerfeldt states: “So here’s a video (of sorts) for your ‘enjoyment.’ We had requests left, right and center to do one of them measly ‘lyric videos’ or ‘visualizers’ for ‘content.’ Now, right there are three words I despise! I’ve made it clear in our circle of trust that we shouldn’t use the word ‘content’, even if that’s exactly what we’re working on. We’re not some goddamn influencers, now are we? So can we please settle on the old-fashioned word ‘video’ without meddling with modern online lingo? And a video is what it really is. A performance video, no less. We figured it’s a bit more happening to look at (should you decide to do so) than a lyric video.
“‘§1’ is the opener on ‘The Last Will And Testament’,” he continues. “A good song. I like it! The video looks good. As good as it can look when involving five middle-aged, slightly hungover geezers miming along to something. We shot it in some industrial area in Birmingham (U.K.) on the latest Euro tour. Everyone (well, the band and crew) were quite eager to get out of there as we had dinner planned at a fancy curry house locally. Much thanks to Ash Pears and ASH TV, who were really professional (ie: quick!) and made the whole experience rather easy on us. Hope you dig it, people!”
Last year, OPETH was honored in the “Best Hard Rock/Metal” category at this year’s edition of the Swedish Grammis awards (Swedish Grammy equivalent), which was held Thursday night (March 27) at Annexet in Stockholm. The bands were nominated for their most recent releases, all of which came out during 2024.
“Best Hard Rock/Metal” nominees were as follows:
* AMARANTHE – “The Catalyst”
* HORNDAL – “Head Hammer Man”
* NESTOR – “Teenage Rebel”
* OPETH – “The Last Will And Testament”
* SKRAECKOEDLAN – “Vermillion Sky”
You can see video of OPETH‘s acceptance speech below.
“The Last Will And Testament”, OPETH‘s fourteenth studio album, was released last November via Reigning Phoenix Music/Moderbolaget. The LP was written by OPETH frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt, with lyrics conferred with Klara Rönnqvist Fors (THE HEARD, ex-CRUCIFIED BARBARA). “The Last Will And Testament” was co-produced by Åkerfeldt and Stefan Boman (GHOST, THE HELLACOPTERS),engineered by Boman, Joe Jones (KILLING JOKE, ROBERT PLANT) and OPETH, with Boman, Åkerfeldt and the rest of OPETH mixing at Atlantis and Hammerthorpe Studios in Stockholm. The strings on “The Last Will And Testament” were arranged by Åkerfeldt and returning prog friend Dave Stewart (EGG, KHAN) and conducted by Stewart at Angel Studios in London. Not one to miss a beat, visual artist Travis Smith returned to the fold, crafting his 11th cover, a haunting “photograph” reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick‘s infamous “Overlook Hotel” photograph. Miles Showell (ABBA, QUEEN) also revisited mastering and vinyl lacquer cutting at Abbey Road Studios in London.
Åkerfeldt rolled out the red carpet for storied flautist and JETHRO TULL mainman Ian Anderson. Not only do Anderson‘s signature notes fly on “§4” and “§7”, he narrates on “§1”, “§2”, “§4”, and “§7”. Joining Anderson, EUROPE‘s Joey Tempest lends a backing vocal hand on “§2”, while Åkerfeldt‘s youngest daughter, Mirjam Åkerfeldt, is the disembodied voice in “§1”.
“The Last Will And Testament” is a concept album set in the post-World War I era, unfolding the story of a wealthy, conservative patriarch whose last will and testament reveals shocking family secrets. The narrative weaves through the patriarch’s confessions, the reactions of his twin children, and the mysterious presence of a polio-ridden girl who the family have taken care of. The album begins with the reading of the father’s will in his mansion. Among those in attendance is a young girl, who, despite being an orphan and polio-ridden, has been raised by the family. Her presence at the will reading raises suspicions and questions among the twins.
“The Last Will And Testament” is the darkest and heaviest record OPETH has made in decades, and it is also the band’s most fearlessly progressive. A concept album recounting the reading of one recently deceased man’s will to an audience of his surviving family members, it brims with haunting melodrama, shocking revelations and some of the wildest and most unpredictable music that Åkerfeldt has ever written.
The follow-up to 2019’s widely acclaimed “In Cauda Venenum”, “The Last Will And Testament” is set in the shadowy, sepia-stained 1920s. It slowly reveals its secrets like some classic thriller from the distant, cobwebbed past, with each successive song shining more light on the stated machinations of our dead (but definitely not harmless) protagonist. The emotional chaos of the story is perfectly matched by OPETH‘s vivid but claustrophobic soundtrack, which artfully winds its way towards a crestfallen but sumptuous finale. Masters of their own idiosyncratic musical domain, OPETH have never sounded more unique.
“The Last Will And Testament” is destined to be a milestone in OPETH‘s illustrious recorded history. The band’s first out-and-out concept record, it features guest cameos from JETHRO TULL legend Ian Anderson and Joey Tempest, frontman with Swedish rock gods EUROPE. Only one of the album’s eight songs has a title: closing ballad “A Story Never Told”. The rest are simply labeled as numbered chapters in this slowly unfolding saga of deceit, recrimination and betrayal. Enigmatic, unsettling and immersive, “The Last Will And Testament” is a turbulent, prog metal tale like no other.
Making his recorded debut alongside OPETH‘s long-established lineup of Mikael Åkerfeldt, guitarist Fredrik Åkesson, bassist Martin Mendez and keyboard maestro Joakim Svalberg on “The Last Will And Testament” is new drummer Waltteri Väyrynen, who joined the band in 2022.
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