Swedish progressive metallers Opeth have set "Heritage" as the title of their tenth album, due in September via Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded earlier this year at Atlantis studios (formerly Metronome studios) in Stockholm. Jens Bogren (Soilwork, Katatonia, Paradise Lost, Bloodbath) engineered the effort while mixing duties were handled by Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree). The new material has been described by the band as "good."

Opeth's last album, "Watershed" (2008), sold more than 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 23 on The Billboard 200 chart. Its predecessor, "Ghost Reveries", debuted at No. 64 on the Billboard chart back in September 2005 with first-week sales of just under 15,000. Opeth's 2003 album, "Damnation", opened with a little over 5,000 copies.

Keyboardist Per Wiberg was relieved of his duties as a member of Opeth last month as part of a mutual decision with the band. Keyboard duties on upcoming tours will be handled by a musician who is already rehearsing with the band. Said musician?s identity will be released at a later date.

Opeth vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt released the following statement on the matter: "Well, it's been somewhat of a revolving door of members during the last couple of years, and now Per is no longer a member. [Martin] Mendez [bass], Axe [Martin Axenrot, drums] and Fredrik [Åkesson, guitar] and I came to the decision that we should find a replacement for Per right after the recordings of the new album, and this came as no surprise to Per. He had, in turn, been thinking about leaving, so you could say it was a mutual decision. There's no bad blood, just a relationship that came to an end, and that's that. We wish Per the best, and he did a splendid job recording keyboards for the last record, which stands as his final recording with Opeth."

As part of the ongoing celebration of their 20th anniversary, Opeth released live footage and audio from the band's performance at London's famed Royal Albert Hall. The concert (recorded on April 5, 2010) included two sets, the first consisting of the band performing 2000's now-classic, breakthrough epic "Blackwater Park" in its entirety, and the second, a chronologically arranged selection of material from the rest of Opeth's extensive catalogue, totaling almost three hours of music. "In Live Concert At The Royal Albert Hall" is, like the rest of Opeth's greatest work, "purposefully warped in all the right places" (Decibel). The front cover artwork concept pays tribute to Deep Purple's "Concerto for Group and Orchestra", underlining the band's longstanding love for their prog-rock roots.

Boy, I hate it when a new release gets overhyped by some overactive PR flack...

That was rather amusing. They have good deadpan humor.

Roadrunner have set a September 20th release date for Opeth's brand new album Heritage. Here is info they sent over:

Opeth frontman and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt weighed in on Heritage, saying, "It will be our 10th album/observation. I dig it; we all do. In fact, it feels like I've been building up to write for and participate on an album like this since I was 19."

Åkerfeldt went a little deeper and described the music contained within Heritage, saying, "It's quite intense at times in some 'old' murky way, and quite beautiful and stark at times, if I may say so myself. It's obvious I'm going to say nice things about it since I wrote basically the whole piece, but I guess it will raise a few eyebrows and it certainly is an acquired taste. I think you'll need a slightly deeper understanding of our music as a whole to be able to appreciate this record. I've realized my influences for this album are so diverse that I can't really say what it sounds like. If I can compare it to any other band, it would have to be Opeth, but it's different from the stuff we've done before. I've listened a lot to Alice Cooper for the last year, yet I can't say it sounds like 'No More Mr. Nice Guy.' I hope you'll like it once you hear it."

The album was produced by Åkerfeldt and mixed along with Porcupine Tree frontman/guitarist Steven Wilson, who is a labelmate of Opeth. Longtime collaborator Travis Smith also worked with Åkerfeldt to create, design and execute the album's artwork.

The track listing for Heritage is as follows:

"Heritage"
"The Devil's Orchard"
"I Feel the Dark"
"Slither"
"Nepenthe"
"Haxprocess"
"Famine"
"The Lines in My Hand"
"Folklore"
"Marrow of the Earth"

Heritage will be released in several configurations that will certainly incite the interest of Opeth's legion of fans, known for their passion for collecting and collectibles. The album will be released as a standard version; as a special edition loaded with extras; as a box set exclusive to the Roadrunner and the bands own official Omerch webstore; and as a double LP. There is something for every Opeth fan, thanks to this expansive variety of options.

Opeth will also embark on a seven-week, headline tour of the US. Dates will be announced imminently.
The first single and video will be the song "The Devil's Orchard."

Cannot wait for this-one of the most original bands around and Steven Wilson is involved with them again!

From Musictap:

The new album by Opeth will be given the Special Edition treatment with an added bonus of the album being mixed in 5.1 Surround Sound, a ‘making of’ documentary, and two bonus tracks, “Pyre”, and “Face In The Snow”. Heritage is being released via Roadrunner Records and will be released on September 20 in the US.
P.S.
I also added the cover art to the first posting.

For any prog or prog-metal fans who have been on the fence about these guys because of the growling vocals, I recommend that you re-consider. Their last 5-6 albums have been consistently great. The vocals are usually about half growling and half sung. When I first heard them about 7-8 years ago, my initial reaction was "what's with the Cookie Monster vocals," but eventually I heard them as another instrument in the mix. With constantly improving songwriting & arrangements, and Steven Wilson's involvement, I'm very excited about this release.

I did see them in concert a couple of years ago, and it was a bit of a letdown. They played everything meticulously, but they have very little stage presence or charisma. I've seen a couple of their live DVDs, and the audio is usually more impressive than the visuals. So if you're thinking of checking them out, don't judge them based on some live clips on youtube.

The band's roots in the doom-laden shade of occult-infused Scandinavian death metal and dark romanticism are undeniable and will never elicit apology. But the transcendent emotional and melodic heights achieved on the brilliantly titled tenth full-length Opeth album, Heritage, marks a new chapter in the storied quintet's career. Band leader, singer, guitarist, songwriter and long-running consistent member Mikael Åkerfeldt has reshaped the pathway forward for his artistic vehicle without sacrificing the hard won spiritualism of previous endeavors.

This masterwork from the Stockholm, Sweden based virtuoso musicians is a mind-boggling dense maze of tempo shifts, off-time signatures, percussive experimentation and warped rhythms. It is all expertly melded together by a myriad range of emotional outpouring and breezy melodic optimism which soars above the songs like a woodland spirit surveying its forest. There are multiple hints of darkness but Heritage moves the band forward into broader dimensions.


Heritage Special Edition CD/DVD includes 2 bonus tracks, 5.1 audio mix of the album, "Making of Heritage" documentary, expanded packaging with lenticular/hologram cover.

And here's the track listing for the 2nd CD.

Disc: 1
1. Heritage
2. The Devil's Orchard
3. I Feel The Dark
4. Slither
5. Nepenthe
6. Häxprocess
7. Famine
8. The Lines In My Hand
9. Folklore
10. Marrow Of The Earth
Disc: 2
1. Heritage (5.1 Mix)
2. The Devil's Orchard (5.1 Mix)
3. I Feel The Dark (5.1 Mix)
4. Slither (5.1 Mix)
5. Nepenthe (5.1 Mix)
6. Häxprocess (5.1 Mix)
7. Famine
8. The Lines In My Hand (5.1 Mix)
9. Folklore (5.1 Mix)
10. Marrow Of The Earth (5.1 Mix)
11. Pyre
12. Face In The Snow
13. Pyre (Demo) [Frag. 1]
14. Famine (Tracking) [Frag. 1]
15. The Lines In My Hand (Tracking) [Frag. 1]
16. I Feel The Dark (Tracking) [Frag. 1]
17. Folklore (Tracking) [Frag. 1]
18. The Devil's Orchard (Rehearsal) [Frag. 1]
19. The Devil's Orchard (Rehearsal) [Frag. 2]
20. The Lines In My Hand (Rehearsal) [Frag. 1]
21. The Lines In My Hand (Rehearsal) [Frag. 2]
22. The Lines In My Hand (Rehearsal) [Frag. 3]
23. Slither (Tracking) [Frag. 1]
24. Nepenthe (Tracking) [Frag. 1]
25. I Feel The Dark (Tracking) [Frag. 2]
26. I Feel The Dark (Tracking) [Frag. 3]
27. Famine (Tracking) [Frag. 2]
28. Famine (Tracking) [Frag. 3]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CM9DX6/?tag=imwan-20

5.1 mixes? I'm in!

I believe they are done by Steven Wilson. Not 100% sure.

People who have heard the full album have reported that there are no death metal vocals. Overall sound of it is straight out of the 70's. I am a huge Opeth fan, and even though I am very lukewarm to the first single I have gone ahead and ordered the deluxe collector's edition.

Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt says the band's new album, Heritage, takes inspiration from an unlikely place for a band primarily known for progressive death metal band: 1970s-style jazz fusion.

Åkerfeldt told I Heart Guitar the album was influenced by John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham, drummer Alphonse Mouzon, Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters – although those influences mingle with Ronnie James Dio, too. The track "Slither" is a blatant tribute to Dio and his former band Rainbow.

"We're all massive fans of Rainbow and massive fans of Ronnie," Åkerfeldt said. "When he passed away it was like a member of my family. He'd always been there. And I was insanely affected by his passing. I was really down and he really meant something to me. So I wrote this song as a tribute to him."

Notably absent from the album is Åkerfeldt's signature "death growl" vocal style, which he says simply didn't fit into where he wanted to take the album this time around. "I was just writing songs wanting to get closer to my influences, the stuff I listen to, and they're not really death metal at this point," he said. "I don't think I could make better music in that style than I did on Watershed, so it was time for a change. Death metal was not part of that change right now. Maybe we'll come back to it in the future, who knows?"

My order is on its way.

Mine as well. As a big fan of these guys AND of 70s jazz fusion, I can't wait to hear it.

I am dying to hear this one-they are so talented and the idea of Prog Rock, Fusion and Death Metal kicks ass beyond belief. Add in Steven Wilson and it's icing on the cake. I'll be getting it this week.
My favorite album of theirs is Ghost Reveries.

They haven't released a bad album yet, but I have to agree with IP about "Ghost Reveries." That's the one to start with if you've never heard them. Some people are put off by the growling vocals, but he only does them about half the time, and I hear them as a sonic texture as opposed to "cookie monster vocals" (as some friends have described them).

I'll be seeing them Saturday night at Experience PRS. I was kind of surprised to see they were the band, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Alan

Got my deluxe edition last night. Packaging is nice.

Got mine today, and the 15-year-old in me loves the lenticular cover (like the original "Their Satanic Majesties Request"). I'll gawk at the packaging for a while & then give it a listen. My only complaint about the packaging is that the booklet is glued to the middle panel of the digipak, so it can't be removed (the new Dream Theater has the same issue). It's not a big deal, but I'd prefer the booklet to be inserted into a pocket. We music collector's are never satisfied.

I'm excited to try the 5.1 mixes.

So, Opeth played Experience PRS last night (I'll do the usual thread in the ICEbox later this week). There was some, let's call it discontent about the performers this year. Thursday night was Al DiMeola (Signature Club-only event). Some folks were vocally underwhelmed, some (including me) rather silently underwhelmed. I know he's legendary, but it's just not my style of music, just like the stuff I like isn't to everybody's taste. I watched the first few songs, then wandered around a bit.

But wow, was the jury mixed on Opeth. No one really knew what to expect - this is not a metal crowd. Granted, it's not a homogenized crowd. There are lots of varied tastes in the mix. But as a guy from Premier Guitar magazine said to me, "this is pretty much mostly a blues-rock crowd". So there was a lot of interest in the air to see how Opeth were received.

The "opening act" was Tony McManus, joined by Cody Kilby for a song. Great musicians, but definitely not metal - Tony's one of the greatest acoustic guitarists in the world, and Cody's an amazing bluegrass guitar from Ricky Skaggs' band. Tony sat down and said, "Welcome to the weirdest double bill ever."

Then came Opeth. I'm not at all familiar with their catalog. I know they do the death metal thing, and I know from this thread they've been moving prog-ish. If Saturday's show is typical of the tour (material-wise), I can understand why the death metal crowd feels somewhat abandoned. No growl vocals. A lot of more ethereal bits, a lot of longer songs.

I loved it - it was frigging awesome. I could have done with more heavy parts, but they were great. Mikael (not trying to spell his last name) has a wicked sense of humor. At the beginning, he said, "Paul told me this is a family event, don't swear, there are kids. I have a very foul mouth." A while later, he was talking about the stage set up and said, "We brought the whole...hey Paul, I almost said 'fucking' there." He introduced one song by saying, "This is like our other songs - dreary, depressing, miserable." I really liked it - I'm going to pick this album up and a couple others.

How good was it? At one point, Paul Reed Smith pointed to Fredrick and yelled (or mouthed - I was too far away) "That was fucking great!" and gave him a huge thumbs up. PRS is very demonstrative when he appreciates what the musicians do at Experience (and I assume elsewhere). After they were done, Paul said, "You know, I didn't think there was room in my heart for another band, but these guys are in there now."

Alan