The release of
Opeth
's
Heritage
in 2013 marked a fork in the road for the band and many of their fans. All but abandoning death metal in favor of creating a muscular prog rock of their own, the group's musical persona followed that direction on 2016's
Sorceress
and to its glorious extreme on 2019's
In Cauda Venenum
.
Last Will and Testament
, their first studio album in five years, integrates most of their musical aspects into a unified whole. Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist
Mikael Åkerfeldt
brings back guttural death metal vocals alongside his clean singing. Despite vocal and musical tenets drawn from the past, the band's commitment to prog remains unwavering. The album is their first attempt at a concept since 1999's
Still Life
, and their first to include a live string orchestra. Its theme centers around the reading of the will of an imposing patriarch to unsuspecting beneficiaries. It explores wealth, family, and secrets worthy of soap opera episodes. The track list includes seven sections delineated by "§1" through "§7," and designated as "paragraphs." The final cut carries the title "A Story Never Told."
"§1" commences with the sound of echoing footsteps before a
King Crimson
-esque guitar-and-bass (
Martín Méndez
) riff frames
Åkerfeldt
's growls, in prime death metal form, as daughter
Mirjam Åkerfeldt
handles the backing chorus (she is terrific across the album). Guitarist
Fredrik Åkesson
adds splintering single-string fills before the breakdown in the bridge when choral vocals shift toward prog amid the heaviness, and a quiet orchestral string and Mellotron interlude carries it out. "§2" is introduced as charging death metal before another
Crimson
-esque interlude stacks lithe vocal harmonies before guest
Joey Tempest
(
Europe
) recites in spoken word before joining the chorus in an earth-melting prog metal outro. "§4" digs into prog heavily with jazz fusion drumming from newcomer
Waltteri Väyrynen
(ex-
Paradise Lost
) and a killer flute break from
Ian Anderson
Jethro Tull
) before the lead-guitar duel between
Anderson
and
Åkesson
. It spirals off into powerful interplay by the whole band. "§5" weaves Middle Eastern modalism atop syncopated rhythms, growling vocals, and killer keyboard work from
Joakim Svalberg
, who intersects with the string orchestra and wildly progressive drumming, as
careens between clean and dirty singing. The clash of styles -- prog, '70s hard rock, proto-metal, death metal, and more -- is unified in
Väyrynen
's exceptional playing. A layered church organ, stacked spiraling guitars, and solo synth framing the vocal and instrumental arrangement are jaw-dropping. "§7" offers heavy prog metal framing dirty vocals before
reads the will with evil glee. Closer "A Story Never Told" is majestic. Its processional keys and drums introduce the piano and lyrical lead and backing vocals, as the music harmonically shifts between folk, prog, pop, and hard rock. It's emotionally taut.
is among
's most adventurous and sophisticated outings. Like a cross between
Watershed
, it's heavier and more adventurous than either while bringing the band's past, present, and future under a single creative umbrella. ~ Thom Jurek