OPETH ANNOUNCE ‘EPIC’ 13TH ALBUM
Swedish luminaries make grown men cry with their dual-language release.
Opeth are set to release In Cauda Venenum this autumn via Moderbolaget/Nuclear Blast. The title translates as ‘the sting in the tail’.
“There’s lots of different genres, there’s even a jazz song in there,” says frontperson Mikael Åkerfeldt. “I like to think it’s more pompous [than our 2016 album Sorceress], very epic, lots of strings; I think this is an evocative record. We had a playback session for journalists and there were grown men crying.”
It was recorded at Stockholm’s Park Studios and, for the first time, the band will be releasing two versions: one in English and one in Swedish.
“The original idea was to just do a Swedish record,” says Åkerfeldt. “I found that idea quite intriguing. But then as I was writing I was like, ‘I like this a lot.’ And I got a bit anxious that people would shy away from the record.”
Lyrically too, the album is a departure, inspired by sources as wide-ranging as from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel
The Handmaid’s Tale to the political climate in Sweden.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a political record but it has references to that which I’ve never had before. Right-wing parties are coming up; they’re almost at 20 per cent. There’s a scary and inspirational political landscape in Sweden. It’s not necessarily healthy, but it’s interesting.”
To promote the album, the band will play five UK shows in October and November. See www.opeth.com/tour-dates.