Listen to Opeth go full prog on new single §3

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Opeth have released the second single from their upcoming album.

§3 (“paragraph three”) follows the previous month §1with which the Swedish band incorporated death metal grunts into their sound for the first time in 16 years. §3 however, leans further into their prog sound, with technical riffs and bombastic strings. Listen to the new track below.

The new song, like §1is taken from Opeth’s upcoming concept album The Last TestamentVocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt explained in an exclusive interview why the band decided to reintegrate death metal elements into the album. Metal hammer interview.

When asked by journalist Rich Hobson what “brought the band back” to death metal, Åkerfeldt replied, “Honestly? The material itself did that in a way. With this record in particular, we knew it would work well as part of the big concept idea, illustrating specific things and giving this character a voice.”

Åkerfeldt also credited longtime bassist Martín Méndez and new drummer Waltteri Väyrynen as champions of the new direction. “Méndez is my horse whisperer – maybe a hoarse whisperer! – in a way. He’d say, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we did something really heavy on the next album?’ and I’d be like, ‘Hmm…’”

He continued: “Having Walteri join the band was also a factor. He’s a lot younger than us and he has the ability to really play that stuff. He really loves it, he talks about death metal all the time and stuff like that. Part of me wanted him to be our new drummer and play on those kinds of records. So that was in the back of my mind.”

Opeth will release The Last Testament on October 11th via Moderbolaget and Reigning Phoenix Music. The band will kick off a North American tour with Tribulation on the same day. They also have a UK and European tour scheduled for February. Check out the full list of dates and purchase tickets via the Opeth website.