It’s been a pretty exciting week to be Opeth fans. Not only have the Swedish death metal turned prog rock legends announced a new album in the form of ‘The Last Will & Testament’, they have also released plans for a run of UK dates in February and March next year, where they will play the following shows with Swedish doomsters Grand Magus:
25 Feb: Bristol (UK) @ Bristol Beacon
26 Feb: London (UK) @ Roundhouse
28 Feb: Birmingham (UK) @ Symphony Hall
1 Mar: Manchester (UK) @ Albert Hall
2 Mar: Glasgow (UK) @ Barrowland
To sweeten things, fans who pre-order the album will receive a special ticket pre-sale code for the UK tour. The offer will end on Tuesday, August 13 at 1pm BST. Tickets go on general sale on Friday, August 16 at 10am BST.
PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM FROM THESE STORES TO GET ACCESS TO THE TICKETS PRE-SALE:
EU: https://shopeu.reigningphoenixmusic.com
Also, if you’re at Bloodstock, Opeth will headline the Ronnie James Dio Stage tonight with a special fan-selected setlist. Let’s hope we hear plenty of growling from Mikael as heard in their brand new single below!
Regarding the record’s creation, Mikael Åkerfeldt says, “This is the first record with Walt on drums. Seeing and hearing him record his bits was otherworldly and what went through my head was something like: How can a human being play this stuff? The older cats (myself, Mendez, Fred, and Jocke) did our bits in due time. We did them well (I like to think) and the alcohol concentration in our blood was mostly quite low as the red light was on. We’re professionals, you see! Rockfield Studios treated us well and we love that place! Stefan Boman recorded and mixed it all (CAPTURED it on TAPE… kind of…). Miles Showell did the master at Abbey Road Studios and then we (myself and Stefan) took him for a curry in Covent Garden. Travis Smith has done this odd-masterpiece-artwork that put ‘clothes’ on the music. All in all, we hope we’ve put together a nice little morsel of information for you to nibble on when it’s raining out. Thank you for your time. Thank you for reading. Thank you for listening. Thank you for giving us a respectable past. I’ll thank you for our future in the actual future, OK?”
‘The Last Will & Testament’ will be released on October 11th via Reigning Phoenix Music.