History Music / Opeth

* SopranoAndGravel: Mikael is a shining example of the one-man version.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: "Harlequin Forest", from ''Ghost Reveries'', is often incorrectly referred to as "Reverie-Harlequin Forest" by fans. "Reverie" is the name of the so-called ''pre-gap'' on the album CD before "Harlequin Forest"; when ripped, it usually appears at the end of the previous track, "Atonement".
** On the album track list, the song is listed as "Reverie/Harlequin Forest".

** Mikael and Martin Mendez, the former being a very energetic and brash man and the latter being a quite one who rarely speaks.

* ThisIsSPARTA: '''THE! GRAND! CON! JUR! AAAA! SHUUUUNNNN!'''
** Also, pretty much the entire lyrics of "Blackwater Park" (song). "THE SUUUUUN SEETS, FOREEEVEEERRR, OVER, BLACKWATER, PAAAAARRRRKKKK!!!"

* DeadpanSnarker: Mikael is pretty renowned for this. See his speech under FunnyMoments

** ''Ghost Reveries'' [[WhatCouldHaveBeen was]] going to be an example of this trope. However, Mikael said that he started writing the album with a concept (he didn't say what the concept was) and then wrote some other songs for the album that had nothing to do with the concept, so it ended up not being lyrically cohesive or really a concept album at all.

** Their last album, Heritage, would be in the 3-6 range for the most part. It's quite a bit more straightforward and less scattered than other Opeth records (except, of course, for Damnation), so it's much easier to rank on this scale.

** Their last album, Heritage, would be in the 3-5 range for the most part. It's quite a bit more straightforward and less scattered than other Opeth records (except, of course, for Damnation), so it's much easier to rank on this scale.

Opeth are generally accepted to be one of the poster children for ProgressiveDeathMetal. While they are firmly rooted in Scandinavian death metal, they have shown many elements of ProgressiveRock throughout their albums. They are known to combine elements of heavy metal, progressive rock, Scandinavian folk music, blues, jazz, and acoustics into their songs. While Mikael has stated that groups that inspired Opeth were ones like {{Slayer}}, Music/{{Black Sabbath}}, Music/{{Death}}, and CelticFrost, he fully admits that other bands like {{Yes}} and other progressive bands inspired the progressive rock side of them. They are well know to try something new even after an extremely successful album (ala ''Blackwater Park'' and ''Ghost Reveries''). They remain one of the world's most popular DeathMetal acts, and are considered to be engaged in the work of opening up that scene to a wider audience, as their acoustic, jazzy, and folkish elements can easily draw fans of those styles into a position to appreciate the legitimate musicality of the abrasive, sonically violent, and dissonantly deconstructve nature of the death metal soundscape.

* ''Heritage''

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: Played with most of the time, though their latest release, ''Heritage'', probably beats the rest of their catalogue in this department.

In 1995, Opeth released their debut album ''Orchid'', which was critically praised for it's unique style of death metal, having twin guitar harmonies, also adding acoustic guitar, piano, and clean vocals, something rather unusual for the Scandinavian death metal scene. A couple of years later, they released ''Morningrise'', which continued to explore the techniques used in ''Orchid''. While it was quite popular, Opeth noticed that other metal bands began to copy them and Mikael urged the band to change their signature style. This lead to the release of the dark ConceptAlbum ''My Arms, Your Hearse''. A couple of years later, they released the fan favorite ''Still Life'', in which they began to deconstruct their sound. However, they never went on tour because their music which, while well liked, was not mainstream.

This all changed with the release of ''Blackwater Park'', which many fans and critics considered then to be Opeth's magnum opus. After the massive success of ''Blackwater Park'', they began their first world-wide tour. Within a six month period of time, they released two albums: ''Deliverance'' and ''Damnation''. The former is considered to be the bands heaviest work while the latter is a more elegant acoustic based album. While ''Deliverance'' was well-received, ''Damnation'' instantly became a fan favorite, most notably the song ''Windowpane''. After extensive touring, they released 2005's dark and majestic ''Ghost Reveries'', which (just like other previous albums) became an instant hit. After the release of ''Ghost Reveries'' however, Peter Lindgren and Martin Lopez (guitarist and drummer, respectively) left the band, leaving Opeth's future in doubt. Nevertheless, in 2008, Opeth released ''Watershed'', which has been praised as their deepest and most mature work to date.