History Music / Opeth

** [[SixRanger Fifth Ranger]]: Joakim

+ Music/JudasPriest, Music/{{Camel}}, Gracious, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Music/{{Slayer}}, Music/IronMaiden, Music/{{Death}}, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/DeepPurple, Music/CelticFrost, Music/KingDiamond, Music/MorbidAngel, Music/{{Voivod}}, Music/PorcupineTree

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

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Orchid'' and ''Morningrise'' are pretty much the odd balls of the band's catalog: They have a surprising amount of BlackMetal riffs and have much longer compositions than anything before it (with songs such as "In Mist She Was Standing" off ''Orchid'' clocking at fourteen minutes and "Black Rose Immortal" off of ''Morningrise'' infamously clocking at ''''twenty minutes''''). ''My Arms, Your Hearse'' was when the band's more progressive death metal style kicked in due to Mikael becoming annoyed at the FollowTheLeader bands ripping off riffs off of the first two albums.

* XMeetsY: Music/DreamTheater meets Music/{{Deicide}} (minus overtly satanic lyrics).

Opeth is not a band for everyone, however. Their songs are extremely long (the average clocking in between eight and ten minutes) and musically complex. This makes their music very difficult to listen to without some dedication. A large majority of their songs demand repeated listening for full appreciation. This can make listening tedious to those who find the music alienating either for its lack of simple accessibility or death metal sensibilities. One critic put it this way: "It is very hard to be a casual Opeth fan, due to the length and complexity of their songs."

* ''Sorceress'' (2016, forthcoming)

[[caption-width-right:300:The dudes themselves. Opeth logo visible in the background.]]

Not to be confused with {{Otep}}, as they often are.

!!Discography:

* ''My Arms Your Hearse'' (1998)

!!Current Band members:
* Mikael Akerfeldt: vocals, guitar, bass on ''My Arms Your Hearse'' (1990-)

!!Past Band members:

!!Guests:

!!Opeth shows example of:

*** And subverted as well, as the heaviest song on "Ghost Reveries", "The Grand Conjuration", is stuck between the two lightest and shortest songs on the album, "Hours of Wealth" and "Isolation Years"

* CarefulWithThatAxe: Plently examples.

Despite their departure from the genre, 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 Music/{{Slayer}}, Music/{{Black Sabbath}}, Music/{{Death}}, and CelticFrost, he fully admits that other bands like Music/{{Yes}}, Music/{{Camel}}, Music/{{Magma}}, and other progressive bands inspired the progressive rock side of them. They are well known to try something new even after an extremely successful album (à la ''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 deconstructive nature of the death metal soundscape.

** One of the best examples is the song "Hessian Peel" from ''Watershed'', which contains around six minutes of serene ProgressiveRock before abruptly transforming into blasting DeathMetal. "Dirge for November" is also an excellent example, as noted immediately above. That said, many of the band's transitions are more gradual ("The Drapery Falls" is a good example here).

** Interestingly, many individual songs vary wildly between rankings, such as "Dirge for November," which starts about a 2/3 for the first couple minutes, then rockets straight to a 9 pretty much without warning. Almost every song on ''Watershed'' has these extreme variations as well.

** One of the best examples is the song "Hessian Peel" from ''Watershed'', which contains around six minutes of serene ProgressiveRock before abruptly transforming into blasting DeathMetal. That said, many of the band's transitions are more gradual ("The Drapery Falls" is a good example here).

* SincerestFormOfFlattery: Mikael has stated that the song "Ending Credits" off ''Damnation'' is "totally a Music/{{Camel}} ripoff". Given how he's also said how much of an influence they are to him, the song becomes more of a tribute than a FollowTheLeader kind of thing.

* XMeetsY: Music/DreamTheater meets Music/{{Deicide}} (minus satanic lyrics).

This all changed with the release of ''Blackwater Park'', which many fans and critics considered then to be Opeth's MagnumOpus. 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 band's 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''. (Note that Opeth originally planned these two to be a DistinctDoubleAlbum, but ExecutiveMeddling nixed the idea). 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.

** ''Blackwater Park'' is named after a German {{Krautrock}} band.

** ''Still Life'' is named after an album of the same name by Music/{{VanDerGraafGenerator}}.