Formation (1990–1993) Opeth was formed as a
death metal band in April 1990 in Stockholm, Sweden, by
David Isberg, with some friends from
Täby; The band name was taken from the
Wilbur Smith novel
The Sunbird, in which Opet is the name of a fictional city. Isberg asked former Eruption band member and guitarist
Mikael Åkerfeldt to join Opeth as a bassist, replacing Martin Persson. When Åkerfeldt showed up to practice on the day after Isberg invited him, it became clear that Isberg had not told the band members, including the band's current bassist, that Åkerfeldt would be joining the band. An ensuing argument led to all members but Isberg and Åkerfeldt leaving to form a new project. At this time Opeth declared themselves to be the "most evil band in the world". and were replaced by guitarist Kim Pettersson and bassist
Johan De Farfalla. After the next show, De Farfalla left Opeth to spend time with his girlfriend in Germany, and was initially replaced by Mattias Ander, before Åkerfeldt's friend
Peter Lindgren took on the role of bassist. Rhythm guitarist Kim Pettersson left following the band's next performance, and Lindgren switched to guitar, with Stefan Guteklint taking over the role of bassist. In 1992, David Isberg left the band citing "creative differences". After a few live shows in the United Kingdom, Opeth returned to the studio in March 1996 to begin work on a second album, again produced by Dan Swanö. The album, titled
Morningrise, was released in Europe on 24 June 1996. With only five songs, but lasting 66 minutes, it features Opeth's longest song, the 20-minute "Black Rose Immortal". Opeth toured the UK in support of
Morningrise, followed by a 26-date Scandinavian tour with
Cradle of Filth. While on tour, Opeth attracted the attention of
Century Media Records, who signed the band and released the first two albums in the United States in 1997. In 1997, after the tour, Åkerfeldt and Lindgren dismissed De Farfalla for personal reasons, without the consent of Nordin. When Åkerfeldt informed Nordin, who was on a vacation in Brazil, Nordin left the band and remained in Brazil for personal reasons. Former
Eternal members, drummer
Martin Lopez (formerly of
Amon Amarth) and bassist
Martín Méndez, responded to an ad at a music shop placed by Åkerfeldt. López and Méndez were fans of the band and took the ads down themselves so no other musicians could apply for the job. Åkerfeldt and Lindgren did not want the Martins to join at first, due to them already knowing each other; they felt that they wanted two strangers so that there wouldn't be two camps in the band, but eventually hired both. López made his debut with Opeth playing on a cover version of
Iron Maiden's "Remember Tomorrow", which was included on the album
A Call to Irons: A Tribute to Iron Maiden. With a larger recording budget from Century Media, Opeth began work on its third album, with noted Swedish producer
Fredrik Nordström, at
Studio Fredman in August 1997. Although Opeth had Méndez, due to time constraints Åkerfeldt played bass on the album.
My Arms, Your Hearse was released to critical acclaim on 18 August 1998. Allmusic called
Still Life a "formidable splicing of harsh, often jagged guitar riffs with graceful melodies." As explained by Åkerfeldt,
Still Life is a
concept album: "The main character is kind of banished from his hometown because he hasn't got the same faith as the rest of the inhabitants there. The album pretty much starts off when he is returning after several years to hook up with his old 'babe.' The big bosses of the town know that he's back... A lot of bad things start happening." Wilson also pushed the band to expand its sound, incorporating new sounds and production techniques. "Steve guided us into the realms of 'strange' noises for guitars and voice", Åkerfeldt said. In support of
Blackwater Park, Opeth embarked on its first world tour, headlined Europe for the first time, and made an appearance at the 2001
Wacken Open Air festival in Germany, playing to a crowd of 60,000.
Deliverance and Damnation (2002–2004) Opeth returned to Sweden after touring in support of
Blackwater Park, and began writing for the next album. At first, Åkerfeldt had trouble putting together new material: "I wanted to write something heavier than we'd ever done, still I had all these great mellow parts and arrangements which I didn't want to go to waste."
Jonas Renkse of
Katatonia, a long-time friend of Åkerfeldt, suggested writing music for two separate albums—one heavy and one soft. After recording basic tracks, the band moved production to England to first mix the heavy album,
Deliverance, with
Andy Sneap at Backstage Studios. "
Deliverance was so poorly recorded, without any organisation whatsoever," Åkerfeldt claimed, that Sneap "is credited as a 'saviour' in the sleeve, as he surely saved much of the recording." AllMusic stated, "
Deliverance is altogether more subtle than any of its predecessors, approaching listeners with haunting nuances and masterful dynamics rather than overwhelming them with sheer mass and complexity." Opeth performed a one-off concert in Stockholm, then returned to the UK to finish recording vocals for the second of the two albums,
Damnation, at Steven Wilson's No Man's Land Studios. Although Åkerfeldt believed the band could not finish both albums, Opeth completed
Deliverance and
Damnation in just seven weeks of studio time, which was the same amount spent on
Blackwater Park alone. On 1 January 2016, Opeth re-released both
Deliverance and
Damnation in one package, containing CD and DVD versions, along with new mixing. The band embarked on its biggest tour yet, playing nearly 200 shows in 2003 and 2004. Opeth was scheduled to perform in
Jordan but before the band left for the country, drummer Lopez called Åkerfeldt stating he was having an
anxiety attack and could not perform, forcing the band to cancel the show. In early 2004, Lopez was sent home from Canada after more anxiety attacks on tour. Opeth decided against cancelling the remainder of the tour, with Lopez's drum technician filling in for two concerts. Lopez promised that he would return to the tour as soon as he could, but two shows later Opeth asked
Strapping Young Lad drummer
Gene Hoglan to fill in. Lopez returned to Opeth for the Seattle show on the final leg of the
Deliverance and
Damnation tour.
Ghost Reveries (2005–2007) Opeth returned home in 2004 to start writing new material for its eighth album; by the end of the year, they had finished writing it. Åkerfeldt said the primary reason for signing with Roadrunner was the label's wide distribution, ensuring the album would be available at larger-chain retailers. During rehearsal, keyboardist Wiberg joined Opeth as a full-time member after touring with the band on keyboards for more than a year. Opeth recorded at Fascination Street Studios in
Örebro, Sweden, from 18 March to 1 June 2005, and released the resulting
Ghost Reveries on 30 August 2005, to critical acclaim and commercial success. The album debuted at number 64 in the US, and number nine in Sweden, higher than any previous Opeth release. Keith Bergman of
Blabbermouth.net gave the album ten out of ten, one of only 21 albums to achieve a perfect rating from the site. Rod Smith of
Decibel magazine called
Ghost Reveries "achingly beautiful, sometimes unabashedly brutal, often a combination of both". On 12 May 2006, Martin Lopez announced that he had officially parted ways with Opeth due to health problems, and was replaced by
Martin Axenrot. Opeth toured on the main stage of
Gigantour in 2006, alongside
Megadeth.
Ghost Reveries was re-released on 31 October 2006, with a bonus
cover song (
Deep Purple's "Soldier of Fortune"), a DVD featuring a
5.1 surround sound mix of the album and a documentary on the making of the record. A recording of Opeth's live performance at the
Camden Roundhouse, in London, on 9 November 2006, was released as the double
live album The Roundhouse Tapes, which topped the Finnish DVD chart. On 17 May 2007, Peter Lindgren announced he would be leaving Opeth after 16 years. "The decision has been the toughest I've ever made but it is the right one to make at this point in my life," Lindgren said. "I feel that I simply have lost some of the enthusiasm and inspiration needed to participate in a band that has grown from a few guys playing the music we love to a worldwide industry." Ex-
Arch Enemy guitarist
Fredrik Åkesson replaced Lindgren, as Åkerfeldt explained "Fredrik was the only name that popped up thinking about a replacement for Peter. In my opinion he's one of the top three guitar players out of Sweden. We all get along great as we've known each other for maybe four years and he already has the experience to take on the circus-like lifestyle we lead as members of Opeth." The finished album,
Watershed, features seven tracks, with cover songs used as bonus tracks on different versions of the album.
Watershed was released on 3 June 2008. Åkerfeldt described the songs on the album as "a bit more energetic". Opeth toured in support of
Watershed, including headlining the UK Defenders of the Faith tour with
Arch Enemy, an appearance at
Wacken Open Air, and the Progressive Nation tour with headliner
Dream Theater.
Watershed was Opeth's highest-charting album to date, debuting at number 23 on the US
Billboard 200, and at number one on Finland's official album chart. Opeth went on a worldwide tour in support of
Watershed. In 2008, they played the UK
Bloodstock festival alongside
Dimmu Borgir. From September to October, the band toured North America backed by
High on Fire,
Baroness, and
Nachtmystium. They returned to tour Europe for the rest of the year with
Cynic and
The Ocean. In 2010, Opeth wrote and recorded the new track, "The Throat of Winter", which appeared on the digital EP soundtrack of the video game,
God of War III. Åkerfeldt described the song as "odd" and "not very metal." To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Opeth performed a six-show, worldwide tour called
Evolution XX: An Opeth Anthology, from 30 March through 9 April 2010.
Blackwater Park was performed in its entirety, along with several songs never before performed. The concert of 5 April 2010, at the
Royal Albert Hall in London, England was filmed for a DVD and live album package titled
In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The set was released on 21 September 2010, in 2-DVD and 2-DVD/3-CD configurations. For the DVD the concert was split into two sets. The first set consists of the entire
Blackwater Park album, while the second set contains one song from every album excluding
Blackwater Park, in chronological order representing the twenty years of "evolution" in their music. Åkerfeldt stated, "I can't believe it, but, fuck, we're celebrating 20 years. I've been in this band ever since I was 16. It's insane." A special edition of
Blackwater Park was released in March 2010 to coincide with the tour.
Heritage (2011–2013) 2011 In September 2010, Mikael Åkerfeldt stated that he was writing for a new Opeth album. The band announced on their website that they would start recording their tenth album on 31 January 2011, at the Atlantis/Metronome studios in Stockholm, once again with
Jens Bogren (engineering) and
Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree as co-producer. Shortly after mixing was complete on the new album in April 2011,
Per Wiberg left the band. Åkerfeldt said the band, "came to the decision that we should find a replacement for Per right after the recordings of the new album, and this came as no surprise to Per. He had, in turn, been thinking about leaving, so you could say it was a mutual decision. There's no bad blood, just a relationship that came to an end, and that's that." The album sold 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release and debuted at number 19 on the
Billboard 200 chart.
Heritage debuted at number four in the band's native country of Sweden.
Heritage became the second Opeth album to not feature any death growls and had a much more
progressive style than their previous albums, a direction that Åkerfeldt was already interested in pursuing with Opeth. The first two songs Åkerfeldt wrote for
Heritage were in the style of
Watershed. After hearing the songs for the first time,
Martín Méndez told Åkerfeldt that he would be disappointed if the album continued in that direction. Relieved that Méndez was not interested in doing another conventional Opeth album, Åkerfeldt scrapped the two songs and started the writing process over in a different style. In a review for
Allmusic, Thom Jurek called
Heritage the band's most adventurous album, describing the songs as "drenched in instrumental interludes, knotty key and chord changes, shifting time signatures, clean vocals, and a keyboard-heavy instrumentation that includes Mellotrons, Rhodes pianos, and Hammond organs". Opeth supported
Heritage with a tour that would last for over 200 tour dates. The tour was the band's first with new keyboardist, Joakim Svalberg, who played on the opening track of the album. During the tour, Opeth played with bands such as
Katatonia,
Pain of Salvation,
Mastodon,
Ghost and
Anathema all over the world in countries such as the United States, Europe, Turkey, India, Japan, Greece, Israel, Latin America and Sweden. The tour concluded with "Melloboat 2013". Åkerfeldt began working on new material as far back as August 2012. In January 2014 he stated, "We've been looking at [tracking the next album at]
Rockfield Studios in Wales where
Queen recorded "
Bohemian Rhapsody", but we haven't made a decision yet, but it will be an expensive album. There's a lot going on, lots of string arrangements that we haven't had in the past." when asked if it will it be heavier or softer than
Heritage, Åkerfeldt said, "Maybe a little bit heavier, not death metal heavy, but hard rock/heavy metal heavy. There's also lots of progressive elements and acoustic guitars, but also more sinister-sounding riffs." Åkerfeldt also produced the new album which will include
string instrumentation, something that he became interested in doing when working on
Storm Corrosion.
The Guardian reviewed
Pale Communion positively, calling it "strange, intricate prog-metal genius" somewhat flawed by Åkerfeldt's indulgent vocal styling. The album saw Opeth's highest chart positions in the history of the band with
Pale Communion debuting at number 19 in the US, It sold 13,000 copies in its first week of release in the US. Åkerfeldt expressed excitement for the concerts. Three days later, on 18 June, Opeth released a 30-second teaser for their new album,
Sorceress. A month later, on 18 July, the band confirmed the album would be released on 30 September, in addition to revealing the artwork and track list. Mikael Åkerfeldt described it as, "A fine little record. My favorite in our discography right now. Of course. That's how it should be, right? It's both fresh and old, both progressive and rehashed. Heavy and calm. Just the way we like it." The album was the first project under Moderbolaget Records, a joint venture between Opeth and Nuclear Blast. Moderbolaget means "the parent company" in Swedish. On 25 July 2016, in the build up towards the album release, the band posted the first Sorceress: Studio Report on their YouTube channel. In the behind-the-scenes studio tour, it is confirmed that the band had returned to Rockfield Studios where they previously recorded
Pale Communion. At the end of the video, there is a 20-second excerpt of a track believed to be from the album featuring heavily down-tuned guitars. On 1 August 2016, the band released a lyric video for the title-track 'Sorceress' on their YouTube channel. On 5 September 2016, Opeth released a lyric video for the second single titled 'Will O the Wisp,' again through their YouTube channel and website Opeth's video for "Era" was nominated for "Video of the Year" at the 2017
Progressive Music Awards, where they ultimately won "International Band of the Year". On 2 October 2017, Åkerfeldt said he has been thinking about doing something "twisted" and different for the next studio album, which could be released by mid-to-late 2019. On 20 November 2017, guitarist
Fredrik Åkesson stated that the band will not have any gigs in the upcoming months, until the 2018 summer festivals. During this break the band will focus on writing songs for the new album. On 11 July 2018, during an interview with FaceCulture, Åkesson said "I've recorded a lot of solos so far. And
Mikael Åkerfeldt has almost already written 12 songs for the new album, so we have more material than enough for an album". On 22 May 2019, the band announced their thirteenth studio album,
In Cauda Venenum, due for release on 27 September 2019.
Lineup changes and The Last Will and Testament (2021–present) in 2025 On 16 November 2021, it was announced that longtime drummer
Martin Axenrot had left the band due to conflict of interests and his
refusal to get vaccinated against
COVID-19, and was replaced by
Sami Karppinen for the North American tour. On 9 September 2022, it was announced
Waltteri Väyrynen (formerly of
Paradise Lost and
Alexi Laiho's project
Bodom After Midnight) was the band's new drummer. On 1 August 2024, Opeth announced that their fourteenth studio album
The Last Will and Testament would be released on 11 October, although the date was postponed to 22 November due to manufacturing delays. With the return of growl vocals after 16 years, last appearing on the album
Watershed, the album received positive feedback from many fans and music critics. It was also the band's first fully conceptual record since
Still Life in 1999. ==Musical style and influences==