Opeth. There is not a lot that can be said for Opeth that has not already been said, they don't care for the limelight, in fact Mikael himself said that he is not good with interviews at all. Quite a statement from a band sweeping all before them; grammy nominations, top placings in many metal magazines, they are the toast of many a town in fact. I have a little chat to Mikael about rap/hip-hop, how much metal in 2001 disappointed him, the new double CD and heaps of other crap. It is quite an interesting read. Dear readers, please do read on.

Jack 'Odel'


Hello and thank you Mikael for taking the time out from your busy schedule to answer these few questions for me. Firstly, are you happy with how things turned out for "Blackwater Park", nearly one year after its release in 2001? In terms of fan and media feedback?

You could probably say I'm happy with how the album's been received. We got #1 of year or top placings in most metal magazines, we got nominated for a Swedish Grammy, we sold almost the double amount compared to "Still Life" and stuff like that. In the eye of most regular people this is what success is. For me, I don't care at all about "flashy" things. I've got a good life right now, that's what counts, "Blackwater Park" is a fantastic record and it has done us a lot of good. It has put us in a different spot than before, so yeah, I'm pretty happy!

"Blackwater Park" was certainly a venture into a more progressive field, than what Opeth and certainly death metal has been previously associated with. More so than "My Arms, Your Hearse" and "Still Life"; "Blackwater Park" was less 'hard' and perhaps more melodic from an Opeth viewpoint, are forthcoming albums likely to stay in that frame of mind, or will we see another musical shift from Opeth? Into perhaps rap or hip-hop, for example?

As I'm writing for 2 separate albums right now I can say that next release(s) will definitely be the most melodic + most disharmonic we've ever recorded. It's gonna take the listener through singer-songwriter stuff, through psychedelic stuff, to rock and hard rock and through to extreme metal. Rap? Hip-hop? Are you insane?? No, those elements have nothing to do with Opeth! We have a pretty wide range to our music already and we don't really need anything else than we already have. We will continue with our style, which is a style in itself but also a very kaleidoscopic one. Rap/Hip hop?? That'll be the day...

Speaking of new and forthcoming albums; you guys are scheduled down to a record a newbie sometime this year, including a double CD package with a serene half and brutal half. Why the split? I always felt one of the cool aspects of Opeth was that many songs were spliced with hardness and softness.

It will be 2 separate CD's, not a double CD. We take everything into consideration with a release like this. It has to look great, exclusive as we don't want the fans to think that we're trying to milk 'em for money. It's all about our artistic taste. We want two separate albums whose artwork runs in similar themes, like a black and a white CD. Our goals with these CD's cannot be reached by putting out a double CD disc. However, people will never understand what we want anyways, so fuck it! I don't really care if they can afford to buy 2 or whatever...this is for us, if the albums don't sell, fuck it, I don't care! It has always been a case of us recording for ourselves...we got signed doing that, we didn't need to put on masks or suits to be more "accessible". Let's make one thing clear right now. I hate the industry and I don't care for anyone else's opinion than my own and the other guys in the band when it comes to take this band to where we belong. That includes the fans, their opinions wouldn't get us changing a original "plan". Don't get us wrong, we love the fans we have, but they are fans of us because of our integrity and the fact that we're deliberately taking distance from the scene and from what everybody else is doing. This 2CD thing is a dream of ours, and we're gonna make it happen, that's where our job is done. It's up to the label to sell it, and it's up to the listener if they're into it and if they wanna buy it.

In regards to the new, yet untitled album, are there going to be strict guidelines when recording songs, i.e. "This song is pretty hard, lets chuck her on the first CD. No wait a second, it's a bit too mellow, definitely belongs on the second CD"? That sort of mentality?

I guess when I come up with a part or section it pretty much makes it's way to it's "home" by itself. The heavy CD will be pretty "normal" for being an Opeth CD, maybe a bit harsher and sicker. It will still have mellow parts. It's the other CD that's the real experiment as we will drift off into psychedelic domains with that one... it will not only consist of mellow songs such as 'Harvest' or 'Face of Melinda', but also dark calm music and space rock elements.

Any tentative titles yet for the 2 CD new album? Is each CD going to be titled separately to reflect on the mood of each album or is Opeth going to stick with one overall title for both CDs?

Nothing as of yet. I haven't made up my mind whether I will write concepts again or what the fuck I should do. What I know is that the CD's are going to be between 50-60 minutes each. There will probably be two different titles, but titles connecting them with each other. I haven't started with the lyrics yet, I'm a "last second" kinda writer anyways.

"Blackwater Park" was beautifully illustrated by Travis Smith (also known for doing cover art for Iced Earth and the new Winds album), will we being seeing a repeat performance from him for the new record[s]?

We've talked and he wants to do it. I love Travis work, especially the new King Diamond album is great! We hope to work with him again, and I think he's pretty psyched about doing artwork for these two CD's.

Steve Wilson did some great vocal work on 'Bleak', was this a one off for Opeth or are you looking to perhaps have some more guest vocals in the future for new tracks? Or was it the fact that Steve Wilson worked with you guys mixing that enabled him to do some guest vocal work?

We are avid fans of his, I've been into Porcupine Tree since 1995 and just to work with him was great. I think we connected in a great way musically. Me and Steven plan to do some recordings together in the future too. Well, as I said we, or mostly me and Peter are huge fans of Porcupine Tree... we had a wish for him to sing some lines on the album, but we didn't dare asking. Luckily we didn't need to... there was this part that was too high for my voice, so Steve did it instead! It turned out great I think! We won't bring in any other guests I guess. Steve's one of the very very few fellow musicians we actually admire, so he's the only one we'd be interested in incorporating. I saw somewhere that Dave Vincent is singing on the Satyricon album. That's pretty fucking cool! I've never been into Satyricon really, but this I gotta hear! He's the fucking best when it comes to screams + I've been wondering what the hell he's doing these days.

With all the great CDs that passed through my hands this year from the metal scenes around the world, it was extremely hard to pick favourites. What caught your attention this year, metal release wise?

Man I'm sorry; I think it's all shit! Katatonia's new disc is awesome, but it's obvious I'd say that right? I am not impressed with metal bands anymore in general. I guess I was a bit excited about all these reunions of old bands, but it turned out to be predictable bollocks music (Iron Maiden). I have problems with new bands...it's so shallow and predictable... Porcupine Tree did a B-side compilation and wiped the entire musical scene clean... with a B-side!! That's only my taste, and I guess I haven't heard it all. No, I'm not excited about anything put out in 2001 really.

Is Opeth ever going to release a keyboard driven album? Personally I think it would be pretty interesting...

We are going to use some piano and maybe some vintage keys for the next albums. But we won't have the big choirs or cheesy string sounds, hell no! I like the stripped down sound of a grand piano, I like mellotrons, especially if they're a bit out of tune, I like Rhoads and Wurlitzers, I've grown very tired of Moogs since all the so called progressive metal bands use it all the time. I like Hammonds too... we did one rehearsal with a keyboard back in 1992, and it did truly sound like shit! Lately we've learned a bit more on how to use instruments properly and perhaps our taste have improved with the years too...so I'm rather excited about giving it another try.

Opeth has been a band that from "Orchid" has constantly blown fan and media away time and time again. Do you have any idea why that is? The fact that people don't get bored through 20 minutes of 'Black Rose Immortal', the fact you have brutal death one second, and harmonious music another. People should be raising eyebrows, and saying 'How in God's name does that music work?' but they don't and they love Opeth. Why?

I don't know, my taste is always gonna differ, even from my own fans opinions...they say "Morningrise" I say "My Arms Your Hearse"... it's never gonna change. Since the first record we have done music for ourselves, we were a mature band even back in 1993, so our CD's sounded "real". I compare to whatever other bands there is out there I think most bands really have that urge to become something...like rock stars. I had those dreams when I was a kid, and since I let go of that ideal, I have understood that it don't make no difference in the end. We are a proud band, we've had some success lately and that is strictly due to the fact that we don't really give a shit about anything.

Does Opeth (or any one of the individual members) ever get sick of composing metal tracks?

Since that's not all we do, no. I do most if not all the writing in this band, so I wouldn't say I've ever gotten tired of it. For me it's a great challenge to do something that will impress me, I'm the best judge for my own music, past and present. I've had side projects, I have some now, I don't really need 'em since Opeth basically don't care what musical style a riff or part is as long as it sounds good. I play with other people as I like to challenge myself and maybe learn something new. Right now I'm doing a thing with the keyboardist from Spiritual Beggars. He's a very experienced musician, he's been playing in bands since the early to mid 80´s, so it's a joy playing with someone who immediately understands what you want or who can get you into playing something you've never played before. This "project" sounds almost like a krautrock band playing soundtracks...

What are your fave Opeth track from each of the five albums?

Tough... 'Face of Melinda' & 'The Drapery Falls' are good...

Are you ever going to write happy lyrics with Opeth? It tends to be depressing a little, but I guess that is Opeth to a point. I thought "Still Life", lyrically, was extremely sad. You guys need to have some more happy moments.

[laughs], yes maybe we do. I can't write about happy stuff, basically I don't know how... "The sun is shining today, I'm having a stroll in the park, feeding the doves with crumbs of bread"...is that it? I get more satisfaction out of writing in a darker manner...but hey, everybody else is doing it within the metal scene. I understand we don't deviate from the pack because of my lyrics, but that's just my taste.

Any big and upcoming tours for Opeth or are you solely working on the new album and then promoting it afterwards?

It's basically only work from now on until the summer. We have a string of festivals booked this summer, but no tours. We will probably record in the summer too...

Well Mikael, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you again for answering these questions and wish you the best of luck with Opeth and whatever other ventures you are currently involved with! Any final words to the many fans that you have acquired over the past years?

Well, all I can say is thanks for the interview + thanks you to any fans reading this. I'm not good with stuff like this...feels like I'm holding a speech or something.

If there is one thing that the Belgian black/thrash/speed metal band Bütcher made sure with their new album "On Fowl of Tyrant Wing", it's that if you're gonna have such an awesome album title and an awesome cover art by Kris Verwimp, you are obviously gonna provide one hell of an album absolutely worth blasting on full volume. It's by far one of the fastest and heaviest releases of 2024 that you can't get enough no matter how much you think you've pleased your appetite for destruction. After revisiting the new album "On Fowl of Tyrant Wing", I managed to get in touch with the band's vocalist R Hellshrieker where we've discussed the latest output of Bütcher, from the songwriting process to the end result. I hope you maniacs will enjoy this interview and make sure to support Bütcher!

Vladimir

Greetings Hellshrieker, warmest welcome from Metalbite! How are you doing?

Hey Metalbite and metalheads, we're good. Reaching the years' end and it's been a very busy year. So we're taking the time to take a breather and enjoying what 2024 has brought us!

Your new album On Fowl of Tyrant Wing is finally out now and there has been such an overwhelmingly positive response from fans and critics, praising the band's performance and overall highly improved songwriting, while still remaining faithful to the core principles of Bütcher. How has the whole journey with the work on the new album been for you guys? What was the band chemistry like during the songwriting and recording process?

Thanks for your kind words. The album has proven more divisive than our previous one, with people really enjoying what we did, diving even deeper into mixing various old metal genres and focussing on more subtle songwriting. The new album is certainly a grower, with a few cuts really taking you by the throat, but others require more attention and repeated listens to appreciate all the layers we put in there. For a minority that made it too complicated to what they expected from us. But that's cool, to each his own and that counts certainly for us as well. We think we achieved what you said: remaining faithful on all fronts to the core principles of the band, and improving our performance. It was a unique approach though, with KK Ripper writing and arranging most of the material by himself. Our previous drummer LV Speedhämmer composed and recorded the drums. I actually wrote lyrics and tried vocal approaches afterwards. Normally we would first finish everything together and then hit the studio, but due to Speedhämmer's leaving we were forced to work within the time frame we had. So for the next one, we'll go with another take on band chemistry again and write in the rehearsal room. It'll be very interesting to see how the next album will differ in those regards. Gonna be fun!

When it comes to the physical release sales for On Fowl of Tyrant Wing, which format was on high demand? Vinyl, CD or cassette?

I should ask our label for accurate numbers, but it seems on shows and what we see on social media that the vinyl is actually in high demand. I have to add that the artwork was really made with vinyl size in mind and it shows. The package is perfect in large format!

For subgenres such as black/speed metal or black/thrash metal, it's really a difficult task to provide any kind of innovation, but you seem to have handled that incredibly well, because your song structures are very rich and complex with constant tempo-changes, sonic riffs, powerful guitar solos and melodic touches here and there. Was there anything specific that you were looking to improve or tweak in your music?

Thanks again! And yeah, it's a balancing act to stay within the rules of the genre (and bend them a bit, of course - because rule breaking makes things interesting ;)) and still sound fresh, contemporary and with new ideas. I think we achieved it, but there wasn't a rulebook we wanted to follow or a list of boxes that we wanted to tick. I think you can definitely hear our influences, ranging from Slayer and Nifelheim, over Primordial and Desaster, to Mercyful Fate and Iron Maiden. We did want to put a bit more US metal into it and the openers of the album (Speed Metal Samurai and Blessed By The Blade) are actually songs we had for an EP on which we really wanted to let people hear more Omen, Liege Lord etc in the guitar work. But we stopped with the EP idea to continue into a full-length.

One song that stood out for me is "A Gypsy's Tale (Of Sex and Seance)", because it stylistically feels like a nostalgic throwback to classic Morbid Angel, with the inclusion of sitar in the background and some King Diamond-ish vocal elements. What can you tell me about working on this song specifically?

Yeah, it's the most divisive song on the album, by far. To us, it made a lot of sense because it's the middle piece of the B-side trilogy. The song tells about the origins of a sensual gypsy woman - who is truly a vessel of the Devil, living through time and corrupting mankind. She was born of ancient entities in the occult Middle-Eastern caverns of the world. That theme gells very well with the occult Morbid Angel riffing - which in turn we thought cool to combine with Mercyful Fate influences, both in music and vocal delivery. We had a lot of fun doing this one, and I'm very proud of it. In the theme of the trilogy it's megacool, though it's not a new direction we're gonna do. Though you can never say never, haha.

If I may be so bold to say so, I think this might be your heaviest and most musically intense album yet, and it really feels like a greater bastard child of 80's Slayer, Nifelheim and Dark Angel, with some instances of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest on "A Sacrifice to Satan's Spawn". Were you guys aiming to incorporate your various musical influences or did it all come out naturally?

Oh yeah, totally. It's no coincidence that the bands you mention are the very ones we refer to when explaining our style and influences. Bütcher definitely is a mixture of all these classic acts, but we don't aim to do anything. It's just a style that comes natural to us, that's why our albums have so many subgenres on it. But we write wherever our ideas on that moment take us.

It might sound like a weird question to ask, but do you guys have any set of rules and ideas that you think a Bütcher song should accomplish? (apart from being heavy and extreme of course)

So this question is actually something I touched upon earlier, and the answer is definitely: no! We have no set rules of ideas about what we think our songs should accomplish. We have a lot of freedom in our minds and a Bütcher song just needs to have the right feeling. It doesn't need to be anything else than that! We only know whenever we try something that is NOT Bütcher material and that comes natural as well. Like: oh this is a cool riff, but this is totally not something we'll use, haha.

This is your second album in a row which features the artwork of the renowned and talented Belgian artist Kris Verwimp, and I think this might be the best art that he has designed for Bütcher yet, although I think we can all agree that he's simply unmistakeable. What was it like working with him for the second time for On Fowl of Tyrant Wing?

Kris's artwork for Goats really helped to solidify that album and even became a bit of iconic in the underground, if we may say so. We were certainly looking for some continuity in the Bütcher brand, so to speak. And it was the most logical step to ask Kris again. And boy, did he deliver. He nailed it again, telling a story of a few of the lyrics, painting eye-popping visuals with a lot of character and personality. This time he even used an orange and purple palette, and to a degree we didn't expect. We gave him some cues and provided him with the music and lyrics. And as he did with Goats, he turned it into a very distinct cover that grabs the viewers attention. We're extremely happy with it.

We all know how Bütcher is highly acclaimed across the globe, but what is the general reception from your local metal scene? Does the Belgian metal scene treat you with proper respect?

Funny thing is that we have more fans abroad than in Belgium, so it seems to us at least. Of course quite some people are respecting what we do over here, but our take on old skool metal just works better in audiences in other countries. It's also a Belgian thing, to prove yourself abroad. Only after, we notice our own talent, haha. And probably this niche we created just has a larger demographic target audience in larger countries. We've played a lot of parts of Europe by now, with even more coming in 2025. In any case, that is truly an honor to do so, and we love how we are received across the continent.

Thank you so much for doing this interview. Looking forward to seeing Bütcher live someday, and continue to keep it true! Any final words for the fans?

Hope so too! Thanks for the interview and to the fans I'd say: thanks for your dedicated support. See you Maniaxxxe on the road, URGH!