The Last Will And Testament

Album review

The release of Opeth's Heritage in 2013 marked a fork in the road for the band and many of their fans. All but abandoning death metal in favor of creating a muscular prog rock of their own, the group's musical persona followed that direction on 2016's Sorceress and to its glorious extreme on 2019's In Cauda Venenum. Last Will and Testament, their first studio album in five years, integrates most of their musical aspects into a unified whole. Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist Mikael Åkerfeldt brings back guttural death metal vocals alongside his clean singing. Despite vocal and musical tenets drawn from the past, the band's commitment to prog remains unwavering. The album is their first attempt at a concept since 1999's Still Life, and their first to include a live string orchestra. Its theme centers around the reading of the will of an imposing patriarch to unsuspecting beneficiaries. It explores wealth, family, and secrets worthy of soap opera episodes. The track list includes seven sections delineated by "§1" through "§7," and designated as "paragraphs." The final cut carries the title "A Story Never Told."
"§1" commences with the sound of echoing footsteps before a King Crimson-esque guitar-and-bass (Martín Méndez) riff frames Åkerfeldt's growls, in prime death metal form, as daughter Mirjam Åkerfeldt handles the backing chorus (she is terrific across the album). Guitarist Fredrik Åkesson adds splintering single-string fills before the breakdown in the bridge when choral vocals shift toward prog amid the heaviness, and a quiet orchestral string and Mellotron interlude carries it out. "§2" is introduced as charging death metal before another Crimson-esque interlude stacks lithe vocal harmonies before guest Joey Tempest (Europe) recites in spoken word before joining the chorus in an earth-melting prog metal outro. "§4" digs into prog heavily with jazz fusion drumming from newcomer Waltteri Väyrynen (ex-Paradise Lost) and a killer flute break from Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) before the lead-guitar duel between Anderson and Åkesson. It spirals off into powerful interplay by the whole band. "§5" weaves Middle Eastern modalism atop syncopated rhythms, growling vocals, and killer keyboard work from Joakim Svalberg, who intersects with the string orchestra and wildly progressive drumming, as Åkerfeldt careens between clean and dirty singing. The clash of styles -- prog, '70s hard rock, proto-metal, death metal, and more -- is unified in Väyrynen's exceptional playing. A layered church organ, stacked spiraling guitars, and solo synth framing the vocal and instrumental arrangement are jaw-dropping. "§7" offers heavy prog metal framing dirty vocals before Anderson reads the will with evil glee. Closer "A Story Never Told" is majestic. Its processional keys and drums introduce the piano and lyrical lead and backing vocals, as the music harmonically shifts between folk, prog, pop, and hard rock. It's emotionally taut. Last Will and Testament is among Opeth's most adventurous and sophisticated outings. Like a cross between Watershed and In Cauda Venenum, it's heavier and more adventurous than either while bringing the band's past, present, and future under a single creative umbrella.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo