Sweden's prog legends Opeth have, after a postponement, released their 14th studio album, The Last Will And Testament, through Moderbolaget / Reigning Phoenix Music. To celebrate the release, the band has served a lyric video for the song "§4", featuring a guest flute appearance by Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson.
Opeth's frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt comments on the track: "'§4' is an oddball song, just written by instinct. I'm not a clever guy when it comes to writing music. People call us 'thinking man's metal', I think that's laughable. I listen to music from so many different genres, it's impossible to me to stick to one genre. I find the idea boring to try and belong somewhere, we're a bit all over the place, and I think this song shows our diversity. For '§4' I was inspired by something called 'twelve note music', which I think is a classical term, where you're supposed to play twelve notes and you cannot repeat a note twice. I heard some of that music by classical pianists playing, and it sounds wicked, it sounds evil, it sounds really strange - so that inspired the initial guitar theme. There's a mellotron theme in the beginning, it just sounds odd, like it doesn't fit in, almost like a free-form jazz solo or something like that. But it quickly kind of lands in an almost traditional metal theme with a common response type death metal vocal that has a stereo double-tracked normal vocal response. I can't remember what happened during the writing process, but I reached a point where I just stopped and felt, 'OK, time for something strange!' We ended up with a flute solo by Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, which was kind of an accident in a way because I asked him to do a narration, not flute. As he was doing the spoken word bits, he asked me 'do you need a flute solo?' I was like, 'yes, please!', while I didn't really have a part for a flute solo! I had to shuffle through the songs quickly in my head before he would change his mind. I had him on the hook, of course, I was gonna find a piece! So, he played almost like a common response type flute solo in '§4'. This is a great song with the ending piece being one of the more evil pieces of music I've written in a long time: it sounds really menacing, sick almost!"
For more regarding The Last Will And Testament, and Opeth's European tour 2025 dates, follow HEREs. Link
OPETH - Serves Lyric Video For "§4" Featuring Guest Flute Appearance By Ian Anderson; The Last Will And Testament Out Now
- Details
- Written by: Jerneja

Related articles
-
VIOFLESH - Releases Club-Ready Anthem "Your Absence"
Chilean darkwave/coldwave/electro duo Vioflesh is back with a club-ready anthem that captures the haunting solitude of longing and loss, "Your Absence". With dancy beats, icy melodies...
-
TACHION-X - Gifts "Rosemary's Lullaby"
Cinematic electro trio Tachion-X has gifted - literally since its download-free, the third single, "Rosemary's Lullaby", from its approaching debut full-length, 5120, scheduled for release...
-
DERO GOI - Unveils Title Track Of Upcoming Album
Dero Goi, the former frontman of Neue Deutsche Härte pioneers OOMPH!, who is releasing his debut album, 1984, on 29 November via Dependent, unveiled the album's title track. Solemn...
-
ANFITRITE - Presents New Single And Lyric Video
Caracas (Venezuela)-based symphonic metal band Anfitrite released a brand new single and lyric video "Final Light". Anfitrite has been contributing to the metal scene of the country...
-
PAIN
"With Hypocrisy, I'm very "home", but with Pain, it's an adventure, just like going into the jungle only with a knife and no glass of water and trying to survive." - Peter Tägtgren
-
SOLAR FAKE
"I don't tend to judge people, but I do judge them if they're too lazy to engage in independent thought or if they're simply careless and don't consider the consequences..." - Sven Friedrich
-
THE 69 EYES
"You know, the music and songs just come, and we don't distance ourselves from the music that comes out." - Jyrki 69
-
IN THE WOODS...
"For my sake, I could just stop playing the old stuff, but on the other hand, I know that our fans want it." - Anders Kobro
Copyright © All Rights Reserved. Powered by Terra Relicta