Group
Opeth
Swedish progressive metal/rock
- From
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Since
- 1990–present
- Rating
- ★ 4.45
- Releases
- 75
- progressive metal
- progressive rock
- death metal
- metal
- acoustic rock
- art rock
- melodic black metal
- melodic death metal
About
Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. The band incorporates folk, blues, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from death metal, especially in their early works. Most songs and compositions include acoustic guitar passages, Mellotrons, death growls, and strong dynamic shifts.
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The band has been through multiple personnel changes since early in their history, including the replacement of every original member. Lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has been Opeth's driving force since the departure of founder and lead vocalist David Isberg in 1992. The group rarely made live appearances supporting their first four albums, but since their first world tour in support of the 2001 album Blackwater Park, they have performed several other major world tours.
Opeth have released fourteen studio albums, four live DVDs, four live albums (three that are in conjunction with DVDs), and two boxsets. The band released its debut album Orchid in 1995. With their eighth studio album, Ghost Reveries (2005), the band achieved chart success in several dozen countries, including Top Ten in Sweden. Their ninth studio album, Watershed (2008), topped the Finnish albums chart in its first week of release, and reached 23 on the US Billboard 200 chart. As of November 2009, the band have sold over 1.5 million copies of their albums and DVDs worldwide, including 300,000 collective SoundScans of their albums Blackwater Park, Damnation, and Deliverance in the United States. Their 14th studio album The Last Will and Testament (2024) won the Swedish Grammis award for the Best Hard Rock/Metal category.
Members
-
Mikael Åkerfeldt bass guitar, guitar, lead vocals
-
Martín Méndez bass guitar
-
Fredrik Åkesson guitar, background vocals
-
Joakim Svalberg background vocals, keyboard, percussion, synthesizer
-
Waltteri Väyrynen drums (drum set)
-
Micke Bargstörm guitar
-
Rille Even membranophone
-
Dan Nilsson guitar
-
Martin Persson bass guitar
-
Andreas Dimeo guitar
-
Nick Döring bass guitar
-
David Isberg lead vocals
-
Anders Nordin membranophone
-
Mattias Ander bass guitar
-
Kim Pettersson guitar
-
Johan De Farfalla background vocals, bass guitar
-
Stefan Guteklint bass guitar
-
Peter Lindgren bass guitar, guitar
-
Martin Lopez membranophone
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Gene Hoglan additional, drums (drum set)
-
Per Wiberg background vocals, keyboard, mellotron
-
Martin Axenrot membranophone, percussion
Discography
Albums
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Orchid Apple Music
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Morningrise Apple Music
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My Arms, Your Hearse Apple Music
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Still Life Apple Music
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Blackwater Park Apple Music
-
Deliverance Apple Music
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Damnation Apple Music
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Ghost Reveries Apple Music
-
Watershed Apple Music
-
Heritage Apple Music
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Pale Communion Apple Music
-
Sorceress Apple Music
-
In Cauda Venenum Apple Music
-
The Last Will and Testament Apple Music
Singles
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§3
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§1 (radio edit)
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Width of a Circle
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Cirkelns riktning
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Svekets prins
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Sorceress Apple Music
-
Will o the Wisp
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The Wilde Flowers
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Cusp of Eternity
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The Lines in My Hand
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Metal Radio Sampler
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Slither
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The Throat of Winter
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The Devil’s Orchard
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Dirge for November
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Burden Apple Music
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Mellotron Heart
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Porcelain Heart
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Soldier of Fortune Apple Music
-
Ghost of Perdition
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Selections From Ghost Reveries
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The Grand Conjuration
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Still Day Beneath the Sun
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Deliverance Apple Music
-
The Drapery Falls (radio edit)
Live
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Garden of the Titans: Opeth Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
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Ghost of Perdition (live)
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Opeth / Enslaved
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Solitude (live)
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Var kommer barnen in (live)
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2013-04-20: Record Store Day, Newbury Comics, Leominster, MA, USA
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The Devil’s Orchard: Live at Rock Hard Festival 2009
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In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall Apple Music
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Farewell to Providence
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The Roundhouse Tapes Apple Music
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Lamentations: Live at Shepherd’s Bush Empire 2003
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2001-12-07: The Shelter, Dublin, Ireland
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2003‐07‐23: Saint Andrew’s Hall, Detroit, MI, USA
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2000-07-29: Milwaukee Metalfest, Milwaukee, WI, USA
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2005‐12‐22: De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
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1995‐10‐31: Astoria, London, England, UK
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2001‐04‐10: Jaxx Nightclub, Springfield, VA, USA
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2003-05-28: Live on TV4 (Swedish TV-Network)
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2005-07-31: Sounds of the Underground, Denver, CO, USA
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1991‐11‐30: Akalla, Stockholm, Sweden
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The Smell of Death
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2005-09-21: Klubben, Stockholm, Sweden
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2006‐11‐10: Manchester Academy, Manchester, England, UK
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2001-11-13: La Locomotive, Paris, France
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1996-11-13: Club Splendid, Lille, France
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2003-02-13: Montréal, QC, Canada
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2003‐04‐18: Inferno Festival, Oslo, Norway
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Welcome to the Drapery Falls Cafe
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2009‐02‐16: Pakkahuone, Tampere, Finland
Compilations
Other
Links
Listen
Official
Concerts
Buy
Reference
- AllMusic
- BBC Music
- zenial.nl
- Discogs
- IMDb
- Last.fm
- Genius
- muzikum.eu
- musixmatch.com
- id.loc.gov
- catalogue.bnf.fr
- d-nb.info
- id.oclc.org
- imvdb.com
- musicmoz.org
- nla.gov.au
- rateyourmusic.com
- livefans.jp
- metal-archives.com
- metalmusicarchives.com
- musik-sammler.de
- muziekweb.nl
- progarchives.com
- spirit-of-metal.com
- whosampled.com
- SecondHandSongs
- VIAF
- Wikidata
Instrumental supporting musician
Tribute
Also known as
オーペス · 오페쓰
Tags
- progressive death metal
- black doom metal
- blackened melodic death metal
- extreme prog
- extreme progressive metal
- swedish
- vyrzukhisuc-artiest
Identifiers
- MusicBrainz
- c14b4180-dc87-481e-b17a-64e4150f90f6
- ISNI
- 0000000115272269
Data from MusicBrainz, saved 7 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.