OPETH – The Last Will & Testament (Album Review)

by Michael Giordano

When Swedish prog metal icons Opeth announced their new album “The Last Will and Testament”, the big news that had fans and the prog community talking was the return of lead singer Mikael Akerfeldt’s death metal vocals, which had been missing in action after the release of their album “Watershed”. Certainly the band’s transition to 100% clean vocals and more of a 70s rock influenced style was controversial, dividing much of the fan base. But after several albums of this new style, I was unsure how the harsh vocals would fit in with the Heritage era musical stylings. After listening to the album though, all I have to say is the real question is “How much do you like Masterpiece Theater?”

“The Last Will and Testament” is set up as a concept album, the band’s first since 1999’s legendary “Still Life” album. Rather than focusing on a supernatural or complex dramatic story, the plot is rather simple and straightforward: A group of family members gather for the reading of their patriarch’s last will and testament. Over the course of the reading of said will, family secrets are revealed, with repercussions for everyone involved. Personally, I rather enjoyed the story, and felt that keeping the story rather grounded in reality was terrific. As mentioned in my opening paragraph, this story very much felt like something you’d see on an episode of PBS’s Masterpiece Theater. If you’re listening and trying to follow along with the plot, I do suggest keeping the lyric sheet handy. While not vocally unintelligible, there’s some things that when written made a lot more sense story-wise than when sung. One example is a track where certain words are written with quotes around them which gives a much different meaning than simply saying the words, and are fairly key to the intrigue.

The band has decided to eschew song titles for most of the album, with only the closing epilogue track having a formal title. And certainly, this made sense in the course of the story. The first 7 songs (depicting the real time reading of the will and family history) flow into each other, to the point that I often found myself starting the record, and then not realizing I was 4 tracks in already. Track 2 is a great example of the band merging their different era styles. Shifting from the classic brutality of their earlier works right into Sorceress style passages are handled masterfully. The closing epilogue track (the only song on the album with an actual title) is quite stylistically different from the rest of the album, making it its own entity. Quite mellow, it majestically closes out this outstanding album.

Musically, my opinion is that this album is a strong cross between “Watershed” and “Heritage”. While I know the latter album (and subsequent ones from this era) were controversial, the melding of the heaviness of the earlier albums in the catalog with the 70s prog stylings is a match made in heaven to my ears. I really do feel this is an incredible album by the band. The moods shift greatly between the different songs ranging from dark and ominous, to brutally heavy, and then soft and delicate. There’s something from almost every aspect of his and Opeth’s career and even the most orthodox fans of the band should marvel at what has been put together here.

Every member of the band is spot on with their parts in terms of composition, with high marks given to keyboardist Joakim Svalberg for integrating his numerous parts in perfectly even in the most brutal of passages. Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull fame)’s spoken narration contributions were a nice touch, and he provides a fiery flute solo on track 4. Also, to my recollection, this is Opeth’s first album with a live orchestra, which adds some excellent flourishes (see for example, Track 1). One other technical comment to make is the excellent mix on this album. Every aspect of the performances are perfectly captured, and presented. Martin Mendez’s excellent bass parts are clear, even when competing against the large number of keyboards, guitars and orchestral parts, and I can only imagine what the surround mix will be like.

In summation, I really think that Opeth has put out one of their strongest albums to date. Older fans will certainly welcome the return of Mikael’s harsh vocals, but really, that’s a secondary story. The real story is that this is a masterfully constructed album, celebrating the history of the band, and forging an incredible mix of styles and influences. With top notch production added in, this is certainly one of the best releases of the year.

Released on Nov. 22nd, 2024 on Reigning Phoenix Music

https://opeth.rpm.link/paragraph3

‘The Last Will & Testament’ Tracklist:
01 – §1
02 – §2
03 – §3
04 – §4
05 – §5
06 – §6
07 – §7
08 – A Story Never Told

Lineup:
Mikael Åkerfeldt – Vocals, guitars
Fredrik Åkesson – Guitars, backing vocals
Martin Mendez – Bass guitar
Waltteri Väyrynen – Drums and percussion
Joakim Svalberg – Keyboards, backing vocals
Special Guests:
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) – spoken word (tracks 1, 2, 4, 7) // flute (tracks 4, 7)
Joey Tempest (Europe) – backing vocals (track 2)
Mirjam Åkerfeldt – spoken word (track 1)