Opeth name the greatest death metal band of all time

Opeth are returning to their death metal roots - vocally, at least - on new album The Last Will And Testament. Naturally, when the band revealed this with lead single §1 , fan response was immediate - and incredibly vocal.

But while there's an undeniable excitement about them returning to death metal for the first time in 16 years, its not like the band have particularly run from their past - their earlier, heavier songs still feature prominently in sets, after all. Even so, when Hammer caught up with frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson, we got them to share a little bit about how they got into the genre in the first place - and name the greatest death metal band of all time.

How did you both get into death metal?

Mikael: “I was pretty late with death metal. I wanted to graduate from thrash and speed metal, really – it’s almost an evolution, getting heavier and heavier. I heard Sepultura’s Schizophrenia and Morbid Visions , but… as much as I love those records, it’s a bit too sloppy!

"Ironically, it was probably Bathroy’s second album [ The Return... ] that really helped me get into it. I didn’t get it when it first came out, it must’ve been like '87 or something [when I picked it up]. It scared the shit out of me! I thought it was really scary, evil record and there was this spooky song on there called Possessed where he’s screaming, ‘ I’m possessed’ and I thought that was… ‘Oh my god!’

There’s also Swedish death metal band called Mefisto who were associated with Bathory in those days. One of [Fredrik’s] friends actually played guitar on that, a guy called Omar Ahmed who was brilliant. I heard their demo The Puzzle a few years after it came out [in ‘86] and thought it was amazing – incredible musicianship, sounded really evil and just great songs.

Fredrik: “I also started listening to death metal pretty late – I was way more into the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and bands like Ozzy Osbourne, Dio – all of that. I went more extreme when a buddy of mine picked up the first Metallica album. We were like ‘what the hell is this?!’ and started checking out heavier and heavier records.

We met a guy who lived up the street who was super into Venom and even had inverted crucifixes in his flowerbeds! The first album I brought though was Death’s Individual Thought Patterns . I got that because King Diamond's Andy LaRocque played guitar on it and I’m a total guitar nerd."

How did you get involved in the scene?

Mikael: "I went to see the band Merciless, just before they put out their second record [ Realm of the Dark ]. They were playing a youth club with this band called Beyond, but that’s the first thing that comes to mind. I must’ve seen Entombed for the first time around then too. I was blown away by the camaraderie between fans and bands – there were hardly any people there, but everyone was so devoted to the music.”

Fredrik: "Like Mikael, I went to shows. Christofer Johnsson of Therion played our local youth club with his band – then called Blitzkrieg. This must have been like 86, 87. That was probably the first death metal show I went to."

So who would you say is the greatest death metal band of all time?

Mikael: "Ultimately, the best death metal band of all time is Morbid Angel . Alters Of Madness had everything I wanted from that music – the musicianship, but also an intensity that I was after… plus the best death metal vocals I’d ever heard. David Vincent is better than Chuck [Schuldiner, Death founder] and Chuck is fucking awesome! David Vincent is the king of death metal and I shape my own vocals after him.

Fredrik: I’ve gotta agree with Mikael though, Morbid Angel were the greatest. I also loved Domination though and Where The Slime Lives.”

Mikael: “We toured with Morbid Angel on Domination . We thought we were going to blow them off-stage with our folky, rock, metal Morningrise album. Needless to say, it didn’t happen.”

Fredrik: “We mustn’t forget Entombed too, though.”

Mikael: “Yeah, absolutely. I guess we should also mention that Bathory are black metal too and not strictly death metal. If that’s the case then we should also talk about Celtic Frost and Hellhammer. I remember getting Hellhammer’s Apocalyptic Raid EP; I remember walking into a department store in Stockholm and seeing that record, knowing I immediately had to have it. It was too expensive and I didn’t have the money – it was like £7 or something, so I changed the price tag to £1!”

The Last Will And Testament is out October 11 via Reigning Phoenix Music.