In a new interview with Aggressive Tendencies, Opeth mainman Mikael Akerfeldt explained why he abandoned writing death metal music after 2008’s Watershed and became progressive rock on 2011’s Heritage.

Akerfelt said he was working on death metal music for the album that would become Heritage, but scrapped it because the material was mediocre in his opinion.

He says, “I was a bit worried about where we're gonna go. Is this the end? How we're gonna take it further? If I can't write anything that sounds like Opeth - is it over? I decided that it's not over. So I started from scratch and wrote the songs that ended up being on Heritage. I know fairly early if I'm onto something or not. But then, I was disillusioned. I also felt that Watershed - I couldn't write songs like that that would be better. I tried and I felt nothing for those songs. I was fooling myself, thinking, 'Even if we put out this record with this type of songs that are kinda lesser version of Watershed, it'll still be pretty good. But we don't go for 'pretty good.'"

Akerfeldt went on to explain that bassist Martin Mendez was influential in the decision to try something different after listening to the initial demos.

Akerfeldt explained, "He doesn't say much, but when he does, it's serious. He just turned to me and said, 'This is not what we should be doing. It's good, but nothing more.' He said stuff I already knew, and that was a massive relief for me. Because I was back to writing music and loving it.

"It was either Heritage or nothing. And some of our antagonists would probably say it would be better with nothing. But for us, we love music and we sound good and get along and have fun. So we decided to go for it."

Having recently announced a US date at the renowned Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado on May 11th, Opeth and Gojira have now confirmed more US dates.

Says Gojira: “This spring we are excited to announce we will be playing some US dates with our friends in Opeth! Tickets go on sale this Friday 10 AM, local time.”

Opeth states: “A very nice little USA tour together with our friends Gojira.”

Confirmed dates:

May
4 - Nashville, TN - War Memorial Auditorium
5 - Concord, NC - Charlotte Motor Speedway (Carolina Rebellion Fest)
6 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
7 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
9 - Chicago, IL - The Vic Theatre
11 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
12 - Kansas City, MO - Arvest Bank Theater at the Midland
13 - Indianapolis, IN - Old National Centre
14 - Somerset, WI - Somerset Amphitheater (Northern Invasion Fest)