OPETH’s Mikael Åkerfeldt Talks Deliverance, Damnation Reissues – “There Was All Sorts Of Problems That Came Into The Band During That Time”
February 2, 2016, 8 years ago
Billboard caught up with Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt to talk about the reissues of Deliverance and Damnation.
“That record (Deliverance) was a troubled record for us because we had lots of problems in the band,” he says. “We were becoming a professional band, so we were touring a lot, we were working a lot, and there was all sorts of problems that came into the band during that time, so that’s the main reason why I had disliked that record because I don’t have a good memory of recording it.”
“A lot of those songs aren’t about anything. I don’t know what they’re about … in those days I was just writing. I didn’t enjoy writing lyrics. I hated writing lyrics, actually. I didn’t have anything to say. I felt like I said everything I wanted to say with the music itself but then of course you need something to sing, so it’s going to be either some random shit that doesn’t mean anything or something with a bit more substance.”
On the possibility of recording another double album he says, “I would love to, you know? If it’s good. I would love to do it under a bit more of control. Like if I had unlimited time to piece it together, that would be great … we never felt that we had time to really focus on something ambitious like that, and to this day it feels like everybody puts us back on a tour bus as quickly as possible (laughs) because of the state of the record [industry].”
