A new dawn arose for Opeth with 2011’s Heritage. In the blink of an eye, the Swedes went from venerable death metal to full-on progressive rock. Polarizing to say the least, mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt abandoned the growling vocals and now the troupe is four albums into this new era. With each release enjoying various degrees of memorability, the blood, sweat, and tears has culminated in the most profound and monstrous offering of their modern recordings. The band even tried something new, as In Cauda Venenum is available in two versions, English and Swedish vocals! Steeped in ‘70s type guitars and vocals, the music is determined to leave a burning impression with rich and humming riffs and Åkerfeldt’s best clean vocal performance. 

In a BraveWords feature, Åkerfeldt explained the decision to record the album in Swedish: "I was taking my kids to school one morning, and I started thinking that maybe I should write the lyrics in Swedish. It's by no means a groundbreaking idea - it's been done before - but the more I thought about it the more I liked it. And it didn't have so much to do with what the lyrical content would be; it opened up the music for me and I had a plan. That's necessary for me, and whether I stick to that plan is irrelevant, but I need a plan to get going. I'm a very impulsive writer in terms of lyrics and music, I don't linger too much on an idea and I made quick decisions, and when I started singing the stuff it didn't sound weird. We've done one cover in Swedish ('Den Ständiga Resan' by Marie Fredriksson of Roxette fame), but I've never done my own songs with lyrics in Swedish, and it clicked."