OPETH Confirmed For Germany's WACKEN OPEN AIR Festival

January 18, 2008

Swedish metallers OPETH have been confirmed for this year's installment of the Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place July 31 - August 2, 2008 in Wacken, Germany. The festival billing is shaping up as follows:

AS I LAY DYING
AT THE GATES
AUTUMN
AVANTASIA
AXEL RUDI PELL
AXXIS
BEFORE THE DAWN
CARCASS
CHILDREN OF BODOM
CORVUS CORAX
CREMATORY
DESTRUCTOR
DREAM OF AN OPIUM EATER
ENEMY OF THE SUN
ENSIFERUM
EVOCATION
EXCREMENTORY GRINDFUCKERS
EXODUS
GIRUGÄMESH
GOREROTTED
GORGOROTH
GRAVE
HATEBREED
HEADHUNTER
IRON MAIDEN
KAMELOT
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE
KREATOR
KRYPTERIA
LORD BELIAL
LORDI
MACHINE MEN
NIFELHEIM
NIGHTWISH
OBITUARY
OPETH
POWERWOLF
PRIMORDIAL
PSYCHOPUNCH
SABATON
SALTATIO MORTIS
SONATA ARCTICA
THE BONES
VAN CANTO
WARBRINGER
WATAIN

OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt recently spoke to Revolver magazine about the group's forthcoming follow-up to 2005's "Ghost Reveries", tentatively due in the spring via Roadrunner Records.

"The music is much more complex," he said. "The metal parts are even faster and a lot more technical than the last one. It's really hard to play some of this stuff. I mean, I wrote it and even I have trouble playing parts of it. I think it's going to be hard for some people to get into. It's definitely not a commercial-sounding record. The arrangements are exhausting. And it's much darker. Even the major patterns are very dark, while I think 'Ghost Reveries' had some light."

When asked if the songs were influences by anything musical, Mikael replied, I was hugely inspired by Scott Walker, who's an avant-garde artist and crooner. Last year he put out a record called 'The Drift', which is quite extreme and frightening, and it made a huge impact on me. Immediately, I wanted to do something like that. It just felt right. Also, with the situation the band has gone through over the last couple of years with the lineup changes, I just wanted it to be this way. I didn't want it to be a happy-sounding record."

OPETH's "The Roundhouse Tapes" high-definition-filmed DVD has had its projected release date pushed back to September 2008 from the previously announced early 2008. This will also feature lots of fan interviews, band interviews, soundcheck footage and live photos, along with exclusive menu music written by mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt and keyboardist Per Wiberg.

OPETH's "The Roundhouse Tapes" double CD has sold 2,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The set contains "a captivating OPETH performance from the Camden Roundhouse, London, UK, on November 9, 2006, and sees the band in scintillating form churning out a selection of classics from their illustrious career," according to a press release.

The band will take part in DREAM THEATER's "Progressive Nation" in the spring, a package tour that will also feature the talents of 3 and BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME.

"Ghost Reveries" has sold around 90,000 copies in the United States since its 2005 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

(Thanks: Metalhead.ro)

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