Review: Opeth, O2 Academy

“We are Obesity Epidemic from Norway.” All that touring with Opeth has clearly had quite an effect on Enslaved bassist/frontman Grutle Kjellson, who seems to have enrolled in the Mikael Åkerfeldt School of Droll. For the record, they’re not especially portly, though hulking great Viking guitarist Ivar Bjørnson appears even taller than usual on the Academy stage.

This support slot means they only get to play five songs, but as each is an epic – beginning with the 10-minute Storm Son from new album E – nobody’s complaining. Enslaved’s music remains hypnotic and complex, transcending the self-imposed boundaries of the black metal scene that spawned them to embrace their openly acknowledged prog influences.

You’d have thought the world’s reserves of singing metal keyboard players would be finite, but Enslaved lost no time in replacing the departed Herband Larsen with Håkon Vinje, who supplies those trademark melodic clean vocals in contrast to – and occasional harmony with – Kjellson’s more guttural style. Maybe it’s the mix, but he doesn’t sound quite as sonorous as his predecessor did at that malfunction-plagued Marble Factory headline show a couple of years back.

No matter: despite curiously omitting their best-known song Thurisaz Dreaming, Enslaved really hit their stride with that other standout track from the magnificent In Times album, One Thousand Years of Rain, and conclude with the dynamic, multi-faceted Sacred Horse, whose runic theme is central to the whole E concept.

Few bands with roots deep in death metal would use an obscure track by ’70s Krautrock avant-gardists Popol Vuh as their intro tape. But one of the reasons why Stockholm’s Opeth have risen to the point where they can easily sell out the Albert Hall is founding member Mikael Åkerfeldt’s infectious enthusiasm for exploring the obscure by-ways of prog and metal history, preferably on vinyl, which he draws upon to create Opeth’s unique musical fusion.

So Through Pain to Heaven from the soundtrack to Herzog’s Nosferatu becomes the unlikely introduction to the title track from Sorceress, which pretty much encapsulates where Opeth are currently at musically: a jazzy, organ-driven intro from Joakim Svalberg giving way to titanic riffage by Åkerfeldt and  Fredrik Åkesson, with powerhouse clean vocals and a complex arrangement with a delicate guitar section. Ghost of Perdition from Ghost Reveries showcases their heavier, growlier side, and they reach all the way back to 1998’s My Arms, Your Hearse for the equally ferocious Demon of the Fall. During Opeth’s previous show here back in 2014, they concentrated on this heavier side of their repertoire, seemingly nervous about playing the mellower stuff from the then-controversial Pale Communion album, which had proven unpopular among a minority who consider any change or progression unforgivable.

There’s no such apprehension tonight as the recently rejigged set gives full rein to their more experimental tendencies, from the lightly psychedelic prog of The Wilde Flowers (yep – even some of the song titles make sly reference to prog history) to the gorgeous Windowpane, driven by sumptuous washes of Svalberg’s Mellotron, and the rarely aired Häxprocess from the even-more-divisive Heritage album. There’s also a real treat in the form of the fiendishly complicated Moon Above, Sun Below – played live for only the fifth time, Åkerfeldt insists – which, among other things, reminds us of drummer Martin Axenrot’s incredible versatility in combination with Uruguayan bassist Martin Méndez’s warm, jazzy tones.

They’ve spared no expense on the classy stage lighting for this trek, which is augmented by back projections ranging from animation to pastoral scenes of woodlands, lakes and mountains. There’s also something of an end-of-term feel to the show. Opeth’s last performance here kicked off a mammoth world tour. This time, as Åkerfeldt reminds us repeatedly, they’re winding down, with just one more date before a well-earned rest, during which he looks forward to having a quiet cup of coffee each morning and “not having to think about screaming about Satan”.

This also means that any rust has long since been scraped off the Opeth machine and they’re in the mood for some jolly japes. When Åkerfeldt announces a cover of a song by a band from Birmingham, we naturally anticipate something by his beloved Judas Priest. Instead, they offer You Suffer by Napalm Death. All one second of it. Played acoustically. With clean vocals.

Naturally, it’s back to the crowd-pleasers for the end of the set, with a genuinely spine-tingling Hessian Peel followed by Blackwater Park. Being one of those fortunate acts who aren’t defined by a single song or hit, Opeth could play almost anything as an encore, but, as so often, opt for the mighty Deliverance, which builds to that memorably juddering staccato riff climax. This was always going to be one of the gigs of the year, but those crazy Swedes succeeded in exceeding our inflated expectations.

All photos by Mike Evans

Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: November 2017