{"id":311555,"date":"2026-02-22T14:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/311555\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T14:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:33:12","slug":"the-albums-that-changed-opeth-frontman-mikael-akerfeldts-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/311555\/","title":{"rendered":"The albums that changed Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt\u2019s life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mikael Akerfeldt<\/a> has led Opeth<\/a>\u2019s 30-plus year transformation from gnarly underground death metal band to modern prog flagbearers. But he\u2019s also an insane music lover and vinyl collector, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of some of the dustier corners of rock and metal. In 2017, the Swede revealed the albums that have made him the musician he is today.<\/p>\n

\n

\"A\n<\/p>\n

The First Album I Bought<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden \u2013 The Number Of The Beast (1982)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI was eight years old and on a mission to buy a metal record one day, and it just happened to be Iron Maiden<\/a>. It\u2019s become one of the most important records in my life. I don\u2019t even have to listen to it anymore; I hear it in my head. It\u2019s in my DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

The Album That Reminds Me Of School<\/p>\n

Alice Cooper \u2013 Constrictor (1986)<\/p>\n

\u201cAll my mates at school got that record when it came out because of He\u2019s Back (The Man Behind the Mask) from the Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives soundtrack. It\u2019s more pop than rock because there\u2019s not a lot of distorted guitars. In school, we had an hour on Fridays where pupils could decide what we\u2019d do, and one week my friend chose the music so he recorded a full 60-minute cassette of that song on loop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Best Album Artwork<\/p>\n

Black Sabbath \u2013 Black Sabbath (1970)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautifully spooky cover and I\u2019ve gazed at it for years. I almost got obsessed with those infrared film photos where the colours are reversed slightly. I\u2019ve been looking for the artist for 25 years but he\u2019s vanished from the face of the Earth. I want him to do an Opeth sleeve.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Judas Priest \u2013 Defenders of the Faith (1984)<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember seeing the Freewheel Burning video on TV as a kid \u2013 it was the fastest and heaviest thing I\u2019d ever heard. I was so disappointed when I bought Rocka Rolla after it because it sounded like a different band and their singer was listed as Bob Halford. I thought it was Rob\u2019s brother!\u201d<\/p>\n

Judas Priest – Freewheel Burning – YouTube
\n\"Judas<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\nThe Album No One Would Believe I Own A Copy Of <\/p>\n

Anton Szandor LaVey \u2013 The Satanic Mass (1968)<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not completely out of this world because I have a slight fascination with occult stuff, but I have an audio recording of a Black Mass from San Francisco. I\u2019ve never played it all the way through because I get bored!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Most Underrated Album<\/p>\n

Judas Priest \u2013 Turbo (1986)<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember getting hold of it and hearing the synthesisers that were forbidden in heavy metal. I love even the cheesy songs like Parental Guidance that metalheads talk shit about but I\u2019ve always liked that. Everyone was trying to put out cool records in the 80s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Album I Wish I\u2019d Made<\/p>\n

The Beatles \u2013 The Beatles (aka The White Album) (1968)<\/p>\n

\u201cI come across as a complete Anglophile with all these British bands but I\u2019d love to have made either Abbey Road or The White Album. I\u2019ll settle with The White Album because it\u2019s the longest. Without any competition, I think The Beatles are the best rock band that ever existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helter Skelter (Remastered 2009) – YouTube
\n\"Helter<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\nThe Album That Should Not Be<\/p>\n

The Offspring \u2013 Conspiracy of One (2000)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire Offspring back catalogue! They\u2019re a joke band to me and I don\u2019t get it. I don\u2019t think I could be friends with someone who listens to them. I\u2019m sure they\u2019re nice guys but their music is shit, I\u2019m not even sure who it\u2019s aimed at. I can\u2019t even drink a beer if their songs are playing in the room \u2013 I just leave!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Album I Want Played At My Funeral<\/p>\n

The Beatles \u2013 Abbey Road (1969)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends whether I want people to be crying or happy, but Golden Slumbers starts very sad and melancholic but turns into a beer-drinking kind of song.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Album I Want To Be Remembered For<\/p>\n

Opeth \u2013 Heritage (2011)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt caused the biggest stir with our fans, but it happens to be one of my favourite records and the collective favourite of the other members, too. I really love it and it might become a hidden classic for people. It\u2019s a slow burner because it\u2019s been six years and more people are telling us they hated it at first but now love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 295 (April 2017)<\/p>\n

Opeth – The Devil’s Orchard [OFFICIAL VIDEO] – YouTube
\n\"Opeth<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mikael Akerfeldt has led Opeth\u2019s 30-plus year transformation from gnarly underground death metal band to modern prog flagbearers.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-311555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}