Mikael really loves his add9 chords.

Just “discovered” Opeth a few months ago... I’ve been missing out for years!

The Patterns in the Ivy is just full of those cool things, like the fill thing into the piano lead. Åkerfeldt's chords and composing are huge part of the sound, but a ton of the feel, especially on Damnation, also comes from someone you might not consider as much - the drummer Martin Lopez. The whole band at the time was full of stars that played their own huge role on how the songs come together as a perfect mesh, Lopez, Lindgern's beautiful and clever almost jazzy leads, Méndez's cool bass lines. Maybe there could be a licks episode of Opeth - the old guard that is, focusing on the beautiful melody lines Lindgren and Åkerfeldt created? Everything between Orchid and Ghost Reveries had so cool leads that make my hair stand up and leave me wondering how it happened. In the Mist She Was Standing from Orchid, Black Rose Immortal from Morningrise, When from My Arms, Your Hearse, Godhead's Lament, Benighted and Serenity Painted Death from Still Life, A Fair Judgement from Deliverance, Windowpane from Damnation, Bleak from Blackwater Park, Ghost of Perdition from Ghost Reveries. And those are just some exceptional solos, not talking much about other stuff. I guess they started as black metal band but it was pretty clear from the beginning that they were progressive. If you want to learn about Åkerfeldt, he has a quite long interview on Spotify about his early years. He's a huge old rock and especially progressive rock geek. Like there's no end to his knowledge about these underground bands from the old days. I think he's also a big vinyl collector, who could've guessed ;) I've understood his prog rock geeking out was the main reason Opeth transformed to what it is today through those very different kind of prog rock albums, that he had already had enough of metal and wanted to explore his true passion. My words, not an exact quote. And he's a super funny guy too. His speaks on stage are golden. That heartfelt and grim scandinavian humor. Dry as sand but not ill-willed. Has a funny clip of talking about Dream Theater and Petrucci on stage too. Apparently they're good friends with Mike Portnoy, shared interests and so on. If there's one band you should go and see live, that's Opeth to me. They played at my local place once and someone on the back of the stage tripped on the power cable killing all the sound from amps and stuff. He said he thought he had suddenly lost his hearing and entertained the audience for some minutes while people were waiting for the power and sound to come back on. Then they played the song from the beginning again. He can just basically do improvised stand up, he'll come up with a topic and discuss about something on the spot. And there's more interesting collaboration too. When he was singing for Bloodbath for a while, they rocked. And then there's his guesting to Ihsahn solo production, the black metal legend from Emperor.

Dude, your videos deserve far more views. This is gold as a songwriter. Thanks for what you are doing! :D

I've done that same technique in Coil in my writing - sort of a parallel major 3rd movement. The reason it gives such a wonderous quality is because it's implying a strong Lydian sound!

I found your channel, and i fell in love ahah great video with quality content ! cheers from France !

i like your channel man.Decoding these techniques/ habits of amazing guitar players makes a huge difference in my vocab.!! keep them coming :)

Still Life is hands down one of my favorite albums of all time.

Just saw them live...best show I’ve been too..it’s amazing..and I know your focus is on the guitar but it should be noted how good and versatile of a singer he is while playing this stuff!!

Totally superb. More and more of Opeth. Great

2:23 In my time of need 4:07 Windowpane 5:35 Hope Leaves 7:33 Benighted 9:44 coil 11:25 Patterns in the ivy

Outstanding content, I've learnt so much with your chordplay videos

That was fascinating , lots to learn

Great video and as usual, totally mesmerizing. Few other things hold my complete attention for 15 mins straight in 2020.

Just started learning guitar and this is hands down the video that helped me out the most understanding what is going on even if I dont know anything about music theory Thank you!!!

He sang for Katatonia on their first album. They sound alot like Opeth also. Heavily influenced by Opeth

awesome video man!

Check out the song Unhealer by Ihsahn, it features Mikael on vocals

Great video. could have approached the theory behind it, like keys, modal approach and stuff..either way.. great video.

Really enjoyed this. New sub from me. Any chance of more Opeth videos like this or in general? I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on Mikael, he’s a huge inspiration for me and not many people know of him in my circle.

He colects rear vinyl records

Opeth is much better with out the growls