Opeth started in 1990 as a death metal band, but the act that performed Monday night at the Majestic theatre could scarcely be categorized within that subgenre — or any other, for that matter.
During a roughly two-hour set, Opeth put its penchant for wild dynamic shifts and sonic wanderlust on full display. The Swedish band took audiences on a ride through material that spanned a varied career, winding through crushing riff fests replete with growled vocals, complex and knotty prog-rock passages and moody interludes that showcased frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt emotive baritone voice.
The set opened with “§1” from the group’s most recent album, Last Will and Testament — the first in more than 15 years to feature Åkerfeldt’s death growls. As if to acknowledge their return, the next three songs also showcased the frontman and bandleader moving between harsh guttural vocals and clean singing.
While long songs can be trying for audiences, Opeth’s mastery of tension and release made its many 10-minute-plus epics spin by as if they were half that length. The tortuous instrumental passages and haunting refrain of “God is dead” made “The Devil’s Orchard” a standout, and the heavy-yet-multifaceted “Master’s Apprentices” came as a welcome early-set surprise.
Åkerfeldt and fellow guitarist Fredrik Henrik Åkesson took solos aplenty but didn’t wear out their welcome by floundering into indulgence. Similarly, keyboardist Joakim Svalberg — an integral part of Opeth’s sound — never drifted into Emerson Lake and Palmer territory, instead using his distorted Hammond organ to add heft to chugging riffs and his Mellotron to lend an ethereal quality to lighter passages.
As its eleventh and final song, Opeth trotted out the 14-minute “Deliverance,” an encapsulation of the many weapons the band has in its aural arsenal. The discordant, teeth-grinding opening gave way to a jazzy and introspective verse before the piece took the listeners across more peaks and valleys. The audience remained riveted the entire time, exploding with cheers after the musicians hammered out the stuttering closing chords.
As per usual, Åkerfeldt peppered the set with dry humor, showing himself to be one of rock’s most engaging frontmen. At one point he jokingly complained about playing in the beautifully restored Majestic as enduring another “shabby” venue. Later, he played Stump the Crowd by asking them about a series of obscure Swedish heavy rock bands before inquiring whether they’d heard of Europe, his pop-metal countrymen behind “The Final Countdown.” When the crowd responded with boos, Åkerfeldt feigned deep offense.
Taken as whole, the performance was an invigorating exploration of Opeth’s oeuvre, spanning eight albums and showcasing both the band’s versatility and its adept hand at pairing dread with beauty, loud with soft, technicality with emotion. While prog can prove impenetrable for audiences who aren’t musicians, Opeth’s varied approach offers many onramps.
Fellow Swedes Katatonia opened Monday’s show, bringing their own varied and exploratory take on metal. Known for melding somber, almost gothic, melodies with explosive riffs, the band moved adeptly between both — and territories somewhere between — during a moody, backlit set.
While Katatonia’s performance was hardly as varied or invigorating as Opeth’s, it helped the tone for the masterful dynamic shifts yet to come.
Photos by Jaime Monzon.
