Fredrik Akesson Talks To ArtistDirect

New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Roadrunner Records) Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson spoke to ArtistDirect this week about the band's as-yet-untitled 11th studio album, which will be out later this year:

"We talked about wanting to do an album that sounded more like the late seventies and early eighties hard rock era. That was the foundation for it. It was that type of direction. For instance, the second song on the album is quite rare as an Opeth track because it doesn't have any breakdowns or dynamic, forest-y parts."

He discussed his own guitar playing on the record, saying, "I went to the studio where Mikael [Åkerfeldt] did the demos and just improvised a few things. He really liked them. Some things I worked on for quite some time. For the third song, I don't think I ever spent that much time creating a guitar solo ever. I worked on it for at least a month, trying different ideas. The others were more improvised as a lucky shot in the rehearsal studio where Mikael did the demos. It's dangerous doing that. I always want to take it to the next level, but it has to be in the context of the song as well. I basically did the other solos more like I did them on the demos. I crystallized them a bit and polished them. I try my best. Maybe the solos are a bit longer. I get to play a bit longer than I usually do. It's cool for me as a guitar nerd [Laughs]."