In the battle between the gods of heavy metal, Opeth’s frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt stands undefeated. After taking the once heavily-rooted death metal Scandinavian band on a musical journey that would rival the river Styx for bordering the lines between this world and the next with their transcendent sound, Opeth has hit shore once more with Watershed—arguably their most challenging work to date. Since the 2008 departures of drummer Martin Lopez and guitarist Peter Lindgren, Opeth has found a fit with Martin Axenrot and ex-Arch Enemy guitarist Fredrik Åkesson, respectively. Below, myMag had the privilege of speaking to Mikael Åkerfeldt about new beginnings and old ties…

You’re on your third tour in support of Watershed. How’s the road treating you so far?
It’s been pretty good. All the shows we have done so far, let’s see, eight shows so far, they’ve all been pretty good.

How have you liked touring with Enslaved?
Well, I’ve known about them. We were on the same label like one hundred years ago. I’ve always known about them and I’ve always liked their music. It felt like a good fit for this tour to have them with us. They’re good people.

Do you guys hang out after the show?
Generally, when they finish their set they go to the local bar and have beers or whatever. When we’re finished, they’re too drunk to hang out with.

So what does your band usually do after the show then?
We don’t party that much. We generally take a shower and then go to the bus and have a beer. It’s not very happening, touring life. When you’re our age, you know…I’m 35-years-old and my party days are behind me. I just want to work.

Watershed is the first studio album with Martin and Fredrik. Do you feel like their addition to the band has helped you push you in a new direction with Watershed?
Not maybe so much in a new direction, but they adapted really fast to our style. Their background is pretty far off from what we’ve been doing musically, so it was good to see them adapting so fast to our style. It really contributes to the songs. I wouldn’t say that they changed the musical direction that much. It was more like me trying to milk their capabilities. It just really worked.

How has it been to perform with them live?
The first show we did with Fredrik was weird - not to have Peter there of course, after 17 odd years or whatever. But it really didn’t take long until I felt like it is business as usual. I think we sound better now than we ever did.

Watershed is your ninth studio album. You guys have come a long way between different band members and different music explorations. What experiences over the band’s career do you feel like have shaped you the most?
I think I learned a little bit of everything. I learned a little bit about songwriting after having written music for nine albums. Like the actual recording process, I learned loads about that. Also touring life, it’s a little bit kind of shallow looking. You go on stage and have a couple of beers. That’s basically what you do. There’s a lot of things that I’m not particularly interested in, you know, on the business side. You’re pushed; you’re kind of forced into becoming interested in it. It’s a day’s work. You know, I’m doing this to support my family as well.

Like your other albums before, Travis Smith designed the cover art for Watershed. What is it about his work that speaks to you personally and helps communicate the feeling of your music?
It’s one of those collaborations that has just worked for 10 years now. He really understands what I’m saying. We’re on the same wavelength. I give him some ideas of what I want and he kind of nails it. I get lots of offers from other art people. From what I’ve seen, he’s the best for us.

The song "Hessian Peel" contains a backwards recorded verse - "My sweet Satan..."Were you paying homage to Led Zeppelin their verse in “Stairway To Heaven”?
It’s the Led Zeppelin reference. It’s leftover from the demo recordings I did. I was working with the song in my home studio; I wanted something for that part. I sang that line “My sweet Satan” off the top of my head. I didn’t really think about it, then reversed it and voila!

It’s like, that’s what I wanted. I figured that once we went into the studio to write everything for real, I’d just write a good lyric and we would use that instead. We tried a different one, but it didn’t sound good in reverse. It didn’t have the musical kind of ring that I wanted, so we used that one on the demo, which is an obvious reference to Led Zeppelin. It really was not like a nod to them or anything. It was just like that’s what came out. It might as well been like, “I’m driving my Volvo.” So it didn’t really matter what I said. When I hear it, when it comes out in reverse, that’s what matters.

I think you should put “driving my Volvo” on the next album…
(Laughs) Yeah, I should…

When you’re writing a song, are there certain elements that you go in with that you know you want to shape the song around, or are these messages and references that are so key to your style something that you weave in later?
It depends really. I’ve worked in all sorts of different ways in the past. In many ways it comes down to the demo stages, like the early stages of writing a song and what type of equipment I’m using. Some of the recording stuff I’ve had in the past has been so f*cking shitty that it’s impossible for me to finish a song. So I end up with bits and pieces that I have to piece together in the end.

For the last album I bought like a Pro Tools, which made it so much easier for me to start working on a song and finish for the day and continue the next day. While in the past, if I was going to continue what I worked on the day before, I had to work from scratch. Now it’s just easier for me, it was quicker too. Once I start writing, I’m very disciplined. The song kind of tends to write itself in a way, so I work fast. In the end it comes down to the help I have, what type of equipment I have. So for this last album I just started from the beginning of the song and built from there. 

With such an eclectic music taste such as yours, I’d love to know some of the music you’ve listened to while out on tour.
On tour, I tend to feel very lonely on tour. So I want to listen to stuff that reminds me of home.