Concert Plug: Opeth offer more than your average metal

My arrival at Mr. Small’s yesterday evening for prog-metal group Opeth’s sold-out show was disconcerting, to say the least. The crowd featured your usual heavy metal milleu – young white guys and girls with piercings in odd places, long scraggly hair, and enough black clothing to blot out the sun. Were these people, I thought at the time, the only ones that such a dynamic band could drag out of their homes?

You see, back in the halcyon days of my youth, I went through a “metalhead” phase myself. I bought the swag and the CDs, headbanged my heart out at concerts, and on top of it all, truly thought that the genre was the Next Big Thing. Thankfully those days passed by quickly, but not without some lingering influence – the best of which came in the form of a little album called Damnation. In that 2003 recording, the band turned off the distortion, tossed the growling vocals out the window entirely, and set forth forty-odd minutes of pure acoustic-goth-rock bliss. As I explained to the gentleman standing next to me at the time, who happened to be a bassist for a local metalcore band who otherwise didn’t care much for the genre, every “heavy” band should be able to tone down their sound like that and record something subtle and spacious. And with that in mind, it’s a testament to Opeth’s greatness that so few other bands seem to be able to do so.

Nor does the band fall into the trap of what prog fans call “virtuoso playing,” or what the genre’s detractors label as “noodling” or “wankery.” In the concert, just as in the band’s studio recordings, there wasn’t a single excessive guitar solo or drum fill to be found. Everything feels oddly essential, even as most of the songs drag on past the seven- or eight-minute mark.

But back to the concert. After a short wait and a couple of overpriced Yuenglings, the opening band took the stage. I’d never heard anything by Enslaved before, but they were pretty good for a black metal band. Like the main event, they mixed clean and growling vocals, and they obviously drew their inspiration from several decidedly non-metallic sources. I really wouldn’t mind seeing them again, and that’s saying a lot when so many opening acts are barely worth the bonus hour of entertainment, if that.

Finally, when Opeth themselves came on, they started out the show with a couple of their more “metallic” tunes. This caused a few idiots near the front of the stage to commence moshing, but don’t let that turn you off: Opeth are not a band to mosh to. Two minutes or so after the beginning, lead vocalist Mikael Akerfeldt led the way into a quieter passage, and the obviously disgruntled kiddies calmed down. Thankfully, the setlist wasn’t entirely hard and heavy; in addition to black-metal classics like “Demon of the Fall” and “The Leper Affinity,” the band played a couple of the mellower songs that dot each album (and comprise the entirety of Damnation.) Again, this seemed to annoy the metalheads, but it’s clear that the band isn’t in this shindig to be brutal. They’re there to make music – whatever that may mean.

Oh, and that brings me to Akerfeldt himself, whose banter with the crowd betrayed a healthy sense of humor that so many other metal frontmen sorely lack. At one point, after someone in the crowd shouted out a song title, he quipped: “No, no; it’s coming, but we need to play a few sh*tty songs before we get to that one.” And then, in an overdramatic tone of voice: “I was just kidding. All of our songs are beautiful masterpieces.”

Indeed, Mikael. All in all, the show was one of the more impressive metal concerts that I’ve had the pleasure of attending, and you should give it a try too – even if you’re not normally predisposed to the genre. Just don’t expect the crowd to reflect that idea.

Opeth is touring throughout May in North America. You can view a list of their remaining shows here.