IN CAUDA VENENUM | OPETH

11.2.19 I recently saw frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt on an episode of, my favorite store in the universe, Amoeba’s What’s In My Bag. I found him damn likable. And his musical interests pallet is quite diverse. Though I am not the biggest death metal fan (No Napalm Death on my list) I thought I would wander through their more than 20 year career. I came across this, their newest album. Right off I liked it considerably more than their early records. I also realized that a portion of their fan base probably won’t be in this same boat given that I Cauda.. has more in common with Dream Theatre than doom, black or death metal. Dream Theatre really isn’t my bag so it must be the Prog elements here that do it for me. Åkerfeldt’s vocals are almost like a lower pitched Rob Halford. And I feel like I need a math degree to follow all the time signatures.

MICHAEL PEMENTEL at Consequence of Sound writes: Throughout In Cauda Venenum, one can hear and feel passion; not only does the songwriting offer fascinating compositions, but the band sounds amazing. . . .