Written by Opeth have celebrated the first year if release of their fourteenth and most recent studio album, The Last Will & Testament, by sharing a new video for §3 (Paragraph 3), which they say offers a visual interpretation of the narrative that has intrigued fans since the record’s release in November 2024.
The Last Will And Testament was a concept album that explored the idea of a family in the 1920s falling apart at the reading of the patriarch’s will, with dark secrets being revealed. Uniquely, all the tracks on the album, bar the final track, A Story Never Told, don’t even have conventional titles – instead they’re simply numbered and marked with the paragraph symbol ‘§’.
“I’ve been interested in the idea of families falling apart; what can make family members hate each other?” mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt told Prog when the album was originally released. “I saw the Succession TV series and I was fixed to the screen, so I started thinking more and more about writing a concept record; and I went to this idea.”
The album also saw the return of some death growls from the singer and guitarist, although Åkerfeldt was quick to decry a return to the band’s earlier deatn metal sound.
“To be honest, my heart is not in death metal,” he said. “I’m after some kind of feeling. Music should be an emotional experience, and once I get that, I’m happy.”
“If you take those vocals away, it’s no big stretch. I think this album is slightly heavier; it’s much darker and evil, but I think they’re the only thing that could keep the prog guys away from this record.”
The album featured Jethro Tull‘s Ian Anderson guesting on flute and spoken word, as well as Europe frontman Joey Tempest on vocals.
