Opeth discuss their prog influences

Opeth
Opeth

Opeth mainman Mikael Akerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Akesson have offered their ideal intro into prog.

The duo outlined the bands they’d suggest to budding fans in a new video – and Akerfeldt names his favourite ELP and Yes albums.

He says: “My favourite ELP album would be Tarkus, and I really like the first one. And for Yes, I would say a tie between Fragile and Close To The Edge.

“They came out at the same time – one year in between them. Really good records. I also like the more whimsical pop, psychedelic Yes.”

Akerfeldt then chooses Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Pink Floyd and King Crimson as his starter prog bands – with Akesson also adding in Rush and Jethro Tull to his own list. The video can be watched below.

Opeth are currently touring North America, before heading to Europe next month in support of their 12th album, Sorceress which was released last month.

Opeth tour dates 2016⁄2017

Oct 07: Filmore Detroit, MI
Oct 08: East End Good Year Theater, OH
Oct 09: Chicago Riviera Theater, IL
Oct 10: Minneapolis First Ave, MN
Oct 12: Oklahoma City Diamond Ballrom, OK
Oct 13: Houston Warehouse Live, TX
Oct 14: Austin Emos, TX
Oct 15 Dallas Gas Monkey Live, TX
Oct 18: Las Vegas Brooklyn Bowl, NV
Oct 19: Tempe Marquee Theater, AZ
Oct 21: Sacramento Ace Of Spades, CA
Oct 22: San Francisco Warfirled, CA
Oct 24: Portland Roseland Theater, CA
Oct 25: Seattle Moore Theater, WA
Oct 26: Vancouver Orpheum, Canada
Nov 05: Stockholm Annexet, Sweden
Nov 06: Oslo Konserthus, Norway
Nov 07: Copenhagen DR Koncerthuset, Denmark
Nov 08: Hamburg Docks, Germany
Nov 10: Vienna Arena, Austria
Nov 11: Stuttgart LKA Longhorn, Germany
Nov 12: Munich Theaterfabrik, Germany
Nov 13: Zurich Volkshaus, Switzerland
Nov 14: Milan Alcatraz, Italy
Nov 16: Cologne E-Werk, Germany
Nov 18: Tilburg 013, Netherlands
Nov 19: London SSE Wembley Arena, UK
Nov 21: Paris Le Trianon, France
Nov 23: Luxembourg Den Atelier, Luxembourg
Nov 24: Berlin Astra Kulturhaus, Germany
Feb 06: Sydney Opera House, Australia

Love, loss and learning to move on: the story behind Opeth's Sorceress

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.