Opeth Akerfeldt confused by modern metal

Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt says he's "too old" to understand what metal means these days.

The singer, who previously said he didn’t feel an affinity with modern metal bands, is once again wrestling with exactly what the term means.

He tells Full Metal Jackie: “I’m sort of lost about metal, especially since I’ve done some interviews where I’ve just said what I thought, and people get upset, because they have different opinions on what metal really is.

“I think I might be too old, to be honest, to understand what the younger generation thinks metal really is these days.”

Although he feels cut off from the current scene, Akerfeldt insists that he loves its rebellious nature.

He adds: “I grew up with the 70s and 80s hard rock, so those bands, to me, were very diverse and had lots of things going on in their music.

“They were metal bands in my book, but I’m not sure if they would come across as that in the climate of today. But I think metal, to me, has become a bit of an attitude as well – a question of attitude – and I think we have still that attitude intact. We’re a bit, for lack of a better word, rebellious.”

Opeth released their latest album Pale Communion in August.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.