Opeth share previously 'lost' video for Windowpane

(Image credit: Press)

Swedish prog rockers Opeth have unearthed a previously 'lost' video of the band performing Windowpane, which you can watch below.

The track is taken form the band's seventh studio album Damnation, originally released in 2003, and which will be reissued reissued on vinyl through Music For Nations Records on December 15 to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary.

According to the band, the video, directed by Fredrik Odefjärd, has been "digitised from the original video tape sent to MTV in 2003, a long lost artefact of a much loved fan favourite from from the Damnation vaults."

"Damnation is a special record, even if they’re all special to me," says Mikael Åkerfeldt of the album. "I remember hearing the first mix on headphones in a crummy hotel somewhere in the UK. I had trouble believing it was us, myself, Peter, Lopez, Mendez (as well as ol’ Steve on keys). It was completely different from anything we’d done up to that point, and quite frankly, since. Out of all of our records, I think this one is most suitable for the vinyl format due to the fact that it is not really cluttered with stuff. A pretty airy recording with 5 musicians and done on 2 inch tapes as well. It’s a record I’m immensely proud over and it also remains a fan-favourite I believe."

Damnation was unique in Opeth's catalogue as it marked the first time the band had deliberately shifted away from their metal roots to embrace progressive rock, folk and other influences and was the first Opeth album to use all clean vocals.

The album was recorded at the same time as Deliverence, which represented the heavier side of the band and was released in 2002. Both albums were produced by Akerfeldt and Steven Wilson who had also produced 2001's Blackwater Park and has since mixed Heritage (2011) and Pale Communion (2014).

"At the time I remember getting death threats from metal fans for 'ruining”'the band!," recalls Wilson. "As if it could be anyone’s intention but Mikael’s to do a record like that anyway. Damnation was when everyone understood that he was not going be trapped within the confines of any genre or label, and that the band’s importance and influence would be far reaching. Rightly so Damnation is now seen as a timeless masterpiece, and I’m very proud to have had my part in making it."

The 20th Anniversary versions sees the 2015 re-mix and remaster pressed to standard black vinyl, as well as being available on deluxe and limited colour finishes, and for the very first time available on an exclusive picture disc.

Pre-order Damnation.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.