Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.There upon the turbulent rapids where the mighty confluences of prog rock and death metal meet, we find Opeth. The Swedish band devised their fusion of the two styles in the 1990s. It has made them a big draw on the metal circuit — although some fans gripe that the scales have tilted too far towards prog as bandleader Mikael Åkerfeldt traverses the twisty, fiddly course of middle age.The Last Will and Testament offers a sop to them. Opeth’s 14th album brings the return of Åkerfeldt’s gargled death-metal vocals, a foreboding register suggestive of hellfire and damnation that has been absent since 2008’s Watershed. But the proggy elements in their sound have been ramped up too. Songs are filled with unpredictable switchbacks and changes in direction. Åkerfeldt adopts a symphonic style of singing alongside his growls. Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson makes recurrent appearances over the course of the eight tracks, enunciating lyrics about “clandestine bourns” and “the den of iniquity” with a wordsmith’s relish. There is a plot, for this is a concept album. Set a century ago, it is based around the reading of a will after the death of a wealthy patriarch. The tracks are titled as numbered paragraphs in the document, bar closing number “A Story Never Told”. Family secrets are spilled, including the existence of a polio-suffering child fathered with a maid. The music is ripe with lurid revelations and cliffhangers. Ferocious riffs are overlaid by swirling Middle Eastern-style orchestrations. A moment of harpsichord-inspired calm leads to an outrageously groovy flute routine from Anderson, which in turn is overshadowed by the gathering storm of a guitar solo.Åkerfeldt and his bandmates, including new drummer Waltteri Väyrynen, bring technique, invention, intent and a well-controlled degree of camp to their performance. The detailing is first-rate, especially the arrangement of the different styles of singing and voices. Listen closely for a fleeting cameo by Europe’s Joey Tempest, hollering in the background with glam-metal overdrive as the fateful will is recited.★★★★☆ ‘The Last Will and Testament’ is released by Reigning Phoenix Music
