Mikael is the male version of a beautiful girl that is not aware of it. I always wonder about great singers, and the fracture point in their lives where they realized that they were able to sing at a level few achieve. It wasn't like he spent his time with a vocal coach or worked tirelessly to become a singer. He had the gene in him the whole time, lying dormant, and was able to nurture it, without anyone burdening him with the chains of technique. Thank God, because his voice is absolutely exquisite. The color of his voice I can only compare to David Gilmour, as it envelopes you with an instant sense of peace and longing.
He's tired as hell. He's done like 20 shows that day because same fucking clothes in every video lol when you see a vocalist holding a cup of anything in an interview and not putting it down you know their throat is getting into the home stretch...
I could totally picture a dude like him showing up for a board game night at a coffee place somewhere. Just a real average guy (who happens to be a ridiculously fantastic musician! but you don't know that playing catan or w/e tf)
Mikael Akerfeldt has the most angelic sounding singing voice but has the most evil sounding growls that will give you nightmares. The perfect yin yang.
Come on Mikael, you ARE a great singer. You may not be technically proficient (which I guess is what you're referring to when you say you aren't a great singer), but there's bite, there's grit, there's smooth, there's warmth, there's real soul in your singing.
Exactly, there's two types of musicians: Those who perform with technique, and those who perform with soul. You can have all the skill in the world and still not sound great. Look at Yngwie.
@@trajectoryunown You should read up on subjectivity. Not all people have the same level of understanding and ear for sound. Just because you can't sense the soul in a technical work doesn't mean others can't. Interpretation is neither definite or universal. Someone like Yngwie might say he has the most soul in his music than anyone else becuse of how he hears the music. Doesn't make it more right or wrong than how someone else hear his music. Because it's S U B J E C T I V E.
@@faust8218 No, no hate. Didn't realize that's the new thing. He was just like the most recognizable highly skilled guitarist that I thought of at the time. I like a few of his songs. It's just that, in general, I don't feel his music like I do with other musicians despite his classical training and technical prowess.
I dunno, he seems to be fine on a technical level to me. His clean vocals are lovely, he's amazing at communicating dread or melancholy through his cleans, so maybe he doesn't have the greatest range or whatever the hell, but it's perfectly adapted to the music he makes. And, of course, his growls after just fucking amazing, he's a legitimately technically amazing growler IMO.
I had already hit the like button midway through your comment. Instinctly when I finished reading it I hit the like again, eliminating the original one so I had to click it back again. It's that good. 🙂
Its really weird that my favorite growl play in Bloodbath, Mikael Dan Swano, and Peter Tägtgren. And its sad that Edge of Sanity become that awesome band but really few people know who they are
@@FoxinTaiwan have you ever tried playing "deliverance" on guitar? Mikael is a technically great player. You dont just happen to be that,it takes years of practice. Steve Vai may have practiced more, but he'd probably tell you about his daily routine. Theres no shame in that. Its his job
@@xmiraculix82 Don't get me wrong. I didn't mean to say that he's not a good guitar player. He just doesn't practice enough cause he probably ain't aiming to be at that level?
It's so crazy how he doesn't think he's a great singer. He's such a good singer and such a good growler. And yes, David Vincent is an awesome growling vocalist. That's something old school death metal has that I love...vocalists you can genuinely understand, while being brutal and heavy.
i've never seen anyone go from such a great clean vocal to such a killer growl as Mikael, what he does live is insane, and his guitar playing is ridiculous too
Dan Swano and Mikael are 2 of the best Swedish modern-day musicians of all time in my opinion, both masters of their craft, both pretty underrated as well
Mikael is absolutely correct in the fact that growl is not particularly loud without a mic. He is such a nice guy, humble and friendly. I’ve met him a couple of times (we’re from the same part of town) and he is a great influence!
Im going to say it now, in his Prime Mikael was the greatest death metal screamer... there was no competition... those vocals on anything Opeth, on and before watershed and bloodbath were absolutely destructive.... even to this day it is hard to find the perfect balance of high screams with that guttural lows that he had... closest i have found was when Brandon Butler was still in Veil of Maya... But Mikael is still in another league.
I think Mikael has the best death metal voice for tone, aggression and clarity. He bows and gives the throne to others. Deep, warm and amazingly melodic voice and he gives the scepter to anyone else defining himself an average singer. Golden voice for radio and deep relaxation tecniques master. What an incredible artist.
The song he wrote for Roadrunner United, Roads, is the most hauntingly beautiful song I've ever heard. It still gives me chills all these years later. It was hugely influential to my clean singing. The only thing wrong with that song is that it isnt long enough.
his voice is out of this world, I watched some vocal coaches reacting to his songs and they were all stunned with how many different different voices he can use, and how all different voices are unbelievable
For the low gutterals, I can't think of anyone better. Actually, now that I think about it he has killer higher pitch screams too. The specific moment that comes to mind is towards the end of The Leper Affinity before it goes back to the intro riff: "deafening screams pierce the niiíiiiiiiiiight". That shit always gives me goosebumps. All the guys Mikael mentions in this video are absolute beasts too. Listen to Death's cover of Painkiller for a great example of how insane Chuck's vocals were at the end of his career. One more off the top of my head is Devin Townsend. Different style, but his range and control are world-class (especially if you include his clean singing).
Game Vault, I just got done listening to the Uta song on youtube. I like the contrast, some parts reminded me of Cattle Decapitation and then other parts reminded me of the soundtrack from Full Metal Alchemist. Sounds like a fun band to listen to.
Shout out to The Heard - that band on Mikaels´ T-shirt. only 5500 likes on FB, 5-10K listens on Spotify. pump those up, those are rookie numbers in this racket!
Never understood why Mikael never liked his own singing voice. I love his singing voice. His growls are amazing, but he shouldn't be so hard on himself. I think he is a great singer.
I really like his thoughts on David Vincent's vocals. And I pay tribute for it cause Mike is really realistic by saying "He (David) is the king; king of Death."
Agree. People always talking about Peter Tagtren and "Eaten" , but Mikael was the only who represented that song at live concerts. *So Mikael Åkerfeldt is the real hero of Bloodbath*
i'm new to Opeth but i love his work on Helvetesfönster by Ghost the acoustic part, even though i love the whole song itself and the band Ghost. the scandinavic composition has really inspired me to write and study music myself
@Eduardo Gentile thank ya man. I am a distant cousin to Eleanor Kerrigan. She performs standup comedy with Andrew Dice Clay. So I appreciate, as a regular guy, getting laughs.
Never in all my years have I heard a speaking voice more mesmerizing than his. If he were to speak softly in my ear with that voice he could convince me to do anything.
Without realising it, I'm getting a very similar Mikael look - my hair is long now, I've been too lazy to shave my facial hair haha. But anyway, his guttrals on the album Ghost Reveries is what really got me into Opeth. I can't believe how good at unclean vocals he is.
I’m not really an Opeth fan personally but I have such a deep respect for Mikael’s vocal capabilities. Dude is one of a kind. I recommend Opeth to anybody I know that is into metal just because he’s so unique of a singer.
Legendary screams. Especially when they do the layering effect. Akerfeldt is known to have some of the best screams in metal. The only guy who sounds more evil is probably Ihsahn from Emperor back way back when.
6:04 It is great that many extreme vocalists (Corpsegrinder, Angela Gossow, Marcus Bischoff, etc.) admire Dio, whose singing style was raspy belting. Well, the music he did with Black Sabbath is timeless.
Bullshit Mikael, you're the best. Perfect grit and rasp, plenty deep and guttural --but entirely understandable and not corny or ridiculous sounding. Still Life is a master class in death metal vocals (it's also imo the best prog death album of all time, or at least up there with albums like The Sound of Perseverance, etc). How fucking good Mike's death vocals were are a huge part of the reason many people can't get over old Opeth being gone; the perfect take on the style and Mike's amazing death vocals provided a fix not available elsewhere.
It's funny how I met Opeth music and I should thank Loudwire, Graham and Dave Mustaine for this ... in an interview with Mustaine Graham had an Opeth shirt and at the end of the interview Mustaine said "nice shirt that is a great band" and for me to Dave say something like that the band must be pretty good right? after that I did a search of all their albums and even that im not a fan of death metal somehow his voice and the strong dark progressive sound of the band blews mi mind !! until today I can say that Opeth is one of my favorite bands in such a short time ...Mikael is one of best metal singers and his creativity to make great progressive metal music is indisputable! ...can't wait to hear the new album!
yet the people who sounds this good on vocals in FULL range are rare! you got him (Mikael Akerfeldt) you got Devin Townsend and Ihsahn from Emperor... those are the ones i know that really nails all of it Equally!
I met this guy in Sydney Australia and he was the nicest guy, I asked him how he managed to sing so clean and heavy at the same time and he just replied he had no idea!
Really, really good guy. Met him when i was 14 at a festival w/backstage pass. Mikael sat down and talked to us kids for 10 minutes after we approached him.. So funny, and kind.
Great Interview ! Regarding "voice borrowing", I seem to remember an interview with David Bowie in which he explained that he had based a large part of his singing on imitating Anthony Newley
Surely that's partly because he's not the best growler anymore. He was sounding rough in his last Bloodbath gigs, and generally seemed to be in decline in regards to growling for a while before they changed their style entirely. Used to be one of the greatest, though.
It's better for him and also for all of us. Bad vocal technique is dangerous. Just look what it did to Dave Mustaine. We have the awesome recordings he did already. Those are not going anywhere, but people is temporary, and we should care about that.
I discovered Opeth while watching one of these interviews, a couple of years ago, Graham was using an Opeth t-shirt. Since then, I don't miss one single t-shirt.
Mikael is one of the coolest guys in the industry. So relaxed, he knows what the fuck he's talking about and considering his amazing talent, he's still so damn humble.
Funny how just a couple of hours ago I was thinking how the song "Sorceress" reminds me of "God of Emptiness" by Morbid Angel...and here you have Mikael Åkerfeldt talking about David Vincent...😮😮😮🤟🤟🤟
Same shirt as the Rolling Stone and other Loudwire interviews...holy shit Mikael, you look fucken exhausted. Must have been a hell of a day - way to be tough and hang in there for your art. We all benefit...
Was about to make that joke aha, it’s such a shame tho, even tho I love rock prog just imagine him going back to some morningrise singing, and taking johan back on bass aha
After he said he was inspired by Dio, I realized how Dignity's "Can we dictate a life with dignity" part sounds like Dio's technique. Now imagine Dio singing that part...
"I'm not a great singer", said the man with the most beautiful singing voice I have ever heard.
And the best freaking growl as well
Mikael is the male version of a beautiful girl that is not aware of it. I always wonder about great singers, and the fracture point in their lives where they realized that they were able to sing at a level few achieve. It wasn't like he spent his time with a vocal coach or worked tirelessly to become a singer.
He had the gene in him the whole time, lying dormant, and was able to nurture it, without anyone burdening him with the chains of technique. Thank God, because his voice is absolutely exquisite.
The color of his voice I can only compare to David Gilmour, as it envelopes you with an instant sense of peace and longing.
Easily one of the best vocalists I’ve heard. Great range and great voice whether he’s growling or singing.
Yeah I was surprised to hear him say that. Burden is absolutely beautiful.
I'm glad he's such a humble gentleman.
I'm all for Mikael narrating BBC documentaries when he's done with metal
Too bad Sir David Attenborough didn't record any metal vocals!
I wish I could have him voice my GPS.
Dude I just want him to do a Life 3 documentary on Netflix hahah
Shut the fuck up dude. How can someone gets done with metal? What the fuck is wrong with you?
I want him to say skratta du forlorar du
MAANEEEEENNNNNN
Considering how fucking good his vocals are and how humble he is about it just makes him way more awesome
He said that he doesn't like his clean vocals quite a few times even though most would agree its amazing
He's tired as hell. He's done like 20 shows that day because same fucking clothes in every video lol when you see a vocalist holding a cup of anything in an interview and not putting it down you know their throat is getting into the home stretch...
666 like ayyyy lmao
TheRealisticPoint haha thanks for pointing that out!
I could totally picture a dude like him showing up for a board game night at a coffee place somewhere. Just a real average guy (who happens to be a ridiculously fantastic musician! but you don't know that playing catan or w/e tf)
Listening to this man's conversational voice makes me feel safe.
KindredSouls
He’s like your favorite teacher or something.
This
Confirmo
It really does
dude i fell the same
One of the most "brutiful" voices in metal.
This is the word I've been looking for to describe people like him!
Perfect description
amazing that should be a real word lmfao
He has one of the best screams and growls in Metal.
I said one of the best , not the best
Had
Along with Dan Swanö
@@perennialcoma Dan's vocals were B R U T A L
@@gregorp8406 Dare I say even better than Mikaels
Mikael Akerfeldt has the most angelic sounding singing voice but has the most evil sounding growls that will give you nightmares. The perfect yin yang.
Check out Ne Obliviscaris!!!
Give us a duet with Corey Taylor please!!!
@@briankerrigan3529the funny thing is he actually sounds like Taylor on the Deliverance title track. If you ask me. The similarity there is uncanny.
@@jasonashley9853 oh wow, I will have to check it again.
Nobody:
Opeth fans: *Do the roar*
Do it
now
THE LEPERS COIL BENEATH THE TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
@@qwerty.4450DYING MEN IN BEWILDERED SOLILOQUIES
2024: he did the ROAR ❤
Come on Mikael, you ARE a great singer. You may not be technically proficient (which I guess is what you're referring to when you say you aren't a great singer), but there's bite, there's grit, there's smooth, there's warmth, there's real soul in your singing.
Exactly, there's two types of musicians: Those who perform with technique, and those who perform with soul. You can have all the skill in the world and still not sound great. Look at Yngwie.
@@trajectoryunown You should read up on subjectivity. Not all people have the same level of understanding and ear for sound. Just because you can't sense the soul in a technical work doesn't mean others can't. Interpretation is neither definite or universal. Someone like Yngwie might say he has the most soul in his music than anyone else becuse of how he hears the music. Doesn't make it more right or wrong than how someone else hear his music.
Because it's S U B J E C T I V E.
@@faust8218 No, no hate. Didn't realize that's the new thing. He was just like the most recognizable highly skilled guitarist that I thought of at the time.
I like a few of his songs. It's just that, in general, I don't feel his music like I do with other musicians despite his classical training and technical prowess.
I dunno, he seems to be fine on a technical level to me. His clean vocals are lovely, he's amazing at communicating dread or melancholy through his cleans, so maybe he doesn't have the greatest range or whatever the hell, but it's perfectly adapted to the music he makes.
And, of course, his growls after just fucking amazing, he's a legitimately technically amazing growler IMO.
I had already hit the like button midway through your comment. Instinctly when I finished reading it I hit the like again, eliminating the original one so I had to click it back again. It's that good. 🙂
"I found my own voice."
And it was arguably the best death growl in the game, even today.
2nd best. Dan Swanö is still alive.
the Mikael that refused to growl
I understood that reference.
Yeeeeesss! Steven Wilson 😜😍😍🍻
The thing that should not be...
Great reference
Lmaooo 😂
Mikael from Opeth and Dan Swano from Edge of Sanity have one of the best death metal growls ever.
Its really weird that my favorite growl play in Bloodbath, Mikael Dan Swano, and Peter Tägtgren. And its sad that Edge of Sanity become that awesome band but really few people know who they are
Bloodbath...
He literally owes everything from guitar style, writing, and growling to DAN SWANO. Shame 90% of Opeth fans do not know of that genius.
@@SPMinerva edge of sanity is amazing I own every album by them
crystalmessofficial Guitar style?! Hardly 🙄
Top musicians saying "I don't practice" is like top models saying "i eat what i want".
He didnt practice as a kid.. doesnt mean he doesnt do it now. (Not an opeth fan at all, just saying)
@@giljamolislagers7894 yea could be
He doesn't practice enough. Nothing wrong with that. He's not Steve Vai.
@@FoxinTaiwan have you ever tried playing "deliverance" on guitar? Mikael is a technically great player. You dont just happen to be that,it takes years of practice. Steve Vai may have practiced more, but he'd probably tell you about his daily routine. Theres no shame in that. Its his job
@@xmiraculix82 Don't get me wrong. I didn't mean to say that he's not a good guitar player. He just doesn't practice enough cause he probably ain't aiming to be at that level?
It's so crazy how he doesn't think he's a great singer. He's such a good singer and such a good growler.
And yes, David Vincent is an awesome growling vocalist. That's something old school death metal has that I love...vocalists you can genuinely understand, while being brutal and heavy.
Vincent Who-FFS. It's hard enough to understand in the video, it's more than gratuitous if comments also just say "Vincent" (probably poserifically).
Who are you talking to man? Was there another comment here that got deleted?
His voice is just overall awesome. Major influence on me.
i've never seen anyone go from such a great clean vocal to such a killer growl as Mikael, what he does live is insane, and his guitar playing is ridiculous too
Check Devin Townsend - Deadhead (Royal Albert Hall)
At least the same level.
Love them both, besides Devin and Mike are buddies so no offense.
@@SupraTompan I feel like Devin Townsend is bit too overrated. He is an amazing singer don't get me wrong.
Check Amorphis, Tomi's growl is even better than Mikael imo, and has an equally good clean vocal
Tatiana from jinjer is running shit when it comes to clean to growl singing watch her live
@@Daniel.Miranda holy shit she is insane! and i think i'm in love...
Dan Swano and Mikael are 2 of the best Swedish modern-day musicians of all time in my opinion, both masters of their craft, both pretty underrated as well
I love his screams in Brave Murder Day of Katatonia. Amazing man.
"Sound of decay" EP too
@@mushfiquemahi9429great ep
About once a week I remember that Watershed came out in 2008. The last time Opeth recorded growls/screams. It practically ruins my day.
Opeth is back! Time to celebrate!
The devil and angel in one. The other similar person is Devin Townsend.
Thank you, Pringles head.
For me, his clean vocals always sounded like Ian Anderson but lower ;)
@@hexzerorouge6361oh, I'm not the only one to think that! I guess his acoustic parts are influenced by Anderson as well
That fits Jari Mäenpää too
Also Jonas Renske from Katatonia
I love how calm and chill his voice sound
“I’m not a great singer”.
No, just the most complete singer in Metal history. Period.
Mikael is absolutely correct in the fact that growl is not particularly loud without a mic. He is such a nice guy, humble and friendly. I’ve met him a couple of times (we’re from the same part of town) and he is a great influence!
Im going to say it now, in his Prime Mikael was the greatest death metal screamer... there was no competition... those vocals on anything Opeth, on and before watershed and bloodbath were absolutely destructive.... even to this day it is hard to find the perfect balance of high screams with that guttural lows that he had... closest i have found was when Brandon Butler was still in Veil of Maya... But Mikael is still in another league.
And even on their new album, he sounds great. That extended growl on §5 blew me away with how good it is.
I think Mikael has the best death metal voice for tone, aggression and clarity. He bows and gives the throne to others. Deep, warm and amazingly melodic voice and he gives the scepter to anyone else defining himself an average singer. Golden voice for radio and deep relaxation tecniques master. What an incredible artist.
His black metal voice is great too.
I really like this interviewer. He is asking good questions in a calm way and lets people talk. Very pleasant. Keep it up!
I could listen to Mikael just talk about anything for hours.
The song he wrote for Roadrunner United, Roads, is the most hauntingly beautiful song I've ever heard. It still gives me chills all these years later. It was hugely influential to my clean singing. The only thing wrong with that song is that it isnt long enough.
his voice is out of this world, I watched some vocal coaches reacting to his songs and they were all stunned with how many different different voices he can use, and how all different voices are unbelievable
He's a fantastic vocalist. His vocals on Benighted. Vs Serenity Painted Death. Moses Christ
Nico Pillay On the same album too!
I have been listening to metal for years, across all genres, and if there is a better harsh vocalist than Åkerfeldt, I have yet to hear of him.
Dan Swanö and Peter Tagtgren are up there
Xen from Ne Obliviscaris.
For the low gutterals, I can't think of anyone better. Actually, now that I think about it he has killer higher pitch screams too. The specific moment that comes to mind is towards the end of The Leper Affinity before it goes back to the intro riff: "deafening screams pierce the niiíiiiiiiiiight". That shit always gives me goosebumps.
All the guys Mikael mentions in this video are absolute beasts too. Listen to Death's cover of Painkiller for a great example of how insane Chuck's vocals were at the end of his career.
One more off the top of my head is Devin Townsend. Different style, but his range and control are world-class (especially if you include his clean singing).
Search up the band “imperial circus dead decadence” their vocalist is a beast
Game Vault, I just got done listening to the Uta song on youtube. I like the contrast, some parts reminded me of Cattle Decapitation and then other parts reminded me of the soundtrack from Full Metal Alchemist. Sounds like a fun band to listen to.
Nobody:
Mikael on interviews: "I never practice".
Sneharghya Sil 😂
He's so hilarious and precious
his one of those kids in class that say they didnt study. and we all know how that goes...
David Vincent is awesome I've always loved his voice. It's interesting listening to mikes influence.
Shout out to The Heard - that band on Mikaels´ T-shirt. only 5500 likes on FB, 5-10K listens on Spotify. pump those up, those are rookie numbers in this racket!
Thank you for pointing out the band name. I saw the shirt and thought it was "The Wizard" so I was trying to find a band by that name
Love the Wolf of Wall Street quote😆🤣
Never understood why Mikael never liked his own singing voice. I love his singing voice. His growls are amazing, but he shouldn't be so hard on himself. I think he is a great singer.
Everyone hates the way their voice sounds recorded lol
Edit: except like Bono and Axl Rose and Scott Stapp nevermind forget it
I really like his thoughts on David Vincent's vocals. And I pay tribute for it cause Mike is really realistic by saying "He (David) is the king; king of Death."
His bloodbath vocals are literally my favorite vocs of all time.
So I burn, oh they feed me flames!
At the stake I taste this merciless FIYUH!
Agree. People always talking about Peter Tagtren and "Eaten" , but Mikael was the only who represented that song at live concerts. *So Mikael Åkerfeldt is the real hero of Bloodbath*
i'm new to Opeth but i love his work on Helvetesfönster by Ghost the acoustic part, even though i love the whole song itself and the band Ghost. the scandinavic composition has really inspired me to write and study music myself
wow i didn't know he worked on helevetesfönster!
he is wearing a THE HEARD t-shirt, another great band form Sweden, born from the ashes of Crucified Barbara. Go check them out!
I love him in OSI's "Stockholm"
Hearing him mention Nick Drake is fantastic.
He looks like someone dressing up as Dave Grohl for Halloween
Corey Tevis Dave Grohl Yankovic
This one wins the Internet.. ;)
Holy shit, that one got me. :'D
@Eduardo Gentile why thank ya good sir.
@Eduardo Gentile thank ya man. I am a distant cousin to Eleanor Kerrigan. She performs standup comedy with Andrew Dice Clay. So I appreciate, as a regular guy, getting laughs.
Never in all my years have I heard a speaking voice more mesmerizing than his. If he were to speak softly in my ear with that voice he could convince me to do anything.
"I'm not a great singer" - Singer, Greatest - 2019
Sings like an angel and screams like Satan. Even his speaking voice is beautiful. Transitioning into a vampire would be so easy for him.
Without realising it, I'm getting a very similar Mikael look - my hair is long now, I've been too lazy to shave my facial hair haha. But anyway, his guttrals on the album Ghost Reveries is what really got me into Opeth. I can't believe how good at unclean vocals he is.
With all the metal genres Akerfeldt is the most low key guy of them all during interviews just so chilled cool calm collective
He looks so nice we have to protect him at all costs
He really IS a great singer. ICV is one of the best albums ever made. Love it. Massive fan.
He's got the most soothing voice ever, I could listen to him talk all day.
And here he is now. One of, if not the best screamers/growlers in Metal.
I love how humble and well spoken he is
1:11 And then he just went on to become the best songwriter this world has ever seen.
I’m not really an Opeth fan personally but I have such a deep respect for Mikael’s vocal capabilities. Dude is one of a kind. I recommend Opeth to anybody I know that is into metal just because he’s so unique of a singer.
Humility is one of the most admirable traits a person can have, especially a famous one. I admire this man so much!!!!
I am so impressed, he listed all of my favorite bands, wow
I was "singing" along to Deliverance and I do a pretty accurate Mikael Akerfeldt impression. It's not the most healthy method but it works I guess.
The King calling another the King is an extremely humble and respectful action but Mikael is the King
Legendary screams. Especially when they do the layering effect. Akerfeldt is known to have some of the best screams in metal. The only guy who sounds more evil is probably Ihsahn from Emperor back way back when.
I just want to add that 'more evilish' is not necessarily better :D
We love our shiny boi
6:04 It is great that many extreme vocalists (Corpsegrinder, Angela Gossow, Marcus Bischoff, etc.) admire Dio, whose singing style was raspy belting. Well, the music he did with Black Sabbath is timeless.
Bullshit Mikael, you're the best. Perfect grit and rasp, plenty deep and guttural --but entirely understandable and not corny or ridiculous sounding. Still Life is a master class in death metal vocals (it's also imo the best prog death album of all time, or at least up there with albums like The Sound of Perseverance, etc).
How fucking good Mike's death vocals were are a huge part of the reason many people can't get over old Opeth being gone; the perfect take on the style and Mike's amazing death vocals provided a fix not available elsewhere.
It's funny how I met Opeth music and I should thank Loudwire, Graham and Dave Mustaine for this ... in an interview with Mustaine Graham had an Opeth shirt and at the end of the interview Mustaine said "nice shirt that is a great band" and for me to Dave say something like that the band must be pretty good right? after that I did a search of all their albums and even that im not a fan of death metal somehow his voice and the strong dark progressive sound of the band blews mi mind !! until today I can say that Opeth is one of my favorite bands in such a short time ...Mikael is one of best metal singers and his creativity to make great progressive metal music is indisputable! ...can't wait to hear the new album!
Make Åkerfeldt growl again!
see them live and your wish will come true.
@@rolyatnad on a new record
MAGA2020? That's where Donald Trump got his password I see... didn't think him as Opeth fan tho 🤔
Let Åkerfeldt do what ever the fuck he wants
Your wish has been granted
Well, he's my idol when it comes to clean and growls haha.
I love his down to earth-ness.
Mikael - "I'm not a good singer."
LIES
Make a video about how he unlearned it.
Mike, we love you.
He's honestly amazing
So humble
Love Opeth one of my favorites he has an amazing voice
I got to say hello to Mikael when I was a kid at sounds of the underground.
Lunch Box post proof or else it didn’t happen. Wow. Liar. So despicable.
Damn he’s HOTT in so many ways 😍 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼Opeth 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
DUDE, OPETH, im sorry Mikael, IS THE GREATEST of all time!
This man is a beast as a musician, and a normal guy like us, so humble! Love you Mikael, keep rockin
So humble, for someone who has written such a consistently high standard of music.
yet the people who sounds this good on vocals in FULL range are rare! you got him (Mikael Akerfeldt) you got Devin Townsend and Ihsahn from Emperor... those are the ones i know that really nails all of it Equally!
Check out the new shadow of intent album its deathcore but he does high/low screams the dimmu borgir scream and cleans plus some other stuff.
6:34 *MANS VOICE*
I met this guy in Sydney Australia and he was the nicest guy, I asked him how he managed to sing so clean and heavy at the same time and he just replied he had no idea!
Really, really good guy. Met him when i was 14 at a festival w/backstage pass. Mikael sat down and talked to us kids for 10 minutes after we approached him.. So funny, and kind.
Opeth and Zeppelin are my two favorite bands. They both understood light and shade
3:15 was the same thought I had first hearing Mikaels death metal vocals. I know he’s a really humble dude but so damn talented!
Mikael your an amazing singer man! Thx for all the awesome music!
IMO "Under the Weeping Moon" has the best vocals in death metal.
Dan fucking Swano. Underrated genius. Check out his projects including the little know Pan.thy.monium
Great Interview !
Regarding "voice borrowing",
I seem to remember an interview with David Bowie in which he explained that he had based a large part of his singing on imitating Anthony Newley
Best Guttural vocalist. Shame they are no longer going to make that type of metal anymore :(
Surely that's partly because he's not the best growler anymore. He was sounding rough in his last Bloodbath gigs, and generally seemed to be in decline in regards to growling for a while before they changed their style entirely. Used to be one of the greatest, though.
Somehow, I blame cigarettes and too much shows.
It's better for him and also for all of us. Bad vocal technique is dangerous. Just look what it did to Dave Mustaine. We have the awesome recordings he did already. Those are not going anywhere, but people is temporary, and we should care about that.
Their last album managed to be heavy as fuck without death metal tropes everywhere. More impressive imo
I’m not surprised David Vincent is his favorite. You can totally hear it when he was doing vocals for bloodbath, especially on “mastery”
David Vincent is an animal on vocals. His gutturals are second to none. Morbid Angel’s Nothing is Not is one of my favorites.
Too bad that's sung by Steve Tucker then
I discovered Opeth while watching one of these interviews, a couple of years ago, Graham was using an Opeth t-shirt. Since then, I don't miss one single t-shirt.
I’m just starting to get into opeth and death/chuck are one of my fav bands/vocalists. I’m in for a treat with opeth man I can feel it 🙏
Big props for the Royal Thunder shirt!
Mikael is one of the coolest guys in the industry. So relaxed, he knows what the fuck he's talking about and considering his amazing talent, he's still so damn humble.
Love just listening to this dude talk
5:30 is a lie! You sir are an INCREDIBLE singer!!!
Så jävla coolt att de fick sitt PA-system från Ebba Grön! Legender har ett sätt att korsa varandras väg hela tiden
Funny how just a couple of hours ago I was thinking how the song "Sorceress" reminds me of "God of Emptiness" by Morbid Angel...and here you have Mikael Åkerfeldt talking about David Vincent...😮😮😮🤟🤟🤟
I learned to scream when my mum don’t give me what I want………but that was years ago…..
Same shirt as the Rolling Stone and other Loudwire interviews...holy shit Mikael, you look fucken exhausted. Must have been a hell of a day - way to be tough and hang in there for your art. We all benefit...
1:08 "Just make noise, that's how it started"
Well...I guess we can say it's gone a loooooong way by now
Next video: How Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt Forgot How to Scream.
Flying Piranha 😬😬
Was about to make that joke aha, it’s such a shame tho, even tho I love rock prog just imagine him going back to some morningrise singing, and taking johan back on bass aha
@@erradate6425 His growls in Morningrise were far from the best. From Blackwater Park to Watershed they were the best.
@@lehtokurppa7824 Yeah, I think Ghost Reveries was his peak.
@@lehtokurppa7824 i dunno. My arms your hearse era had really crazy vocals, more unhinged than any of the others imo.
After he said he was inspired by Dio, I realized how Dignity's "Can we dictate a life with dignity" part sounds like Dio's technique. Now imagine Dio singing that part...
When I thought I couldn't be more of a fan he shits on power metal at the end 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘 this guy is my hero