Opeth have released their new album, The Last Will and Testament, with a spotlight on the track “§4” featuring legendary Jethro Tull singer-flautist Ian Anderson.
Anderson contributes spoken word and flute playing to the seven-minute song, which takes listeners on a wild musical journey.
“‘§4’ is an oddball song, just written by instinct,” said Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt in a press release. “I’m not a clever guy when it comes to writing music. People call us ‘thinking man’s metal,’ I think that’s laughable. I listen to music from so many different genres, it’s impossible to me to stick to one genre.”
He continued, “We ended up with a flute solo by Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, which was kind of an accident in a way, because I asked him to do a narration, not flute. As he was doing the spoken word bits, he asked me ‘do you need a flute solo?’ I was like, ‘yes, please!‘, while I didn’t really have a part for a flute solo! I had to shuffle through the songs quickly in my head before he would change his mind. I had him on the hook, of course I was gonna find a piece! So, he played almost like a common response type flute solo in ‘§4.’”
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Anderson also contributes flute and spoken world to the track “§7,” as well as narration on the songs “§1” and “§2.” Elsewhere on the album, Europe’s Joey Tempest lends backing vocals on “§2,” while Åkerfeldt’s youngest daughter, Mirjam, is heard as the disembodied voice on “§1.”
Opeth will embark on a European/UK tour in support of The Last Will and Testament in February, with tickets available here.
Check out the lyric video for the song “§4” and stream The Last Will and Testament in its entirety in the players below.
