Last Will

Primarily a renowned music critic and conductor and composer of ballets, Constant Lambert wrote very few choral works. Summer’s Last Will and Testament is an extensive cantata of stylistic diversity and emotional power. Completed in 1935, this setting of writings by the poet Thomas Nashe has strong claims to being one of its composer’s finest works. Despite attracting little attention at its premiere, Malcolm Arnold called it “one of the undiscovered treasures of the English choral repertoire”.

The release of Opeth's Heritage in 2013 marked a fork in the road for the band and many of their fans. All but abandoning death metal in favor of creating a muscular prog rock of their own, the group's musical persona followed that direction on 2016's Sorceress and to its glorious extreme on 2019's In Cauda Venenum. Last Will and Testament, their first studio album in five years, integrates most of their musical aspects into a unified whole. Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist Mikael Åkerfeldt brings back guttural death metal vocals alongside his clean singing.

The Last Will and Testament is a concept record of sorts. A restless musical journey in a way mirroring my own relationship with music as a consumer of it," narrates band leader Mikael Åkerfeldt. "I pick up something here, dismiss something there. I worship and I hate music at the same time. This ambivalence leads me down some type of creative path of my own and then, all of a sudden, a collection of songs has been written. Best case scenario, these songs are good enough to impress the band. Good enough for the ”powers that be” in terms of the industry. Good enough for ”you”?! I love this record. I have to say it (write it).
Maybe I’m proud even? There are some familiar ingredients in there I suppose. Most of our music has sprung from the same source, so I guess it’s not much of a shocker if it’s going to sound like ”us”…