Mikael Akerfeldt Talks 6 Albums Every OPETH Fan Should Hear | Metal Injection 

If Mikael had a radio show where he just played obscure stuff he loves it would probably become my favorite show.

Seems to be a shit ton of Mikael videos popping up everywhere *And I fvcking love it*

Manowar - Triumph of Steel Rainbow - Bent Out of Shape Renaissance - A Song for All Seasons The Move - Shazam Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark Lucifer's Friend - Where the Groupies Killed the Blues

6 albums your weird uncle demands you listen or he's taking his bong back

Mikael seems like he is in a really good place at the moment. Humbled, passionate and has just released one of the best Opeth records in their newer discography. I am happy to see the hero of my 20s still being the genius he is. All hail Akerfeldt, all hail Opeth! Hoping to see you guys next year again

I wanna sit down with him, have a beer, and just chat music of all kinds.

automatic captions: “hey guys this is Michael from Oprah”

Hard to imagine Steven Wilson drunk and asking that question, but also quite a funny story! Mikael is the best :)

Thank you Mikael for introducing me to Renaissance. Simply amazing band!

Interviewer: You never look happy. Steven Wilson: Never heard of that song.

Manowar - Triumph of Steel Rainbow - Bent out of Shape Rennaisance - A Song for all Seasons The Move - Shazam Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark Lucifer's Friends - Where the groupies killed the Blues

Jesus... Does this guy know simply everything about music?

Mikael is a genius, in the same league as Zappa, Bowie, Mercury. Perhaps even better, time will tell. Great humble man, and so passionate about music, very inspiring!

Found out about Camel from Mikael Akerfeldt! Awesome band, Moonmadness and Snow Goose are amazing albums. Peter Bardens has some great solo stuff as well

You can't really go wrong with any Renaissance release from the 70's...Turn of the Cards and Ashes are Burning is my personal favorites. Annie Haslem's voice is just angelic

Hearing Mikael do a Birmingham accent just made my day. BUUURMINGUM.

I think the reason I love metal artists, is because they are just regular people. They don’t expect the paparazzi, or the fame. They are just regular people making something they awesome

I wonder if he will ever consider making similar songs to Hours of Wealth, Isolation years and so on. Those rank so high on my list....

This guy wrote Dirge for November, of course I'll look up this list

Where is Mikael during this quarantine. And why is he not serenading us ?

I think by now I have watched like 100 interviews he's been doing for ICV and I never get bored of watching this guy talking about music.

Much older Opeth fan here but also a big Renaissance fan from back in the day. Saw the Song for All Seasons tour and the title track is epic. And bassist Jon Camp is a must check out for bass players. Annie in the day had a 5 octave vocal range so there you go.

Dang your taste in music is fantastic. I'm getting so many new things to listen to that just blow my mind! I wish you did a lot of these videos all the time!! Thank you Mikael! Tack för allt

I could listen to this man talk about music for hours. Please more of this

Great selections!!! You are an old soul for appreciating those albums

"Not a good decision." Lmao.

These videos make me want to discover more music. Great suggestions so far

I love his first point. Listening to music on vinyl is a much more engaging listening experience than anything else.

Thank you so much Mr. Akerfeldt for your music and now for your recommendations. Annie Haslam's voice is just majestic and all the other bands are great as well. Good day to you Sir.

what a great video! thank you!!

All these videos with Mikail are great. Good call on Renaissance and Joni Mitchell.

Seeing mikael @ my favorite store in NYC is goosebumps

What about...... Brave Murder Day by Katatonia? I think every Opeth fan should listen to that record! 🤘🏻 But I will be sure to check out those recommendations though!

Really enjoying Renaissance. Thank you, Mikael!

I see a bunch of 'came here from the Mikael interview' comments on the videos of the artists recommended, very nice to see :)

Thanks for sharing some great new inspirations for me. I have never heard of Renaissance.. kool prog tunes

There is an incredible Steven Wilson story burried in here. @5:05

Thank you Mikael! Cheers

Michael from Oprah lol. I love the captions.

Such an interesting guy. Love his music. Will give Renaissance a spin.

Can't wait to see you guys in Glasgow, and on Halloween -of all nights!

I adore this Renaissance album one of my favorite prog rock/symphonic rock albums!

Yes, Renaissance, if you haven't heard them, check them out, particularly the early albums. As a Philly-area native, I was lucky enough to discover them a while ago... For some reason that I'm perhaps too young to know, the band had a huge fanbase in Philly, so much so that Annie Haslam moved to Pennsylvania, and as far as I know, she still lives there. She plays local venues a lot.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'm loving both Manowar and Renaissance

Always a pleasure to see someone who knows what he is talking about.

For thise who don’t know, The Move morphed into Electric Light Orchestra...

Damn that allman brothers info! Never heard about it before but it totally makes sense after seeing the cover

Do you have only one t-shirt Mikael?

So awesome and not really coincidental that he mentioned one of my all time favorite but overlooked bands.. Renaissance!....... i was telling my friend how the new track dignity has some renaissance influence trip to the fair to be exact!

I had just listened renaissance’s “live at carnegie hall” after many years and mikael recommends a record i thought it was bad. Love it.

That Allman Bros Live at The Fillmore is my favorite album in my collection. Such a great record

Glad to hear Mikael is a big Renaissance fan. A truly underrated great band. Not metal, but definitely should be counted among great prog rock bands from the 60s and 70s.

The diversity in this repertoire explains the genius behind Mikael's music--and then some. He knows his stuff, what a swell guy to have a beer with and talk anything under the sun!

"He, uhh.... he didn't answer. So I still don't know." Comic genius.

He's been wearing the same shirt for all his recent interviews.

He mentioned a band called Acid Bath at a concert I attended years back and I checked them out and think they were phenomenal.

Thanks to Mikael's recommendation, I picked up Renaissance. Anything that both Mikael and Tobias love, I will purchase without listening. And they were totally correct, it's an amazing album, especially the final (title) track.

Thank you Mikael. Very cool.

I'm Listening to renaissance right now. She is like the female Jon Anderson. Hints of abba tone on her voice too. Very cool prog folk album. Music reminds me a bit of old genesis mixed with some Yes.

Wow Renaissance is fantastic. Thank you Mikael!

One of my goals is to meet him, give him my copy of Yes - Relayer with a letter I wrote describing why Opeth is my favorite band and just talk about music for hours drinking red wine. He's always getting me into new music.

So far, I"m totally diggin' that Lucifer's Friend album. Thanks for the recommend!

I got that Lucifer's Friend album on vinyl 35 years ago. It's epic!

Just love listening to musicians pull these influences from their ass like this! I have only heard of one of the artists he mentioned. Most heavy metal musicians have a very broad spectrum of influences as this video reiterates. I’m just amazed by some of the things they pull out! I’m not an Opeth fan either. I could talk about music with this guy for hours! I can’t play either. Just love music!

Renaissance - A Song For All Seasons total Opeth. love it . Thanks Michael and M.I.

Thank you Wery very much

some respect for Manowar !

He seems like the best dude

Getting all these albums as soon as I get off from work

I love this man so much hes an inspiration

I need to hang out with this guy

Glad to see Rennaisance - A Song for all Seasons getting some love. :)

I was hoping he'd mention some classic Fairport Convention. I always felt their influence come through in parts of Opeth.

I love his taste in music

I kept looking at that Lucifer's Friend album on the back wall of the store during the entire video thinking, He must've missed it, or maybe he already has it. And damn if he didn't end with it! You should take his advice and look for their first LP. I also personally love Banquet, their 4th album. If you like Uriah Heep's Salisbury, you'll LOVE Banquet. And speaking of Uriah Heep, you should look for Firefly, their first LP with John Lawton from Lucifer's Friend on vocals. Brilliant album! And he plugged Renaissance! That is so cool! And he's right, that whole album is brilliant, but you should also look for Turn of the Cards. And then he pulls out The Move, and I lost it! I'm a new fan to their music and Shazam is the one that got me.

I've always loved Bent out of Shape. I believe it's an incredible album. An underrated album. Most RAINBOW albums were really Great or verygood in my opinion.\m/

Åkerfeldt starts with Manowar and goes right to AOR Rainbow. Much respect for the guy (and he has a point about Manowar)

Another fantastic choice of music again from this dude ! Boy he knows his stuff ! Credit for showcasing renaissance (memories of childhood) and lucifers friend (the only hard rock band I’ve heard with French horns !) Genius

The music in the background: Testament - Souls of Black

I listened to When the Groupies Killed the Blues thanks to this video. Fucking great record! Loved every single second!

He seems like a pretty chill dude.

He's not joking about Lucifer's friends kiddies. Amazing band!! Auctually their evolutionary trajectory was very similar to Opeth's. They evolved from a metal band into something that defied classification. Coolest band name ever too.

I CANNOT BELIEVE they were playing MALPRACTICE by Testament at the record store. That's their BEST old era song Id argue to my last breath. It's practically prog thrash but just.... Every aspect of the composition is 10/10 CRIMINALLY underrated

At first I thought he was trolling with Manowar, but then I remembered they were one of my absolute fav bands from my teens. Don't know much about the other picks, but I'll take a listen.

I checked the Renaissance band he suggested. Holy cow Mikael...THANK YOU. That is good music! This guy knows his shit

On the Allman's cover they were laughing because on of the roadies (maybe Reddog) just bought an 8ball right before the photo and had it in his hand. So he quickly hid it out of view and they got the photo. It cracked the boys up.

He's the best

I would actually recommend Lucifer's Friend's Banguet album before Where the Groupies Killed the Blues. I've tried to get into Renaissance, but I'm having a hard time.

Was that Bev Bevan of ELO in "Shazam" on drums? Who was also in Sabbath for the "Born Again" tour. Like most people here, be great having a meal and just talking music with Mikael.

Cool video! Hugs from Brasil, land of the Great (KRISIUN)!

Just listened to song for all seasons - well that explains ALL of Opeth.

I'm surprised he didn't recommend Camel. Their song "Never Let Go" was basically the inspiration for the riff on "Benighted". But yes, Renaissance is amazing. Great recommendation.

Here I am listening to Day of the Dreamer like a fool, and I love it.

Wow he’s right a song for all seasons is a beautiful album.

“I’m also nostalgic so people might take this home and say, ”What the fuck is he on?” That’s hilarious. I can relate to that deeply. 😂

the man thank you mikael

Might be an obvious honorable mention, but Comus' "First Utterance" is a must listen as well. Considering most of Opeth's early work acoustic interludes are *HEAVILY* influenced by Comus.

So happy to see Mikael validate my Manowar guilty pleasure.

OH MY GOD AMAZING 😀

Mikael should do a weekly podcast describing LP’s....