The Daily News (www.zwire.com) has issued the following report from Brian Krasman:

What might a Swedish metal master be doing on his time away from the road?

Searching through the thick and numerous forest areas, sword in hand, looking for inspiration? Thrashing out endlessly, trying to find the perfect bottom to a guttural growl? Imagining a scary story that should enthrall music fans who dot the world's underground?

"I'm on tour in my living room," reports Mikael Akerfeldt, frontman and guitarist for OPETH. "I'm spending every day with my daughter, getting up very early and going to bed very, very late. I'm now tired all the time, so I don't do much."

Wait, sitting in the living room with his 18-month-old daughter? That's not very metal!

OK, so perhaps those above activities are what's become the axiom for all non-metal listeners' opinion of what those musicians do when they're not on stage or in a recording studio, conjuring up evil spirits to sing backup. But those same people may be surprised how good Opeth actually are as musicians and how accessible their music can be, that is if a good, harsh growl here and there isn't a bother.

The band's new album Ghost of Perdition may have a very metal-sounding title, and their tracks such as 'The Baying of the Hounds' and 'Beneath the Mire' may sound typical, but the music is anything but.

While the band's style of melodic death metal may seem harsh at first to the untrained ear, there are passages in most of their songs that employ softy strummed acoustic guitars, piano and Akerfeldt's surprisingly mellow clean voice. And considering many of their songs clock in at about 10 minutes, there's plenty for everyone.

Opeth fans started to see the band's sound change on 1999's Still Life and even more so on 2001's Blackwater Park.

But it wasn't until the largely acoustic 2004 release Damnation that it really sank in the band had changed for good. The reflective, sad and beautiful record was a real departure and a serious risk for a band whose fans generally come to shows to swing their heads about.

"Damnation helped me forget about the boundaries," Akerfeldt recalls. "Now, when you look at a song like 'Hours of Wealth,' the ending part is just piano and vocals."

It also helped Akerfeldt play on some of the music that made an impact on him over the years, the source of which may surprise some people.

"I listen to a lot of progressive rock from the '60s and '70s," he says. "I love that kind of music, and Damnation was a way for me to get closer to those kind of influences."

The fact Opeth fans have had a chance to get used to and embrace the change could have something to do with the positive response the band got when tracks for Ghost leaked early. Fact is, the new album, their eighth, was a big one for them not only because they were gaining momentum but because they had signed with Roadrunner, a label owned and distributed by major Universal.

"Usually we get slaughtered by our fans when we put out a new record," Akerfeldt says, laughing. "This time people seemed to like it."

There was some early rumbling when Opeth went to Roadrunner, choosing that label over approximately 30 others. The record company is home to top-selling acts such as Nickelback, Slipknot and Killswitch Engage, and some long-time Opeth followers feared the band would be molded into something more palatable to fatten business.

Akerfeldt wasn't worried. In fact, knowing the label's storied history of breaking legendary aggressive metal acts such as King Diamond and Obituary, he felt right at home recording for a label that introduced him to some of his favorite acts.

"Roadrunner was the best label for us," he says. "It's one of those labels that I've been buying their stuff - whatever they put out in the '80s - and they're a legendary, classic metal label."

It also was the company that made the band feel most comfortable when considering the business end. They heard promises and vows from other labels, but in the end, Akerfeldt says the band chose right.

"Every label told us we can promote and sell this record better than anyone," he says. "But when Roadrunner said it, we believed it."
While Akerfeldt reports being happy with the band's choice - he says "Ghost" is selling better and quicker than the band's past releases - he understands they're not a driving monetary force behind Roadrunner. He accepts Roadrunner houses bands with larger following and more sales, but he's willing to accept Opeth are a "credibility band" rather than a cash cow.

This year, Opeth were up for the hard rock category in the Grammis, the Swedish equivalent to the Grammys, though they lost out to Candlemass. While it may seem the nomination, the fourth in the band's history, would help them become more of a household name in their homeland of Sweden, it was not the case.

Despite what many domestic hard rock magazines would have American fans believe, metal bands aren't generating large amounts of ink and recognition in Sweden.

"No one knows who you are if you're a metalhead at an awards show," Akerfeldt says of his homeland. "They just think you're some bum who's there to get (messed) up ... which is partially true."

Akerfeldt said he's not exactly bristling over the fact he and his Opeth mates aren't celebrities. But he does wonder sometimes when he sees publications at home why his band's success hasn't been acknowledged.

"You'll pick up the evening paper and see about how some band here 'broke America' by playing to, like, 50 people at CBGB," he says. "But when we play New York City, it's to like 1,000 or 1,500 or even 2,000 people, but there's never a call from the evening newspaper because we 'broke America.' But it's not something I contemplate that much."

While Opeth may not be headlining arenas tomorrow, Akerfeldt says he's comfortable with the niche his band has carved, even if every now and again he's chastised by someone who doesn't understand why the band's music isn't all thrashing all the time.

"There was one guy in the guestbook on our Web site who said he hates 'Hours of Wealth' and said the whole album's (garbage)," he says, laughing. "He said 'Hours of Wealth' is like Elton John or Boyz II Men ... I think that's over the top."