The Worst Opeth Song, According to Mikael Akerfeldt (And Their Most Underrated Album)

Opeth leader Mikael Akerfeldt has named what he views as the band’s worst song, as well as which one of their 14 albums is the most underrated.

In a recent interview with Revolver, the prog metal icon was asked a series of questions about his career and musical catalog. The greatest song he’s ever written? That would be “Faith in Others,” a ballad off Pale Communion that he says is “heavy in a different way.”

He doesn’t really regret anything, acknowledging that he may have “made some bad decisions here and there.”

Here’s a couple of the highlights from that chat.

The Worst Opeth Song

When asked about Opeth’s worst song, Akerfeldt selects the nearly 14-minute closing track on 2002’s Deliverance.

He says that since he “didn’t have a single song” when Opeth entered the studio to record the album, he was left writing music at night with recording taking place during the day.

“By the end, of course I was fucked. I was so tired. I got sick after the recording, just completely burnt out. My shit turned gray. I had to go to the doctor and get blood tests,” Akerfeldt adds of the toll the album took on him.

“I think that might’ve been the last song I put together for that record, and you can tell,” he further assesses, arguing, “It’s such a tired song. It’s not good. We played it live a couple of times and it was surprisingly fun to play live. But it’s not fun to listen to, I think.”

Quite often, when musicians reflect on the highs and low of their catalog, they can’t shake some of the feelings surrounding the making of the song or album. These negative associations often result in that material falling into lower rankings, or, in this case, a career-worst!

Opeth, “By the Pain I See in Others”

READ MORE: The Five Best Songs of Opeth’s No-Growl Era

Opeth’s Most Underrated

When Opeth ditched the death growling and went full blown prog rock in 2011, fans were shocked and, many of them, were also unhappy with this new direction.

Heritage is a challenging album and one that still feels entirely necessary for Opeth to have made as they mapped out what this next chapter sounds like.

“I don’t know how our albums are rated in the grand scheme of things, but I still probably think [2011’s] Heritage is underrated,” Akerfeldt states, noting, “We got so much flak for it, so I figure it’s hated. I know a lot of people now love that record, but it wasn’t popular at the time.”

As to why it remains such an important album to him, the Opeth frontman continues, “To me, it’s special because I don’t think we could write another record even remotely similar to it if we tried. I remember talking to Erik [Danielsson] from Watain — he doesn’t like Opeth, but he likes that album. A lot of black metal people like that record for some reason. But many of our fans didn’t understand it or just thought it sucked. So, I think it’s underrated.”

He concludes, “But many of our records are a bit overrated.”

Read the full interview at Revolver.

Opeth in 2025

Opeth will kick off a European tour in support of last year’s The Last Will and Testament on Feb. 9 in Helsinki, Finland. A South American tour is set to begin in late April and then it’s back to Europe for some summer festivals.

The year will end with a run through New Zealand and Australia in November and all upcoming dates can be viewed at Opeth’s website.