Sunday, February 9th, 2025, saw the premier of the Europe/UK leg of The Last Will and Testament Tour at Helsinki, Finland, by Swedish prog-metal alchemists OPETH, with their fellow countrymen and heavy-metal veterans, GRAND MAGUS, warming up for them. I made sure to show up early; OPETH had pulled off such a sublime greatest hits set at the Tuska Festival, last summer, and the warm-up act was an entirely novel act for me, so when I arrived at the Helsinki Ice Hall, the venue was buzzing with an air of peculiar expectancy. The new OPETH album, “The Last Will and Testament,” released in November 2024, did not prove an instant knock-out like some of those earlier endeavors did back in the day – albums that have gained an undisputed classic status since. The new effort was very intriguing and impressive, so I was more than curious to hear what these new beasts would sound like on stage. Plus, in the 20 years that I’d been smitten with the band’s unique blend of prog and death metal, I’d only seen the band on stage three times – in 2006, 2015, and 2024 – with each of these shows showing the band getting better and better. I had a ticket for the Helsinki date on their Heritage tour, in 2011, actually, but I was bed-ridden on the day of the gig, so I missed the live renditions of the songs on that controversial album as well as the chance to see PAIN OF SALVATION! As luck would have it, tonight’s setlist had a nice easter egg for me, in this respect…
The warm-up act, GRAND MAGUS, is a veteran three-piece heavy-metal institution from Stockholm, Sweden, with a penchant for both classic heavy metal and doom with the occasional stoner flourishes. Their latest studio album “Sunraven,” inspired by the mythic tale of Beowulf and Grendel, came out in October 2024 and its opener “Skybound” was delivered rather early in the set. After a few songs, it became quite clear that the modus operandi for these heavy-metal gents was swearing by the power of the almighty riff. The band’s frontman Janne “JB” Christoffersson seemed to have a somewhat bluesy sound, especially when he was belting his heart out. It also resonated with the air of Billy Gibbons of ZZ TOP, here and there, so I could not refrain from entertaining the thought that GRAND MAGUS was what these Texas legends would have sounded like, had ZZ TOP ever flirted with the heavy-metal aesthetic. The setlist seemed to be constructed around the band’s breakthrough album, “Hammer of the North,” (2010) with its epic title track closing the show. The show opener, “I, the Jury,” and “Ravens Guide Our Way” were also from this outing. Other albums – “Iron Will” (2008), “Triumph and Power” (2014), and “Wolf God” (2019) – were revisited with one song from each. At face value, these sorts of DEEP PURPLE-cum-stoner-viking antics might have seemed like a rather odd choice for a warm-up act, given the quantum-prog nature of OPETH‘s latest album. Then again, judging by the rather sizable crowd that had showed up early, it wasn’t a miscalculated choice at all. PAIN OF SALVATION fans were probably wondering the same thing in 2011 when OPETH was plunging headfirst into their classic-rock-and-mustache-prog phase with reckless abandon.
Apart from the 25th Anniversary Tour in 2015 when OPETH played two sets – “Ghost Reveries” in its entirety plus songs spanning their then 25-year history – I had only seen them play at festivals. So, I’d never seen the band use video screens before, not like tonight. When the set kicked off with the opener from the new outing, the visuals quite ingeniously emphasized the somewhat Agatha Christie-like atmosphere of mystery that is so prevalent on the album. Then, with the new album boasting nothing short of prominent, cinematic strings, I was curious to see how the band was going to tackle them on stage. OPETH never struck me as a band to resort to the use of backing tracks. No, only some effects in between songs came from tape, such as some spoken words reversed to convey a diabolical aura to match the dark magic of the evening. Keyboardist Joakim Svalberg handled the string parts with his Mellotron – and to a resonant effect, too.
As if the start of the show wasn’t impressive enough, OPETH offered a couple of real gems next. First, “Master’s Apprentices” from their now classic 2002 album “Deliverance.” I believe it has not been played live for quite a while? It is definitely one of those tracks that qualify OPETH to be hailed as the PINK FLOYD of progressive metal, hands down. Next, I was pleased to hear the opener from the very album that converted me to the parish of OPETH fanboys – “The Leper Affinity” off the haunting 2001 monolith, “Blackwater Park.” Last summer, when the band spoiled their longtime fans at the Tuska Festival with a setlist that read as a proverbial greatest hits compilation, I thought that there was no way the band could ever top that experience. Well, three songs into their latest show and it was already awfully likely that OPETH was about to do exactly that tonight (and they did).
As the new song, “§7,” reverberated from the speakers, I was suddenly struck by the realization that the live renditions of the songs from the new album sounded even better than the studio versions! This feeling was further reinforced by the live rendition of the song, “§3,” a little bit later. Now, I couldn’t but feel slightly ashamed for not including OPETH‘s new album in my Best Metal Albums of 2024 list – it should have been there. I had a vague feeling about the album in November that it would prove a slow-grower over time, like those late mustache-prog endeavors before it. All it needed was that little extra push from the band’s live performance. The new songs slap hard on stage.
Like the band’s iconic frontman, Mikael Åkerfeldt, stated at some point, the band is all in for the so-called V-shaped setlist; you start with a bang, then cool down a bit, somewhere in the middle, and build up momentum to the grand finale. Tonight, the mellow section was nothing short of breathtaking. It started with “Häxprocess” from the controversial 2011 outing, “Heritage,” from which I’d never heard a song played live before. This particular song isn’t even my favorite from the album but its live rendition worked wonders. Next, “In My Time of Need” from 2003’s “Damnation” sent one massive tsunami of shivers up my spine. I don’t think I’d ever heard a song from that album before and now that I did – what a performance it was! In one chorus, Åkerfeldt stopped singing and the crowd handled the vocals for a moment. It is a no-brainer that the best way to experience an OPETH concert is to abandon yourself to the music and allow it to invade your whole being, more and more completely with each new crushing riff, but to be amidst a sea of metalheads singing THAT very song as if there were nothing left in the world but the music like a fever throbbing in your temples. This must have been the closest approximation there is of heaven. The lysergic visuals pulsating in shades of deep purple (of course!) further reinforced this feeling.
Next, OPETH catered to the veteran demographic of their fanbase by dropping a song from their second studio album “Morningrise” (1996). Now, this was a special treat of the highest caliber! This particular album is the only one still missing from my collection, so I’m not sure how precisely the live rendition followed the original arrangement but it fit the atmosphere and flow of the set pretty nicely. So, despite ever-the-jovial jokester Åkerfeldt referring to the older material as “shit songs” in his trademark tongue-in-cheek manner, like he always does, this early epic did blend right in with the new material.
Before the closer of the new album wrapped things up, we heard one more classic – “Ghost of Perdition” from that 2005 monolith album “Ghost Reveries.” When the iconic guitar chords in the song’s intro reverberated across the venue, I noticed that the song hit a sweet spot. The mean age of the crowd, judging by a glance, seemed to be closer to forty or even fifty rather than, say, twenty. So, by the looks of it, we old gits were still rather smitten with this particular OPETH effort from all those years ago. Well, it does have one of the most consistently great tracklists ever.
As the basic set was bookended by the opener and closer of the new album, respectively, “A Story Never Told” brought the set to a close on a high note of atmospheric prog. On the album, I must admit that the song did not sound so extraordinary, at first. Over time, I have come to like it more and more – and, now, after this haunting live rendition of it, I guess I’ll be listening to it for some time on repeat just to reminisce on this magical evening. Back in 2015, I recall there was a solo spot in the set for keyboardist Svalberg who turned that moment into a spine-chilling homage to EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER. Now, this closer served as a homage to vintage prog à la CAMEL, stretched into a whole song – what a beautiful way to end the set. Åkerfeldt introduced the song as yet another piece they would play in front of a live audience for the first time ever tonight, so if it sucked we could always ask for more. Well, the song didn’t suck – far from it! – but we asked for some more, anyway.
The encore kicked off with the title track from OPETH‘s 2016 album “Sorceress.” It started with Svalberg and bassist Martin Méndez playing that mind-bending intro riff in unison for a good while before the rest of the band joined. It sounded pretty groovy. If there ever was a metal band that could make a killing playing a tribute show to those obscure jazz-rock fusion acts from the 1970s, it would be OPETH. I mean every Berklee musician could probably pull it off making no mistakes but they would sorely lack the cojones of OPETH. I remember, back in the day, when Martin Lopez was replaced by Martin Axenrot, the online forums were lit with heated debate about which drummer had a better groove. Now, as our homeboy Valtteri Väyrynen is sitting behind the drum kit, I have seen very little of that. Maybe that’s because he is simply phenomenal. Tonight he truly was amazing – as the audience duly noted by shouting his name now and then. The new songs are quantum prog of the highest caliber and those old classics are not exactly light stuff in terms of drumming either.
Last, the mother of all OPETH show closers was delivered as it only should – “Deliverance.” It is the song that has the absolute best outro in the history of progressive metal. During the mellow, septuple passages, the visual theme projected on the screens in myriad shades of blue was that of traveling through outer space. How befitting! Long story short: What a night!
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Photos by Laureline Tilkin
Grand Magus Setlist
- I, the Jury
- Skybound
- Steel Versus Steel
- Ravens Guide Our Way
- Untamed
- Like the Oar Strikes the Water
- Hammer of the North
Opeth Setlist
- §1
- Master’s Apprentices
- The Leper Affinity
- §7
- Häxprocess
- In My Time of Need
- The Night and the Silent Water
- §3
- Ghost of Perdition
- A Story Never Told
- Sorceress (encore)
- Deliverance (encore)
