When a long running musical act hits a typical milestone anniversary, usually there is some commemorative action taken by the band’s label. This often happens coarsely, just to move products and remind fans that the fossil of the band they once loved is still around. However, when it came to honoring 25 years of the band Opeth, the members took it upon themselves to create a several year-long celebration with years of planning for special concert events, album releases and re-issues, most importantly, their own biography. Not a book in the self-serving, “pat on the back”: type affair one often sees, but a personally crafted history of how the band came to be, from the earliest childhood days, right through 2014’s Pale Communion (Roadrunner) record. The story of Opeth as collected in Book Of Opeth (Rocket 88 Books) is wide-ranging, told by the people directly involved, and is a time capsule in the life of these crucial musicians.

Told in the first person by the people who lived the story of the band, the most common voice is that of Mikael Åkerfeldt, and his trademark story-telling style, and humor from his lyrics makes him a naturally narrator for this accounting. Other prominent voices in the story are band co-founder Peter Lindgren, and band manager Andy Farrow, as well as every member of the band presently and many former members and peers helping to flesh out key points and highlights. All of the interviews were done by music journalist Dom Lawson, and as a read it feels very detailed and matter of fact. Stories of every album, every step in their career were mentioned with seemingly no nugget of info left to be unearthed. Of course there is tons of self-effacing humor, many digs and puns for a health dose of self-awareness. This is often lacking with most books like this.

The main version of the book also comes with a 7-inch vinyl with two rare tracks; previously unreleased acoustic versions of ‘Atonement’ and ‘Demon of the Fall’. The real treasure of Book of Opeth is the photography. Thousands of photos, many never seen outside of the band were compiled to tell the visual story. Some of these photos of the formative years of the band in particular will blow your mind if you have followed the band for their career. Incredible concert photos and intimate studio shots by friends of the band dot the pages too. Another really great element of the book is the extensive credits section of the book with a complete discography of every physical and digital release ever made by the band. This is a collectors dream pirate map and I wish this were available for all bands of this magnitude.

Although really geared for the collector and the hardcore fan of the band, Book of Opeth is not just made with the completest in mind. This is a great accounting of one of the more legendary bands of our time. Even if you are in the camp of not loving the more recent move to straight up progressive rock as much as their earlier albums, this window into the first days of the band is more than worth the price of the gorgeous packaging.

9.0/10

KEITH CHACHKES