Opeth consists of Martin Lopez (drums), Martin Mendez (bass), Mikael Åkerfeldt, Peter Lindgren (guitars).
Opeth is a progressive death metal band from Sweden. Opeth adds several lighter elements to their music with acoustic guitar interludes, and influences from jazz, '70s progressive rock and blues on top of a fast, churning death metal-esque sound. Vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt performs both clean singing and death vocals (although on the first two albums, his vocals are actually more similar to the shrieking typically found in black metal). Due to the addition of melodic and progressive elements, they are said not to conform to death metal, or any other specific genre. Opeth has also attracted a lot of attention from doom metal fans.
The name "Opeth" was taken from the book Sunbird (1972) by author Wilbur Smith, and was originally spelled Opet. In the book, Opet is the name of a city on the moon.
Opeth was formed in Stockholm in 1990 by David Isberg. Isberg invited Mikael Åkerfeldt to join the band at a practice session as a bass player, but failed to inform the current bass player or any of the other members of the band. All band members except for Isberg quit, and Åkerfeldt soon joined Opeth after his band, Eruption, faltered. With Åkerfeldt on guitar, David Isberg on vocals, and several other members, Opeth still had a lack of members, and was not doing well. Needing more musicians, they were joined by long-time friend of Åkerfeldt and former Eruption drummer Anders Nordin and Nick Döring on bass. Andreas Dimeo was recruited as a second guitarist. Rehearsing in an elementary school with old equipment they had found , this lineup lasted less than a year and only played one show.
After their first performance, Andreas Dimeo and Nick Döring quit the band. For the second performance, Kim Pettersson (guitar) and Johan DeFarfalla (bass) joined the group. After the show, DeFarfalla left, not to return until 1994. Pettersson stuck with the band for another show before leaving in late 1991. For that show they got Peter Lindgren to play the bass, but once Kim left, Peter returned to the guitar, his original instrument.
