''Sorceress'' is the twelfth studio album by the Swedish

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikael ...

. The album was released on 30 September 2016 via record label

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

and the band's own imprint Moderbolaget. The album was produced and mixed by

Tom Dalgety Tom Dalgety is an English record producer and audio engineer. He is most noted for his work with Pixies, Ghost, and Royal Blood. He was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2019 for his production work on the Ghost album ''Prequelle'' (Best Rock Album ...

and recorded at

Rockfield Studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was originally founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Facilities Rockfield is a two- ...

in Wales. Following the album's release, the band embarked on a world tour with bands

the Sword The Sword was an American heavy metal band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 2003, the band was composed of vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie and drummer Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III for most of its t ...

Sahg Sahg is a three-piece Norwegian hard rock/doom metal band formed in Bergen in the summer of 2004, by key figures in the metal scene of their country: Tom Cato Visnes ( King ov Hell), Einar Selvik ( Kvitrafn), Olav Iversen and Thomas Tofthagen ...

, and

Myrkur Myrkur is a Danish black metal band led by singer Amalie Bruun. Myrkur is a solo project within the genre of second-wave black metal. Initially, the real-life identity of the person behind the project was kept unknown. Her identity has since be ...

as supporting acts. Thematically, the album draws inspiration from Åkerfeldt's personal life, as he divorced in 2016. The album was streamed via

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

on 29 September.

Track listing

Personnel

Opeth

Mikael Åkerfeldt Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (; born 17 April 1974)Mikael Åkerfeldt
, Op ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, electric and acoustic guitars,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

Fredrik Åkesson Karl Fredrik Henrik Åkesson is a Swedish heavy metal guitarist. He is a current member of Opeth and is also active in Krux, Monsters of Metal, and Talisman. Biography Åkesson has been playing guitar since the age of 12. His early musical i ...

– electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals *

Joakim Svalberg Joakim Svalberg is a Swedish musician best known as the current keyboard player for the Swedish progressive metal band Opeth, which he joined in late 2011 just after the recording of the album ''Heritage''. Svalberg is also involved with a ban ...

– Hammond C3 organ,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

, Fender Rhodes 88,

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, Moog,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, backing vocals *

Martín Méndez Martín Méndez (born April 6, 1978, in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan Swedish bassist of progressive death metal band Opeth and second longest serving member of the band, behind lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt ...

–

bass guitars The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

Martin Axenrot Erik Martin "Axe" Axenrot (born 5 March 1979 in Linköping, Sweden) is a Swedish death metal drummer, best known as the former drummer for progressive death metal band Opeth from 2006 to 2021. Since 2004, he is the drummer for Bloodbath. Known ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Additional personnel

*Pascale Marie Vickery - spoken words on "Persephone" and "Persephone (Slight Return)" *

Wil Malone Wil Malone (born 1952, in Hornsey, North London) is a British music producer and arranger, who has worked with artists including Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Todd Rundgren, The Verve, Massive Attack, Depeche Mode and Italian rocker Gianna Nannini ...

– string arrangements *

– engineering, mixing, production *John Davis – mastering * Travis Smith –

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Opeth albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Tom Dalgety Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios