Opeth’s upcoming record The Last Will And Testament brings back the growls for the first time in roughly 15 years. Despite that newfound heaviness, Opeth vocalist and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt revealed to Total Guitar that all his guitar parts were actually a Fender Telecaster.
“All my parts were recorded using a Telecaster Custom from the ’90s, with a humbucker in the neck and single-coil in the bridge,” said Åkerfeldt. “No-one’s seen me with a Tele before. I wouldn’t normally be caught dead with one because I think they’re fucking ugly! But that’s the only guitar I used. It doesn’t hum when you raise the gain.”
Åkerfeldt later notes that he started his love affair with the Telecaster while recording the soundtrack for the 2022 Swedish Netflix series Clark. He added: “I love the feel of that Tele; it’s so comfortable I didn’t feel the need to bring anything else. I also knew if it didn’t work, Fredrik [Åkesson, fellow guitarist] would have a bunch of shit for me to try.”
So there’s your recipe for that Åkerfeldt tone in 2024 – a Telecaster and a ’60s Marshall cabinet that’s “probably never been services.” Having Åkerfeldt’s harmonic vocabulary and genius probably helps, too. Get yourself a Telecaster right here. There are a lot of ’em, and that includes the brand new American Ultra Series II ones.
