Swedish prog-metal maestros Opeth are gearing up to drop their highly anticipated 13th album, In Cauda Venenum, which is due on September 27th via Moderbolaget/Nuclear Blast Entertainment. Today (June 12th), the band, led by singer, guitarist and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt, have offered up the LP’s lead single, “Hjärtat Vet Vad Handen Gör.” Hear it below.
“‘Hjärtat Vet Vad Handen Gör’ or ‘Heart in Hand’ as it’s called in English is one of the first couple of songs I wrote for In Cauda Venenum,” Åkerfeldt says of the song. “I immediately knew that it would probably be favored by ‘the powers that be’ when talks of future singles for the record would commence. And I was right. I generally leave it up to the labels or managements to pick the so-called singles. I’m indifferent as I put an equal amount of dedication into all songs, so it doesn’t matter all that much to me. I guess it’s one of the more straightforward songs on the album. A rather rocking little thing. It’s got one of the ‘happy mistakes’ in it, too. Mendez’s bass broke down in the middle of recording. At the time he played an old Hofner Beatles-esque bass guitar that started humming real bad, but it sounded so good we immediately decided to keep it in there. I’d be putting myself down if I said that noise is the best part of the song, but it’s up there. I like when stuff happens out of your control, and it actually adds to the piece. This is the first full taster of the new Opeth album and, of course, I hope you like it. All the songs on the new album are different from each other and therefore equally representable in my view. Enjoy!”
In Cauda Venenum track listing:
01. Livet’s Trädgård / Garden Of Earthly Delights (Intro)
02. Svekets Prins / Dignity
03. Hjärtat Vet Vad Handen Gör / Heart In Hand
04. De Närmast Sörjande / Next Of Kin
05. Minnets Yta / Lovelorn Crime
06. Charlatan
07. Ingen Sanning Är Allas / Universal Truth
08. Banemannen / The Garroter
09. Kontinuerlig Drift / Continuum
10. Allting Tar Slut / All Things Will Pass
