(Prog) Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt says he invited composer Wil Malone to work with them on their 12th album Sorceress - because he wanted an excuse to reach out to him.
Malone has worked with several artists throughout his career, featuring on Black Sabbath albums Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage and Never Say Die in the 70s and Iron Maiden's 1980 self-titled debut album, among many others.
Akerfeldt made his spur-of-the-moment decision while filling out a contact form on the composer's website, after he discovered Malone was still active. Akerfeldt admits he originally intended to ask about Malone's earlier solo work, but says he'd have felt "a bit stupid."
He tells Prog Sphere: "I've been a fan of his for a couple of years. He's quite an obscure artist, not a lot of people know about him. But he did some records, like solo records in the early 1970s. He did one album that's difficult to find, but I managed to track down a copy of that one.
"I was just fooling around, seeing if he was still active, and so I searched on the Internet after him. He had a web page and there was like a contact thing, so I could email him, which I did.
"The intention was, in the beginning, to ask him about his solo records, basically. But I felt a bit stupid doing that, so I threw it in if he would be interested in scoring strings for a song. And at the time I didn't even have the song, I was just wondering if he would be interested in working with us. And he said yes." Read more here.
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