Watch Opeth Cover Napalm Death’s ‘You Suffer’ Twice in Germany
Napalm Death's "You Suffer" has been a fan favorite ever since the band began performing the track live, often dozens of times in a row at the request of crowds who couldn't get enough of the single second song. The concise length is part of the celebrated history of the track and when Opeth played at the Rock Hard festival in Germany earlier this month, they took the crowd by surprise when they covered it... twice!
After performing the My Arms, Your Hearse favorite "Demon of the Fall," frontman Mikael Akerfeldt thanked the crowd and swapped out his guitar onstage, readying himself for the next cut. He then asked if the crowd wanted some ballads and then mentioned his previous involvement in new age death metal icons Bloodbath, but cautioned the crowd they won't be hearing any songs from that group. As a consolation, Akerfeldt offered to play an "impromptu" cover of "You Suffer."
The crowd cheered at this idea and then Martin Axenrot counted the song in, which took longer than the song itself. "Do you want to hear it once more?" asked Akerfeldt as Opeth doubled down on the cover. The frontman then joked, "Which version was the best one, you think? I love the lyrics to that one. It's so spot on; 'You suffer / But Why?' You don't need to be Bob Dylan."
Changing stylistic gears, Opeth then went into "The Wilde Flowers" off one of 2016's best metal albums, Sorceress. Speaking to Full Metal Jackie about moving forward with the current direction despite chatter from fans, Akerfeldt said, "It would be very difficult for me to write music if I was adjusting my creativity to fit the taste of the listener. I don’t believe in public opinion when it comes to this band or what we should do. I just write. Over the years I’ve got a lot of criticism for being unpredictable. This band has gotten a lot of criticism for being unpredictable and not delivering what some fans think that they’ve earned or what they need. But the essence of Opeth is to write music that we think is good for the time as opposed to building a career. We have a career thanks to that, I think. We have a career just because the fact that we refuse to adjust, we do whatever we feel like. I think that’s the reason why we have a career, to be honest."
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See Napalm Death's "You Suffer" + More of the Greatest Songs Under One Minute Long