Opeth

( April 12, 2012 )

Just because proggy Swedish hard rock band Opeth has stopped screaming the vocals and started singing them doesn't mean the band has turned its back on heavy metal, so please stop saying that. According to lead singer Mikael Akerfeldt, the band's latest album, last fall's mellow-by-comparison-but-still-pretty-heavy "Heritage," has had a polarizing effect, turning nonbelievers into fans, and vice versa.

Still, "Heritage" has charted higher than any album the band has done in its 22 years on earth. One of its tracks, "I Feel the Dark," recently found a new life as a meme when a fan used it as a makeshift soundtrack to the little-seen "Destino," a short film Salvador Dali made for Walt Disney. It's a mind-bender-"Fantasia" on even more drugs. "It just happened to fit the song perfectly," says Akerfeldt, who swears the band had nothing to do with it. "It's a beautiful piece of work, I think."

7 p.m. Friday at Riviera Theatre, 4746 N. Racine Ave.; $34; 773-275-6800 or etix.com

Read the full Opeth interview