Opeth Vinyl Records
Since their arrival in 1990 as the self-proclaimed "most evil band in the world," Sweden's Opeth have become one of the most influential heavy metal groups in all of Northern Europe. Though their musical beginning was rooted in occult-saturated, doomy death metal, as evidenced by 1995's Orchid and the following year's Morningrise, by the time they issued 1998's globally acclaimed My Arms, Your Hearse, they were already threading progressive elements into their music. As the band's individuals grew musically and personnel shifted, their approach and sonic palette expanded. 2001's groundbreaking Blackwater Park may have drawn heat from purist death metal fans and critics, but global prog-metal fans championed it.