Friday 11th April 2014 at Roadburn Festival will be curated by Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt, already announced for the event are Comus, Goblin and Magma. Now, he has personally invited a few more of his favourite bands which can be added to the bill; Candlemass (who will exclusively play their entire ‘Ancient Dreams’ album, celebrating its 25th anniversary), Elephant9, Obliteration, Promise and the Monster and Trettioåriga Kriget.

Here’s what Mikael had to say about the recent additions –

“Wow, just wow! I am friends with Candlemass, and especially boss / bassplayer Leif Edling. He is just a text message away and we meet up frequently to talk music and eat spicy food. Under the influence of… beer. And fine Italian wine. When Opeth started, myself and founder David Isberg agreed that our sounds should be a mix of Mercyful Fate, Bathory, Mefisto and Candlemass.

Elephant9 are quite a new fascination for me, since I generally don’t listen much to new music, but they blew me away! It’s moody music, often laced with sudden flurries of virtuosity, and with a rather strong musical connection to Scandinavian lore. If you want music by the book, this is not for you. If you desire otherworldy musical experiences and explosive dynamics however, your search is over.

I’m tempted to use the words ”old school”, but Obliteration are way bigger than some random retro band. They’ve drawn inspiration heavily from the late 80’s / early 90’s Scandinavian and North American scene. If you’re a fan of Autopsy and early Entombed with a topping of extra grit, you’ll not be disappointed.

I don’t want to use the word ”timeless” just yet, even if there’s a fair chance in 20 years’ time her sounds will be known as  some of the ”traditional arrangements” of the 21st century. Promise and the Monster will perform as a trio at Roadburn which I’m rather sure will be the curveball addition to the Roadburn line up for 2014. Don’t miss it!

Trettioåriga Kriget is simply one of the best hard rock / prog bands ever to come out of Sweden. Still very much active and still putting out amazing records to this day, they are as relevant as ever. Some of the nicest blokes ever too. I could rant for ages about this bunch, but I’ll put it plain and simple: If you don’t like this, you’re an asshole!”

There’s just a handful of tickets left, get them here –

www.roadburn.com/roadburn-2014/tickets

Our sister company Omerch have also produced a special t-shirt for the event, available HERE.