''In Cauda Venenum'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "Poison in the tail") is the thirteenth studio album by Swedish

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

band

Opeth Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. The band incorporates folk music, folk, blues, classical music, classical, and jazz elements into its usually lengthy compositions, as well as strong influences from deat ...

, released on 27 September 2019 through Moderbolaget and

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

. It was released in two versions: a Swedish-language version and an English-language version. The band toured in support of the album throughout 2019 and into 2020. At 67 minutes and 57 seconds, it is the band's longest studio album. It is also the band's last album to feature drummer

Martin Axenrot Erik Martin "Axe" Axenrot (born 5 March 1979 in Linköping, Linköping, Sweden) is a Swedish death metal drummer, best known as the former drummer for progressive metal band Opeth (2005-2021). Since 2004, he is the drummer for Bloodbath. Know ...

before his departure in 2021.

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 using reviews from mainstream critics. The album received an average score of 85, based on 10 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". The album received a score of 10 out of 10 from ''Wall of Sound'', who stated it was "the best album the band has ever created in their prog era". ''

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive i ...

'' named it one of the 50 best metal albums of 2019.

Track listing

Personnel

Opeth

Mikael Åkerfeldt Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (; born 17 April 1974)Mikael Åkerfeldt
, Op ...

– lead and backing vocals, guitars and ramblings, string arrangements *

Fredrik Åkesson Karl Fredrik Henrik Åkesson is a Swedish heavy metal guitarist. He is a current member of Opeth and is also active in Krux, Monsters of Metal, and Talisman. He also recorded three studio albums with Ghost. Biography Åkesson has been playin ...

– lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, whistles, coughs *

– drums and percussion *

Martín Méndez Martín Méndez (born 6 April 1978) is a Uruguayan Swedish musician. He migrated to Sweden when he was 17 years old. He is the bassist of the progressive metal band Opeth and the second-longest-serving member of the band, behind frontman Mikael ...

– bass guitars *Joakim Svalberg – keyboards and backing vocals Technical personnel * Mikael Åkerfeldt – production * Stefan Boman with Opeth – co-production, engineering, mixing * Tom Jondelius – studio assistant * Dave Stewart – string arrangements * Geoff Pesche – mastering at Abbey Road Studios * Travis Smith – artwork and design for Seempieces * Jasper Schuurmans – project coordination

Charts

References

2019 albums Opeth albums Nuclear Blast albums 2010s Swedish-language albums Long stubs with short prose {{2010s-album-stub