David Isberg, the Swedish musician best known for having founded the seminal progressive metal band OPETH, will release his second poetry book on January 10, 2024 via Swedish publisher Stevali.
The Swedish-language book, “Numerisk Kaos – Stokastiska Svärtor & Variablar” (English: “Numeric Chaos – Stochastic Darkness & Variables”)”, contains dark and emotional poems about different phases of life that have seen a lot of hope and despair, melancholy, dystopia and self-pity. The book also features poems interpreted and illustrated by debutant Kristin Sjökvist.
“Numerisk Kaos – Stokastiska Svärtor & Variablar”will be released through a ceremony on January 10 at 5 p.m. in the basement of the ancient and rustic Scala Theatre in central Stockholm where David will take part in a live spoken-word performance, reading poems from the book and talking about emotions, robots and musical nerdery.
Isberg, who is currently the lead singer of the brutal doom death metal band BLOODOFJUPITER, formed OPETH in 1990 with some friends from Täby, Sweden. Longtime friend Mikael Åkerfeldt was in a band called ERUPTION but was considering a departure from this group. One day David invited him to play bass for OPETH and Åkerfeldt accepted the offer. When he came to the rehearsal, however, none of the other members of the band knew Mikael was coming and they didn’t want to kick out the bass player they already had. The ensuing argument played out with all the members of OPETH (apart from David) leaving. They renamed themselves CROWLEY and released a demo tape called “The Gate” in 1991. David remained with OPETH until 1992, when he left, citing creative differences. The lead vocal duties in OPETH were subsequently taken over by Åkerfeldt.
Press photo by Robin Kuusela