Why is Damnation so different to their other albums?
The idea was for the band to do one really heavy album after Blackwater Park. However, Mikael had all these acoustic parts that he didn't know what to do with. So a friend of theirs - Jonas from Katatonia - had the idea for the band to release an all-mellow album. Thinking this was a great idea, the band went ahead and created Damnation. It's an experiment, and as Mikael has said in the past: also exclusive. We shouldn't expect to see another album like this from Opeth.