 Opeth was formed as a death metal band in the autumn of 1990 in Stockholm , Sweden by vocalist David Isberg . Isberg asked former Eruption band member Mikael Åkerfeldt ( just 16 years old at the time ) to join Opeth as a bassist . When Åkerfeldt showed up to practice the day after Isberg invited him , it became clear that Isberg had not told the band members , including the band 's current bassist , that Åkerfeldt would be joining . An ensuing argument led to all members but Isberg and Åkerfeldt leaving to form a new project . The band name was derived from the word " Opet , " taken from the Wilbur Smith novel The Sunbird . In this novel , Opet is the name of a fictional Phoenician city in South Africa whose name is translated as " City of the Moon " . 
