Metal Meltdown in Jersey; Electric Frankenstein at Don Hill's; NYC Festival of Dance; Urban Fairytales; Crazy Ex-Girlfriends

Case in point is Opeth, an act from Sweden that mixes delicate acoustic jaunts with terrifying black-metal riffs, usually in the same nine-minute song. The singer, Mikael Åckerfeldt, croons over the quiet parts and tears his throat to pieces over the loud parts. He also plays rhythm guitar and writes Opeth's material; he might just be the guy who breaks Scandinavian metal into the mainstream.

"In school, obviously, you had to sing," Mikael informs me, explaining how he can switch mid-song from sounding like Ihsahn to sounding like Maynard James Keenan. "So I had a singing voice always. But I explored my screaming voice style first."

Wait?you had to sing in school?

"Of course. In Sweden, everybody has music classes. I played the flute, learned to read music, piano, drums, guitar and bass.

"Then I used to work in a store that sold only acoustic guitars. I love acoustic guitar. I would write these heavy riffs on acoustic, and if they sounded good there, imagine how they would sound electric. So from the first album, Opeth found our own style."

The band has just released its fifth album, Blackwater Park, which is loaded with instant classics. But here's the surprise: Mikael almost never takes his band touring and rarely practices.

"We haven't played live [except for festivals] for five years. We've done five albums and one tour because nobody has offered us a decent tour! The U.S. tour [this spring] is going to double the number of shows we have done. We're very excited. We will do two rehearsals before the tour."

Sounds like a recipe for disaster, I know, but one listen to Blackwater Park convinces you that these guys don't need practice. Opeth plays Friday at 10:20 p.m. Tickets for Metal Meltdown are available through TicketMaster at 201-507-8900; $35 one-day and $55 two-day. Other acts include God Forbid, Chaos Theory, Amorphis, Mortician, Skinless, Primal Fear and Drill 187.

?If you want your rock less metal and more local, Electric Frankenstein is at Don Hill's this Friday (511 Greenwich St. at Spring St., 219-2850). I don't plug this band because they're particularly original or good (think AC/DC plus Jesse Camp). I plug them because they're the most prolific, hardest-working group on Earth and they deserve it. Electric Frankenstein has released around 45 albums, singles and EPs since 1996. How is that possible? Guitarist Sal Canzonieri happily explains.

"Really, it's not that many records per year, it's that as we get bigger, the distributors dig back to start reselling old albums... I want a new record every three months. But one will be late, one will be early and one will be on time, so they all come out at once. I think other bands are lazy."

This September, Electric Frankenstein will release its most "major-label sounding" album to date, The Buzz of 1000 Volts. (Annie's Grave hit stores in February, but Sal claims it's a stopgap effort.) The band is also on Tee Pee/Caroline Records' A Fistful of Rock 'n' Roll compilations, and two movies are in the works: this year's Flophouse and 2002's Born in Flames. The Don Hill's show will feature new material, but don't try to bootleg it?guaranteed Sal will have his new record out before you do.

...It's always good to keep your eyes peeled for open bars. This Monday, there'll be one at Tunnel (220 12th Ave., at 27th St., 695-4682), as the NYC Festival of Dance kicks off with Destination: groove. The celebration benefiting Dancers Responding to AIDS has works choreographed by Donald Byrd, Glenn & Brian and A.C. Ciulla. Lenny Kravitz is a supporter, so maybe he'll make an appearance, but anyway, it's only $25 to get in?you should have no problem drinking that.

...Noticed those crazy new MTA ads on trains? The ones that feature what looks like an inflatable cartoon character with a ball of daisies on its head, inscribed "Wink"? Here's the lowdown.

In Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall until April 13, MTA Arts for Transit and Creative Time are showing Takashi Murakami's Wink project. It consists of that inflatable-cartoon-with-daisies, plus two huge inflated eyeballs, suspended from the ceiling. On the ground are corresponding flat discs with cartoon eyes. Groovy.

Wink has been in Grand Central since mid-March, trying to distract people in the name of art, but undoubtedly many haven't noticed it because they haven't looked up?who has time for that? Go check Wink out. The Dow has tanked and there's no telling when the next drugged-out MTA meeting will allow us this sort of frivolity.

...The Urban Fairytale Festival opens Friday at Chelsea Playhouse (125 W. 22nd St., betw. 6th & 7th Aves., 942-7415), but it isn't what you'd expect?scraggly wordsmiths telling tales of woe and redemption in New York. For that you need New York Press.

Nah, the Fairytale Festival presents a diverse body of plays that somehow relate to city life. This year's featured entries are The Taming of Miss Shrew and Spades. The former is a Shakespeare redux, set in Motown; the latter spends a night with a Negro League baseball team as they get drunk in a haunted brothel. Last year, two Urban Fairytale Festival plays were snapped up by Hollywood, so look for shady movie people this time around, trying to scout something before the strike hits. The Taming of Miss Shrew plays Fridays at 7:30 and Sundays at 3:00; Spades is Sundays at 7:30. The Festival ends April 29 and tickets are $20 per event.

...The world is full of distracting websites, but we can always use another, and this one you need to check out fast before the lawyers shut it down:[ www.psychoexgirl friend.com](http://www.psychoexgirlfriend.com). It's a dream domain name and it delivers the goods, offering in-depth analysis of a feisty woman's breakup with an equally contemptible guy. The piece de resistance is a collection of 53 insane and hilarious voicemails that the woman left on the guy's cellphone. Go now. They're indescribably good. In two weeks they will be everywhere.