GHOST REVERIES

This was the first "new to me" Opeth CD after getting into them, so it might have been easy to overrate it a bit as I was still in the honeymoon discovery phase when discovering them, but having giving this several full listens recently, I can testify that this is still a magnificent record, one that is aging very well.

Being someone who is generally not a fan of growls, I can see how they can be a turnoff for many, but for me, the music and all of the other aspects they bring to the table are so damn good, that I have no problem dealing with the growling passages. They provide a nice contrast and the dynamics are thus more prevalent, since they are in the vocals, not just the music.

Regarding the content on Ghost Reveries, it is mostly all tops. Ghost of Perdition and The Baying of the Hounds are two of their best metal tunes ever, Harlequin Forest is a great burner, featuring a little bit of everything, and Hours of Wealth and Isolation Years are positively two terrific mellow tunes. The other remaining songs are all very solid as well. All in all, this is a top tier Opeth record; not quite as great as Still Life, but in the conversation for 2nd best.