PALE COMMUNION

Opeth show that retro early 70s sound of Heritage was no outlier. There's nary a fat modern metal riff. The music here unfolds on its own pace and is ornamented with sweeping mellotrons, rumbling organs, acoustics and backing strings. Opeth don't try to "outprog" anybody, but instrumentation here is richly detailed, and, I think, strikes a balance between melancholic and more energetic sections, accessibility and complexity, length and compactness. If there is a nod to Opeth of old, is that the longer songs may seem to be disjointed, even though there's certainly no filler songs here. One may not agree with directions that some songs may take (such as the obvious influence of King Crimson's Starless, first melancholic "crooning " part, in Faith in Others, or the uncharacteristic hippy-esque first half of River (don't worry, it gets heavier later on), but taken together, Opeth diverse catalogue would make a hell of a live show.