ORCHID

This album starts a very unique and interesting career for a band so well beloved in the progressive and metal music communities. Opeth has become well acclaimed for its mix of death metal with traditional progressive rock and folk melodies to create diverse masterworks, and this is where it all began. Orchid takes a dive into folk and black metal-like territory with Maiden-esque melodies along with complex song structures and long song lengths (a well-known trademark through their whole discography). Mikael Åkerfeldt's harsh vocals are still in their developing stages, not nearly as deep and wrenching as the guttural roars he would unleash on such albums as Still Life and Deliverance. This may sound like a complaint, but it suits the sort of adolescently ambitious nature of this album, showing the starry-eyed young band with a great deal of energy and thrill performing on their first album, much like Queensrÿche belting away "Queen of the Reich" or Metallica blasting away on their Kill em' All album. All-in-all, a good debut showcasing the band's strong knack for songwriting and a very promising sign of things to come.