STILL LIFE

This is Opeth fourth studio album and was released in 1999, just after My Arms, Your Hearse. The style of the songs is pretty much the same with the previous album, a combination of progressive and death metal.

This album is rather different a bit of other Opeth's album, and for me, this is the most beautiful and melodic album from them. In my opinion, this was because the story of the album is rather sadder and ironic compared to other albums. The story is about a man who searches his beloved Melinda, but Melinda, at that time, has been engaged to someone else. However, then Melinda stayed with the man who searched for her although they have lost their love. After that Melinda was captured and killed for being a whore, resulting an ultimate rage from the man. This man was then killed many people in the town and was hanged because of that, but when he was hanged, he can still feel the rage inside his soul. Well, even though the story is about murders, still the story is kind of sad, its about, like, love, sacrifice and stuff.

For the songs, those really vary from black, dark, death metal with heavy rhythm and growling sound to calm, mellow and soft with cool rhythm guitar. This album really can prove anyone who questioned Opeth as a band with nothing but death metal sound.

The Moor - Starts of with slow and mellow guitar line, really nice and perfect for the introduction of the story. The mood is then changes to more death metal when the drum begins and vocal starts. The Moor is dominated with heavy rhythm so its more like death metal song rather than just 'slow' metal. The best thing is the song is the guitar lines, which are very dynamic and sometimes follow the vocal lines. Moreover, the guitar solo at the seventh minute is just awesome, very beautiful follows with another clean guitar passage.

Godhead's Lament - Amazing intro, really metal, heavy drum section as well as guitar and bass. After that, straight, death metal vocal, "marauder!!!" Overall, the song is really dynamic and full of energy, just amazing. And again, the guitar solo is very beautiful, at the same time, reflects sadness with Akerfeldt nice clean vocal.

Benighted - A five minutes clean, soft, calm and beautiful song. Well for me, this is my first Opeth acoustic and mellow song. This song really showcases Akerfeldt's clean vocal style, which I think is really great. The song is rather a jazzy song, also when the drum section begins and the guitar solo is just very jazzy. Read my lips, this song is just beautiful : )

Moonlapse Vertigo - Alright, after a short break with Benighted, the energy increases again, a very cool intro, simple drum and guitar riffs but great melodic. The vocal starts with clean vocal style, but then, just like usual, changes to death metal vocal, still amazing and melodic. And again, WHOA!! The guitar solo is very AMAZING, more like Benighted, jazzy and clean solo with distorted background sound.

Face Of Melinda - A somewhat mellow song, just like Benighted and Moolapse Vertigo. The drum part is really cool and soft creating a jazzy ambience along with fretless bass. The mood is then changes heavier with distorted rhythm guitar, but the vocal sound still clean. The song ends with a great ending solo guitar, just beautiful. It such amazing that death metal band like Opeth can create such amazing beautiful slow song like this. Well I didn't say they cant create a great slow song, its just very different with death metal style, and I always admire a band that can go to different style but with the same main genre.

Serenity Painted Death - The song is considered a heavy song, with more death metal sound than cleaner sound. The music and rhythm are also very dynamic and energetic. However, this "death metal" style doesn't make the song like, bad or not good, it still amazing and the song composition is just great. The song ends strangely, the clean guitar passage is just end when the track hasn't end yet.

White Cluster - My favorite song in the album, this is a song that you can really called ultimate-progressive-death-metal. Amazing drum sections, very energetic and dynamic, kicks ass guitar rhythm and solos, great bass lines, really dominate the song at some parts and superb vocal performance.

Well what more can I say, five giant stars. I would recommend you to buy it, and if you are a progmet head, this is essential. If you are not intro progressive metal or death metal or whatever, this is really still a great album, considering jazz elements are pretty dominant in the album. Also, this is a great album to start if you want to get more into Opeth.

Keep on proggin' in the free world!!

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