THE COLLECTION

"The Collection" is a compilation album of Opeth that was released in 2014. It has tracks from nine studio albums of the band. So, it has one track from their debut album "Orchid", one track from their third album "My Arms, Your Hearse", one track from their fourth album "Still Life", six tracks from their fifth album "Blackwater Park", four tracks from their sixth album "Deliverance", seven tracks from seventh album "Damnation", one track from eighth album "Ghost Reveries", one track from ninth album "Watershed" and one track from their tenth album "Heritage". "The Collection" has also a cover of a Deep Purple's song from "Stormbringer" and that appeared on "Ghost Reveries" as a bonus track.

So, "The Collection" has twenty four tracks. "Ghost Of Perdition" is from "Ghost Reveries". It starts with a few quiet chords and that explodes into a progressive death metal track. It's full of great vocals and musicianship. "Soldier Of Fortune" is the Deep Purple's cover. It's a nice cover but doesn't represent one of the best parts on this compilation. "Death Whispered A Lullaby" is from "Damnation". It's a nice composition most notable for its vocal harmonies and the fairly aggressive guitar solos, on some parts of the song. "Forest Of October" is from "Orchid". It has some of the most beautiful and sorrowful melodies of that album. It's a memorable and perfect composed song. "Dirge For November" is from "Blackwater Park". It starts with a mellow singing and a nice acoustic guitar work. Harshly, the music turns louder with a distorted guitar work. "Hessian Peel" is from "Watershed". It's a complex, ambitious and dense progressive epic that starts darkly. It has a pastoral part before a ranging heavy section. "Ending Credits" is from "Damnation". It's a pretty and romantic instrumental that sounds much like an Andy Latimer's song for Camel. "Master's Apprentices" is from "Deliverance". It can be considered one of the best tracks on that album. The first main riff is one of those that have an unsophisticated memorable charm. "The Drapery Falls" is from "Blackwater Park". It starts as a powerful ballad, before morphing into heavy. It has an emotional interlude, where the growls return in a nice form. "Harvest" is from "Blackwater Park". It has a fantastic use of diverse dynamics to create a nice and perfect atmosphere. "April Ethereal" is from "My Arms, Your Hearse". It has nice acoustic interludes and clean vocals. The riffs are memorable, from its technical to the melodic sections. "Deliverance" is from "Deliverance". It has a sinister sound. It's not only the lyrics or the music that makes it sinister. The way how Akerfeldt sings is strange and terrifying. "Windowpaine" is from "Damnation". It's a tasteful song, a beautiful and creative composition, with a pleasant guitar backed by the Mellotron sound. "The Devil's Orchard" is from "Heritage". It's a great song with intricate moments, nice passages and that keeps a strong atmosphere. "A Fair Judgement" is from "Deliverance". It's a dreamy ballad. It progresses to a brilliant and heavy lead without seeming to change from mellow to heavy parts. This progression repeats with no rapid changes. "Closure" is from "Damnation". It's a song with some nice guitar work that oscillates between the calm and aggressive parts, during all over the theme. "Hope Leaves" is from "Damnation". It's a beautiful and calm ballad, probably the most beautiful on that album. It has some pretty good lyrics too. "Wreath" is from "Deliverance". It's one of the heaviest songs of Opeth, a fast song with its devastating atmosphere, sounding like a piece depicting the end of the world. "Patterns In The Ivy" is from "Blackwater Park". It's a short track that explores an excellent acoustic guitar work and a nice piano work too. It provides a nice break after the hard driving tracks performed on that album. "Weakness" is from "Damnation". It's the softest song on that album, and ironically, because its name, it represents perhaps, the album's weakness. "The Leper Affinity" is from "Blackwater Park". It's a song with heavy guitar riffs and great growled vocals. Suddenly, the song changes to soft. The way this song flows from the heavy to the soft is wonderful. "The Moor" is from "Still Life". This a mini epic that contains both acoustic and heavy parts with both cleaning and growling vocals, staying progressive as well. "Bleak" is from "Blackwater Park". It's a song fantastically composed with an incredible musical work. It has also an amazing guitar work with some power riffs. "In My Time Of Need" is from "Damnation". It's a beautiful ballad, with some of the best lyrics on that album, and where Mellotron continuous sounding on the back.

Conclusion: "The Collection" is a very nice and interesting compilation album of Opeth with a nice trip to almost the entire career of the band at the time. From the ten studio albums of Opeth at the time, only one isn't represented here, their second one, "Morningrise". It's true that "The Collection" isn't a very well balanced compilation album because it's essentially focused on three of those albums, "Blackwater Park", "Deliverance" and "Damnation". I've nothing to oppose to the quality of the tracks chosen, but I would have preferred to see here a greater balance in their choices. For instance, I wish had seen to be chosen some more tracks from "Still Life", "Ghost Reveries" and "Watershed" and one track from "Morningrise". Besides, I can't see any interest to choose a cover song to be part of a compilation like this.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)