OPETH

Ok, I may have said that Still Life is my favourtie all time Opeth album, but to be honest, after hearing this album again, I have to again consider this album. I can't really choose between them, but I have to admit, there was a certain quality to Still Life that I still love, and since it was my first Opeth album, it will probabbly always be favoured.

This album is just as good I believe. The songs are absoulte progtastic, the growls are some of the best I've ever heard, the lyrics are incredibly poetic, the artwork is amazing, the songs are kickass and catchy...could you really want more?

This also sadly was the last album to feature the classic Opeth line up, and even with added key player Per Wiberg.

This album seems to have a concept, dealing with someones mother, ghosts, cults, Satan himself, trees, dogs and forests. I can't really piece one together, it is still a bit ambigous.

This song also deals with 4 epic songs. If anything, they stand out amongst the others, but the other songs are amazing too, it's just these 4 songs are beyond compare.

1. Ghost Of Perdition - The intro is quite scary, especially when this is one of the first ever Opeth songs you ever hear. The rest of the song is a mammoth, with lovely melodies, scary growls, amazing musicianship, and even some remerable catchy segments. Also a proud welcoming for the use of organs and mellotrons in death metal, who knew that they work so good together.

2. The Baying Of Hounds - Apparently Mike Portnoy says that this song is, "one of the greatest metal songs ever made," and I kind of agree with him. This song (like my other choice for the greatest metal song...Machine Head's Imperium) takes all the things about metal which makes it such a good genre, melody, power, brutallity and at times beauty. A force to be reckoned with.

3. Beneath The Mire - The intro of this song is very kickass. The organ does make the riff seem bery eerie and cold. A perfectly composed piece of music, with enough to keep you interested for 8 minutes.

4. Atonement - A more droney song that reminds me of Weakness from Damnation. Very effective, indeed.

5. Reverie/Harlequin Forest - This song only gets better with every listen. The power of this song mixed with clean vocals is very effective (almost as effective as blast beats with clean vocals, like in The Lotus Eater). This song is so dramatic and the lyrics are very desricptive and taught me alot I didn't know about trees. The end is incredibly amazing as well.

6. Hours Of Wealth - A more laidback song. Takes you down before being punished by the next song.

7. The Grand Conjuration - The first ever song I had ever heard by Opeth. The music video for this song is very good, very scary and very perverted. This song does have an almost seance like vibe to it, which is perfectly moved by the vocals. The main riff is also a great riff. Classic song, and very different than what is expected off of Opeth.

8. Isolation Years - A beautifull ballad. Mabye a song that didnt make on to Damnation.

CONCLUSION: Buy both this album and Still Life...and then the 3 albums in between them. Those albums are Opeth in their prime. Although the first and last are the majour landmarks.

Opeth has always been unpredictable. One second they are raging death metal, the next, they are quiet, acoustic rock. Come the early 2000's and they decide to show the best of both worlds by releasing two albums: Deliverance and Damnation. Deliverance focused on the heavy side, while Damnation was fixed on the lighter, acoustic side.

This album is a very relaxing musical journey. There are none of Mikeal's signature growls, and no distorted guitars or fast double-bass drums. Instead, there are acoustic guitars and drum work straight out of the 70's. The lyrics are haunting and mysterious, and the way Mikeal sings is absolutely beautiful.

So why 4 stars out of 5? Opeth has always been known for their signature switching between death metal and acoustic rock. Without the death metal, the music is still good, but it seems like it is missing something. If this album were made by any other band, it would be incredible. However, Opeth had set themselves up earlier in their career.

Furthermore, after repeated listens, the songs begin to sound the same. There could have been a lot more variation. This being said, there are three songs that stand out: 1. Windowpane is the opening track, and it really kicks the album off. The guitar solos are the best on the album, and the drums also stand out. 2. Ending Credits is a short instrumental track, based off the band Camel. The guitar is the featured instrument, and Mikeal really shines. 3. Death Whispered a Lullaby has the best lyrics on the album. They are mysterious and haunting. The instrumentals match the tone of the lyrics perfectly. This is one of the strongest songs on the album.

Overall, Damnation is a very powerful album. Although it lacks variation, Opeth succeeds in creating an album that sounds like it came right out of the 70's era of classic progressive rock. Recommended.

Many critics, espeically scene Opeth fans, consider this album to be terrible and not an Opeth album. But I believe that this album encapsulates everything that I love about Opeth.

The songwrtiting on this album is phenomanal , the musicianship is amazing and the atomosphere is both eerie and beautiful.

If this album was out 30 years ago, it would have been a classic album.

1. Windowpane -Amazing clean sections with mellotron accompaniment. The vocals are very dramatic as well. 7 minutes of pure prog pleasure.

2. In My Time Of Need - Incredibly beautiful. The haunting melodies, the stacatto like phrasing. Very nice. Very cathcy as well. The instrumental sections are incredibly amazing as well.

3. Death Whispered A Lullaby - Steven Wilson wrote the lyrics on this one? Yea, again another great song. Very eerie and quite Porcupine Tree (although you can see well)

4. Closure - The more eccentric side of Opeth is shown. This song has a very King Crimson vibe to it. It's interesting to see Opeth take up this side of prog.

5. Hope Leaves - Very melancholic but very beautifull. A great chorus as well with amazing backing vocals provided by Steven (the 6th member of Opeth).

6. To Rid The Disease - One of their best songs in my opinion. Very memorable, dark and quite disturbing. The piano part at the end is incredibly beautiful as well.

7. Ending Credits - A nice instrumental interlude.

8. Weakness - A more drony like ending. Not the best ending in my opinion...but meh.

CONCLUSION: If you dislike Opeth because of their death metal side, buy this album and eat your words...and face. An amazing album.

I was very excited to hear Watershed when it came out. Opeth had previously made an incredible album, Ghost Reveries and taken a significant step forward in writing music. They also had recently made Per Wiberg a fulltime-member of the band, so I expected a more dominant role of the keyboard sound, like in most prog. I was expecting another huge progression. However, I was terribly disappointed, not just by the unfullfilled expectations but also their de-evolved writing skills. They obviously have wanted to do something cool and technical here (even though they are not a very technical band) at the expence of musicality. I sense no soul here. I should have guessed some of this beforehand since Peter Lindgren had just left the band due to lack of energy. Whatever the reason (perhaps the extensive touring after Ghost Reveries?), the same thing was propably affecting the other members of the band. And here we hear the result, a lack of inspiration covered up with a professional sounding heavy/pop record. Not to say I totally dislike it: Heir Apparent includes some decent bashing and there are a few good moments along the album.

Continuing on from the amazing sound and songs of Still Life, Blackwater Park was another breathe of fresh air in the progressive metal world.

Even though I prefer Still Life, this album almost matches it. With amazing songs, the catchiest Opeth moments ever, great communication and an amazing producer (Steven Wilson, not tied up by Tim Bowness when he made this).

Since Steven produced this album, there are faint echos of Porcupine Tree and No-Man within the album. He also plays piano and provides some amazing harmonies on the album.

1. The Leper Affinty - A perfect song really. The amazing growls, the cathcy clean vocals, the amazingly played acoustic parts. It's one of the best songs they have ever made. The song has a lot of dramaitcism, and Steven's piano part at the end is both scary and beautiful. Sounds like an unconcurable paradox. It's not. Listen to it now.

2. Bleak - In my opinion, one of their cathciest songs ever. With added Porcupine Tree like harmonies and melodies, this is another favourite of mine. The chorus is also incredibly cathcy.

3. Harvest - The best ballad they ever made. This song is so amazing, the weird blues solos, the beautiful sombre acoustic passages, the layered vocals from Mikael & Steven. Simply amazing.

4. The Drapery Falls - One of their most atomspheric pieces. A head spurn of a song. It was also released as a single, due to the fact, it is quite cathcy and very rememberable.

5. Dirge For November - This song reminds me of one of the shorter songs from Ghost Reveries. It is more to do with atomosphere, so the song does take a lot of dramatic twists and turns. Very doom influenced and very amazing.

6. The Funeral Portrait - This reminds me of one of the songs off of Morningrise. It is quite jazz influenced and there is alot of doom influences as well. Classic Opeth really.

7. Patterns In The Ivy - A brief interlude, really.

8. Blackwayer Park - The only Opeth song that has no clean vocals I think. The lack of vocals melodie is replaced with great musicianship though. Very enjoyable and very amazing.

CONCLUSION: After you have bought Still Life, then buy this album. You will then think that they are one of the best bands in the world, like I was 2 years ago.

This is in my opinion, one of the best Opeth albums, one of the best metal albums, one of the best prog albums and one of the best albums ever. Just saying.

With the slightly disappointing My Arms, Your Hearse, this album saw Opeth at their finest ever. The songs are catchy, even the growls are catchy, the concept is brillian, the guitar work is some of the best I have ever heard, the lyrics are poetic and amazing, amazing hooks, amazing vocals, and amazing dramaticism.

If you haven't heard this album yet, listen to it now. The day I heard this album it changed my life. I remember listening to this album when I first bought it, on Good Friday 2006. I had never been a fan of death metal, but I was slowly becoming a massive prog fan. I was listening to this album while The Greatest Story Every Told was on the tv. The day that Jesus died was the day that Opeth entered my soul. I was blown away. I never knew that death metal could ever have acoustic passages and guitar work that would blow any noob out of his technical haze. It sparked creativity within me and is the reason why I am composing today.

This album is also a concept album which deals with an outcast, who cast away due to the fact he is not a certain religion (very reformation like). He finds his old love Melinda who he wants to take away with him. He plans to stay in the village without the clergy knowing. The clergy find out and plan to kill or capture him. He finds Melinda and asks her to run away with him. She denies him due to the fact her life would be on the line and that she has a fiance. The clergy find out about their meeting and they slit Melinda's throat. With vengance, he kills those who killed Melinda. He then falls asleep and wakes up in prison. He is then led to the gallows where is to be hung. Before he dies, he sees Melinda, waiting for him on the other side. Kind of like Romeo & Julliet.

1. The Moor - Amazing intro. The dark ambient prepares you for the amazing acoustic passage. The main riff is so complicated, without being fast. The riff takes you on amazing journey. The clean vocals are very cathcy and incredibly beautiful. The acoustic section is some of the best finger picking I have ever heard. The end is incredibly amazing as well. An epic.

2. Godhead's Lament - Absoulte brilliance. This song is so dramatic and takes you on such a journey. Like the Moor, cathcy vocals, amazing performances and great acoustic work. One of my all time favourtie Opeth songs.

3. Benighted - A ballad. Amazing, catchy and some great guitar work.

4. Moonlapse Vertigo - An amazing jazz sounding riff. Great sounding riffs. Very memorable.

5. Face Of Melinda - This is one of the most poetic songs on the album, with each verse having a ryhming pattern of AABB. I love how the song which was a very sombre ballad becomes very dark at the end.

6. Serenity Painted Death - Very cathcy and very dramatic. The verses have great lyrics and the chorus is amazing. I love the ending where the word "sin" trails off into a chromatic scale. Amazing

7. White Cluster - An amazing song, filled with both clean vocals and growls. The end of the album. Very rememerable and the story ends with a haunting ending.

CONCLUSION: This album changed my life. I hope it changes yours.

This is the album, where I find that Opeth had found that sound they were looking for. Yes, the riff were constructed better, there was more clean vocals, intresting acoustic passages and the songs were alot more rememerable.

Having said that, I feel, that only with their next album, would the sound that they had searched for alll along would have been suceeded and made even better.

With this new sound, the band were able to craft it really well, but I feel that they hadn't fully achieved what they were searching to achieve.

This album is also a concept album, very alike what the concept in Still Life. They both deal with obsession over a woman who they know they cannot have, but in this album, the man is a ghost who cannot reach his widower, and Still Life deals with a man who is considered an outcast, who would not be able to have the woman he seeks after.

1. Prologue - Piano and rain. Nice intro.

2. April Ethereal - Reminds me of Bathory and Enslaved. This song proves that they achieved their sought after sound. Very well crafted song. Even though it is not longer as their earlier material, it still matches it and even betters it.

3. When - A scary assault which led from the nice intro. Nice clean vocal harmony section.

4. Madrigal - A Rush reference I believe. Good ryhthmic interlude.

5. The Amen Corner - Very groove orientated riff. Intresting acoustic passages and great links that lead to heavier sections of the song.

6. Demon Of The Fall - Probabbly one of Opeth's most well known songs. It reminds me of a death metal version of Led Zeppelin. The song also has some eccentric jazz sections in it. There's also a nice clean section at the end.

7. Credence - This reminds me of one of the slower songs off of Ghost Reveries. It also has a Benighted vibe.

8. Karma - The song has a very dark undertone under it. The acoustic sections have great vocals. The ending riff is amazing.

9. Epilogue - Sounds like something off of The Wall, with mellotron and bluesy guitar work.

CONCLUSION - I feel that the sound that they were searching for could have been crafted better with catchier hooks and guitar parts. But, it was succeded on their next album, and believe me, it is their best.

As Orchid had a very raw approach to the Opeth sound, this album, albeit I don't feel that they had achieved their perfect sound on this album, was still an amazing album, and is probabbly my favourite off the Candlelight Years.

The songs were alot longer, and the album had a more prog feel to it (over an hour of music and 5 songs, a bit too prog almost). Each song has an almost unique quality, there is alot more melody than in Orchid, the songs are more memorable than Orchid and the epic Black Rose Immortall is a masterpiece.

Being critical, I felt that there was very little hooks and some examples of poor production.

Opeth themselves feel that this album was their weakest, but I disagree. I felt the album alot stronger than Orchid & My Arms, Your Hearse, and even felt it better the slightly disapointing Watershed.

1. Advent - Intresting intro. The jazz inspired guitar riff gives a colourfull tone to the imminent death metal section. The clean acoustic pars have an almost dance like feel to them. The clean vocals and acoustic guitars are better produced and alot more melodic than those of Orchid. The acoustic sections are also a lot more stronger and prominent. This song also has a bit of eccentric influence. I love the ending acioustic section. Very eeire.

2. The Night & The Silent Water - The vocals seem to be more rapsy. I feel that the acoustic sections are quite random and need better links. The clean vocals are very melancholic. I like the almost doomy melodic death metal approach to the song. The folky acoustic section is very well crafted and effective to the whirlwind of emotions presented.

3. Nectar - The lyrics of this song are very imaginitive and there is a colourfull use of language used. More Iron Maiden like riffs are flung out. The production is a but muddy and the guitar sounds a bit weak. The acoustic section is very interesting. The funky discordant guitar is very cool and works well with the song...in a weird way, obviously.

4. Black Rose Immortall - This epic kicks off with an evil black metal sounding passage with a great vocal performance. The folky melodic section which follows is very cool. The weird time are changes are dramatically done well with weird sound effects to add to the atomosphere. the evil sounding growls are enhanced with a dark accompaniment. There is another weird funky prog bit, which again, suprisingly well pulled off and enjoyable. The guitar solo which comes up sounds like it was played by Dave Murray himself. The acapella section is very beautiful and reminds me of plainsong. The accompanying acoustic section is very sad and beautifull. The melodic passages are well presented and keep the songs intresting pace.The re occuring theme is presented beautifully before another intresting melodic instreumental section. The ending versw is very eerie and is very dramatic. Mikael deilvers proabbly one of his best screams ever at 19 minutes within the song. An absolute mammoth.

5. To Bid You Farewell - The instrumental which starts this song is almost predicting Opeth's later musical future. The first Opeth ballad song of many t come. There is also alot of instrumental sections within the song.

CONCLSION: As I said before, buy the Candlelight Years. This is the best one out of the 3.

Good... Not excellent

A bit disappointing from Opeth's side this time. It's not a bad album in any way, but since this is Opeth, I was expecting more. There is no doubt some killer tracks on this record as well, bet it is a bit of an anticlimax. Especially since it was following what I consider to be Opeth's best album, Ghost Reveries. The beautiful mixture of extreme metal and elements inspired by 70' progressive rock isn't as prevalent as before. Still, when it kicks in there is no one who even comes close to Opeth's brilliance. This album still confirms Opeth place within progressive extreme metal. As number one. But compared to their earlier works it just seems to be missing something.

Heir Apparent is as expected. A powerful excellent extreme metal song, spiced up by progressive elements. Still, it's not as memorable as I would wish. The Lotus Eater on the other hand is very memorable, and probably one of their most interesting songs ever. This song shows Opeth at its best, in addition to showing lot of originality in the song structure. Clearly the best track on the album. Following this monster track is the ballad The Burden. A ballad that I also think is one of Opeth's best ballads. The rest of the songs are quality in both production and performance, but they seem to be forgotten as quickly as they appeared.

If this change is due to the band changing half of their members or not, is hard to say. I would like to not think so since their new members play the old songs to perfection. The new drummer really deserves honor. His technical performance is beyond words. For the fifth time I saw Opeth live last summer, and I must admit that Hex Omega and Porcelain Heart made me lose concentration there for a minute.

It is with sadness in my heart that I appoint this album only three stars. Opeth is after all one of my all-time favorite bands. Maybe that is why I expect as much of them as I do. I am sure they will be back soon, stronger than ever.

To be honest, I don't think it's fair to compare this album to the later Opeth releases, due to the fact that there other albums where achieved when Opeth really had achieved the sound that they were searching for.

Many fans of Opeth (I have seen Lamentations, and I think that the testoesterone driven metal fans have only respect for the death metal side of Opeth, and seem to ignore the brilliant musicianship that was presented in their acoustic passages, the trait which attracted me to them in the first place.) seem to not have any real respect for this album, being ignorant to the fact that the album was basically a demo, the production is quite bad due to the fact it was their first recording and that (in my non perfectionist way), the music is still present, so stop worrying about the production and listen...with ears.

The songs aren't the strongest Opeth songs, and they didn't really seem to have much hooks. The music presented is well crafted and their some lovely folky like acoustic passages. The vocals, which seem to be growls throughout nearly, I really enjoyed. When it comes to growlers, Mikael is probabbly one of the most unique and one of the best. His early growls almost have a Cradle Of Filth ambient feel to them.

Some people may say that the songs have no real structure, but I did develop a pattern. Most of the songs followed this specific pattern.

I. Instrumental section II. Verses with growls III. Acoustic section. IV. Return of verses with growls V. Another acoustic section. VI. Instrumental outro

I like this way of organising music. It reminds me of classical forms like sonata, binary and rondo. My band Eternia, also organise our long songs in a similar fashion.

The lyrics seem to have a concept, but to be honest, if it is, it's about a man who is journeying through...A FOREST (nudge nudge nudge wink wink wink), trying to find his soul, who appears to be a woman.

1. In Mist She Was Standing - After an early Fates Warning and Iron Maiden like melodic metal intro, mixed with black metal undertones (kind of like early In Flames), the song then portrays elements of Genesis like dramaticism and a dollop of Morbid Angel like growls. The slow section is very reminiscent of Pink Floyd. The random screams add to the atomesphere of the almost folk like passages. To be honest, the music is spectacular. The song seems to be quite lengthy, but due to the fact it is almost like a musical journey...it really succeeds itself.

2. Under The Weeping Moon - This song is very doom orientated, and sounds like My Dying Bride (the kings of doom). The middle section sounds like the dark sections in Rush' Cygnus suite. The instrumental sections ae very dark and eerie and leave you feeling uncomfortable, but in a good way. To be honest, to spot a production error, there is way too much echo on Mikaels clean vocals.

3. Silhouette - Weird piano instrumental. The production is quite poor, but it adds to the ghostly feel to the song.

4. Forest Of October - A very Candlemass like intro, with a cool scream from Mikael. This is another dark piece, with some random acoustic sections. But they work...somehow. Another doom filled piece.

5. The Twilight Is My Robe - A darker version of Iron Maiden (isn't that Cradle Of Filth?) I feel that the acoustic passages could have been extended. This song sounds alot like The Carpenter by Nightwish. Probabbly the most interesting song on the album.

6. Requiem - A nice wee interlude.

7. The Apostle In Triumph - The intro of this song is very folky and reminds me of traditional music. The acoustic parts with added percussion are cool. The middle section is quite eccentric and reminds me of Antonius Rex. The layered vocals on this song sound quite good as well.

CONCLUSION: If you love Opeth, don't but this album, but the rest, then buy The Candlelight Years. This album is great album, and is amazing as a debut, but buy albums from Still Life to Ghost Reveries first (to be honest, Watershed was a bit of a let down.)