MY ARMS, YOUR HEARSE

MAYH sees Opeth finding their true sound that has developed all the way to now with their latest prog masterpiece, Ghost Reveries. After their wonderfully atmospheric and overall excellent debut, Orchid, the band went on to do Morningrise, which is still considered their best by some. This is a huge change from Morningrise. Pure growls now from Akerfeldt, and quite a bit more of straight singing than Orchid. Maybe a little more than Morningrise. The sound is really full and is just a behemoth to be reckoned with. This is not my favorite Opeth album, and it's a little repetitive and can even get boring, but is absolutely essential to any prog metal lover's collection and would be fine among a classic prog rock fan's collection too. It's also worthwhile to note that this is probably the most brutal Opeth album of any. Just listen to When, April Ethereal, Demon of the Fall...this stuff is evil as hell.

The album opens with Prologue, which, as the name suggests, builds up some nice atmosphere with rain and some piano. This track is rendered completely useless by the entry of the second song, April Ethereal, which has a such a brutal opening riff that you wonder why they even bothered doing the Prologue if they were going to destroy it so quickly. Akerfeldt's vocals are actually really brutal here. The song blasts along for about four minutes and then starts cooling down. Some great fading clean vocals throughout after that four minute mark, and a great section at around 5:40. The song starts exiting out with a simple riff Then the song decides to kick your ass one more time, then fade out with a wonderful riff that almost seems anxious. When is next, and after the brief acoustic entry, in comes probably the most crushingly heavy riff and growl Opeth has ever done. It blasts along like April Ethereal, has some nice acoustic interludes, then eventually returns to that sorta questioning, anxious and melodic riff at around 5:20. After it cools down, and Akerfeldt does some clean singing. Akerfeldt actually sounds kinda sick here, like he has a cold...but whatever. At around 7:48, one of the best parts of the album comes in, with some great singing and overall a great desperate and barren feel to the section. Good stuff.

Madrigal...instrumental filler, but nice. Whatever. The Amen Corner isn't quite up to par with the other two big songs so far, but it does have a crazy cool opening section that is catchy as hell. Otherwise, it kind trudges along with some uninspiring riffs. The predictable acoustic and clean vocal part at the end really does sound predictable and strangely lame.

The big standout of the album, and easily one of Opeth's best songs though, is the next song, which is Demon of the Fall. This...is awesome. It's ridiculously heavy, even with some layered growls to add to the vocals. The acoustics interludes are awesome, and the end is extremely well-done. This song has EVERYTHING you could possibly want in metal. Beautiful stuff, this song alone is worth the price of the album. It flows seamlessly into Credence, which resembles To Bid You Farewell. Completely quiet. Too bad it's not nearly as good as To Bid You Farewell. It gets a bit boring.

Karma brings back the quality, with some bone crushing heaviness complimented by a very long acoustic sections. Luckily, this is one of the best acoustic sections in the album. This is basically the closer, and it ends wit ha brutally long growl and some great riffage, then an acoustic twang...we're done. What a ride. No. Wait. We got one more. But no one cares. Scratch it off. It's worth nothing. Opeth tries a semi- Pink Floyd metal song, and it doesn't work.

Still, this album is worth it, even if it is a little repetitive, there's enough to like about it to warrant a purchase. A non-essential album, absolutely an essential prog metal album.