PALE COMMUNION

I have always been a huge fan of Opeth. Up until Heritage they could do no wrong in my book. Even though I have clear favourites (blackwater Park, Still Life, Ghost Reveries), all their other work is superb. Heritage was their first album I just couldn't get into. It lacked focus and felt disjointed and rushed. I'll be honest: I feared for Opeth.

Their newest release: Pale Communion has proven me wrong. Heritage was just a misstep, they are still going strong. With Mikael Akerfeldts newfound resentment of heavy metal, the band has taken a more gentle approach to music. In reality this doesn't really change that much to the music. Sure a bit more keys are added (a very good thing imo) and the distortion is less heavy, but otherwise, the music is very similar to what it was before Heritage.

I'm not going to go through all the songs, but I'll say that every song (yes even Cusp of Eternity) has grown on me. I especially like Moon Above, Sun Below, Goblin, and Faith in Others. Musically, this is easily a 4 star album.......

Yet I'm giving it 3..The reason for this is the mixing. Done by the otherwise flawless Steven Wilson, the mixing is way too bass heavy for my ears. Both the bass and the bassdrums are predominantly present. For me, this is distracting enough to lower my rating from 4 to 3 stars. I can only say this is a damn shame, because this could have been really great.

Share this OPETH review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to jverweij
• Report this review (#1261581)
• Buy OPETH music online with PA partners
• Show all OPETH MP3/Stream
• Go to OPETH page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Pale Communion page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for OPETH related discussions