DAMNATION

Damnation is Opeth most different album, even from the prog-only lineage, coming after the brutal and heavy, Deliverance, its successor has a softer and more melancholic nature and originally together with Deliverance, it was supposed to be a double album with the first part heavy and the other soft, exploring in a fixed way the 2 sides of Opeth sound, and during my journey with Opeth, I already listened to it, however, after finishing all the albums of the heavy lineage, I thought about relistening because my opinions was not so formed about the album and... what an experience! I will be more different in this review and address what I think of the album in a more separate way.

Mixing: one of the best mixes I've heard on an Opeth album by Steven Wilson who already mixed the legendary Blackwater Park, it's very reminiscent of something from the 70s considering the influences of Opeth's prog bands (like Camel), the sound is clear and the volume is consistent and the instruments work very well, it is harmonious and very pleasant to pay attention to how each musician plays.

Composition: Because it is not heavy and the songs are softer, Damnation has the freedom to have several changes in the structure of the songs, and wow, everyone here plays with mastery, Martin Lopez is an excellent drummer, very jazzy, Mikael Åkerfeldt and Peter Lindgren are guitarists with a lot of chemistry and they present very memorable and dark riffs, expressing many different feelings as they switch from section to section, and Martin Mendez shines a lot as a bassist, the tones and his way of playing present well-planned melodies, a focused and subtle bass with its versatility, oh, and Steven Wilson plays here too, great mellotron and contributes well to the album.

Atmosphere: As said before, a soft and melancholic album, the atmosphere here is very immersive, the times I listened to this album, I felt like I was exploring someone's memories, and well, Opeth's lyrics were always about imagination, never in fact exploring specific concepts and quite open in interpretation, in this album, it is the same thing, all quite intriguing such as ''Death Whispered a Lullaby'' and ''Windowpane'' which gives even more atmosphere to this album are the Mikael's beautiful vocals, I love and love them here, he has always been a vocalist with duality between having powerful heavy vocals and calm and beautiful vocals and here, he fully explores the soft vocals, an incredible performance and a quality atmosphere.

In conclusion: Damnation is quite special and perfectly explores the soft side of Opeth, all the songs are fantastic and the album as a whole has a good replay factor, the melancholic and engaging atmosphere, a dark album that expresses many feelings of sadness in many ways with an eclectic composition, an incredible release, both for getting it right, being quite bold, in its proposal, if you, by chance, wanted to listen to Opeth, but don't really like the songs that contain Metal, this album is for you, perfect in every way and a release that I will find myself relistening to several times.

10/10