STILL LIFE

Opeth

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

4.29 | 1835 ratings

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thesleeper72

Ah.... Still Life. This is where Opeth truly began to shine.

There previous release, My Arms, Your Hearse, while it bended towards Opeth style today that we know and love today. If one has listened to any of their previous albums, one can tell that Mikael Akerfeldt's death vocals deepened considerably on this album. The album also has a highly psychedelic feel to it, much different from the more folky, black metal of the first two albums and the rough death metal sound of their previous album.

The album is a concept album dealing with a man who has rejected his faith and fled the town in fear of death. However, he returns for the love of his life Melinda. Things soon turn tragic after that.

The album features seven tracks but does not disappoint with any of them. The Moor and White Cluster are both songs that last over ten minutes. They both showcase how well Opeth is able to play their music. Godhead's Lament and Moonlapse Vertigo are shorter version of the opening and closing song but are just as well played and performed. Serenity Painted Death is one of Opeth's finest song's, truly showing their ability to merge death metal with progressive rock.

However, the two shining gems on this album are the two "ballads": Benighted and Face of Melinda. Calling them ballads is using the term loosely. The former is an acoustic piece which closes with a jazzy like guitar solo while the other is a song that resembles in form a rock ballad, but does not relish in fancy guitar solos. Both of these songs showed that Opeth was capable of writing beautiful songs that were not filler (Credence) or forced (To Bid You Farewell).

Overall, I would recommend this album to anyone who is looking to get into Opeth. One of their finest, right behind Ghost Reveries and Blackwater Park.

thesleeper72 | 5/5 | 2011-1-3

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