GHOST REVERIES

"Ghost Reveries" greatly disturbed me when I first heard it; very soon after I began to really like this type of prog Death-metal, but nowadays I find it too loud and unhappy. It is plainly too dark and depressing for me, I don't see the point of listening to such dreary, death evoking music. The album art is again very depressing and freaky and how 'bout the CD, Coal black. Opening the CD booklet you get more images of demons, skeletons and ghosts, things that really deter me from such music. "Ghost Reveries" was a pretty successful album and I think it got to about number 30 in Australia and in the 60's in the US and UK.

Now the actual music of "Ghost Reveries" is quite complex for a Death-Metal album and Opeth have some good quality guitar playing on the album, not just run of the mill metal riffs. They also tune their guitars up or down to get different sounds out of them. I can't say I like any of the songs all that much, the skin peeling lyrics and such annoy me. Also the problem with death growls are that they are impossible to understand, and when reading the lyrics from the CD booklet you see even more how dreadfully dreary they are. If I had to name one okay song I would say Reverie/ Harlequin Forest.

1.Ghost of Perdition (2/5) 2.The Baying of the Hounds (2/5) 3.Beneath the Mire (2/5) 4.Atonement (2/5) 5.Reverie/ Harlequin Forest (3/5) 6.Hours of Wealth (2/5) 7.The Grand Conjuration (2/5) 8.Isolation Years (2/5) Total = 17 divided by 8 (number of songs) = 2.1 = 2 stars Collectors/fans only

I'm not going to give "Ghost Reveries" 1 star because there are at least a few good musical passages which count as something. Other than that "Ghost Reveries" is a poor album in my mind and serves only to create unhappiness for listeners. This much is true for me; every time I listen to it I become very depressed and soon put on something like jolly like Jethro Tull or Yes. But when you think about it all prog isn't that happy a genre (excluding Jethro Tull.) I suppose major metal heads would enjoy this album so I recommend it to such people. And also I don't write this review as a hate message directed at any persons, I'm just voicing my opinion.