MORNINGRISE

Opeth

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

3.74 | 867 ratings

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evenless
Prog Reviewer

OPETH - Morningrise (3.5 stars really!)

I discovered OPETH with their mellow 2003 album DAMNATION and started to work my way back through the catalogue from there. So after DAMNATION I purchased BLACKWATER PARK (BWP) and DELIVERANCE.

It took me some time to get used to Mikael's growling and I still didn't get quite used to it. Even back on the 1996 MORNINGRISE you can already hear that OPETH is not your average Swedish Death Metal band; Their compositions and instrumentation is all great with many variations of tempo and moods in their music varying from atmospheric to bombastic with death metal grunts.

It is still my humble opinion that the grunting is not supporting the music when almost all lyrics are sung growling opposed to a growl or grunt now and then. On MORNINGRISE it is a big relief to me whenever Mikael uses his clear vocals. I would rather have him sing all the lyrics with his clean vocals with only a grunt now and then whenever it is necessary to put some emotion in the music, like for example Mariusz Duda from RIVERSIDE does. Fortunately Mikael Akerfeldt puts more variation in his voice on the later albums like BWP and Ghost Reveries. The final track (not the bonus track) "To Bid You Farewell" is the track I love most because it is somewhat mellow like the later compositions on the DAMNATION album. BEAUTIFUL!

Once again; this is not an album for starters, I suppose only for the Prog lovers who can cope with the growling and grunting. But on the other hand musically everything is overwhelming and played perfectly. Many changes in tempo and atmosphere of the music have become almost an "OPETH trademark".

3 stars because I simply find STILL LIFE, BWP and GHOST REVERIES a lot better than the "early OPETH", but MORNINGRISE is certainly worth it!

evenless | 3/5 | 2006-9-22

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