THE CANDLELIGHT YEARS

An excellent depiction into where it all began, this is actually my favourite era of Opeth for many reasons. First of all, it is the least progressive and the most pure sounding Opeth you will ever hear. Secondly, Morningrise and MAYH are superb albums and probably two of my all time favourites. Thirdly, I find that because of their absence in pomposity, that they are a lot easier to listen to here, and create a lot of really original melodic moment as they are RAW. It also shows off their folk influences a hell of a lot, which i adore. Finally, you get to hear all sides of this great band. On one side, you have their melodic, acoustic and mellow side with Morningrise augmented very effectively with heavier sections. On t'other, you have the brutal Opeth with MAYH where they turn to technical arrangements and their prog influences. In the middle is Orchid, where they are developing their sound still. This is very nostalgic, as you can really see its historical sygnificance and that in a way makes it an enjoyable listen.

Overall, this is a fantastic idea for a compilation. As mentioned before, i do prefer this era, but it's a shame they didn't include the great Still Life as that is also from their earlier era I believe. As it's a compilation, it is never going to be a masterpiece. So the maximum i can give it is four stars, to honour the amazing 90s period they went through.

"The Candlelight Years" is a box set release by Swedish progressive death metal act Opeth. The box set was released through Candlelight Records in June 2008. It bridges the gap between Opeth´s ninth- and tenth full-length studio albums "Watershed" (2008) and "Heritage" (2011). The box set includes the first three Opeth albums "Orchid" (1995), "Morningrise" (1996), and "My Arms, Your Hearse" (1998), which were all released through Candlelight Records, hence giving the label the rights to release this box set.

In addition the the material from the three albums, "The Candlelight Years" features a few bonus tracks, where were not featured on the original albums. Some had however appeared on limited editions/reissues of the album releases. It´s a couple of 1992 demo tracks and covers of "Circle of the Tyrants" by Celtic Frost, and "Remember Tomorrow" by Iron Maiden.

The run of albums from "Orchid" to "My Arms, Your Hearse" show a band in rapid development honing their songwriting craft and their playing skills, but also searching for a musical direction, which they more or less found on "My Arms, Your Hearse". Both "Orchid" and "Morningrise" are very different in sound to the subsequent progressive death metal releases (before they dropped the death metal vocals and started to play progressive rock) and although the death/doom metal basis of the band´s sound is there on all three albums featured in this box set, the heaviness and riff styles are quite different. The first two albums use a lot of melodic harmonies and counterpoint melodies as the dominant riff style, while "My Arms, Your Hearse" are a darker, and more chord riff dominated affair (although it also features epic sollowfilled guitar leads and harmonies). Atmospheric and at times folky acoustic parts are a major part of the band´s style. The vocals also changed from the early blackened snarling growling to a deeper more pure death metal growling vocal style on "My Arms, Your Hearse".

All three releases are in many ways transitional releases in Opeth´s discography and while they are certainly worth a listen (especially "My Arms, Your Hearse"), they are early sketches of the more evolved and complete works Opeth would release in the early 00s. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

'The Candlelight Years' - Opeth (Boxset)

'The Candlelight Years' certainly isn't essential for an Opeth fan to purchase, and there is absolutely no point to purchase it unless one has been looking for each of the three CDs enclosed. For me, finding the 'Candlelight Years' in an independent record shop was a real blessing. I got the three Opeth albums I hadn't been able to find, for a third of the price that all three bought separately would have cost.

Reviews for the music itself are in separate album reviews, but I can say that this compilation of albums isn't as great as the other Opeth boxset (which has 'Blackwater Park,' 'Damnation' and 'Deliverence.') It's not a boxset I would recommend to someone just starting out with Opeth (especially if they're not traditionally into metal) but there's great music here.

A real gripe I have with this boxset that I did not have with the other one is that there is not individual album artwork for each of the works. There is original 'Candlelight' boxset art (which is nice to have) but I would have preferred to have all of the artwork that buying the albums separately would have brought me. All that you get with this set are three small squares (front album art) that you have to squint to see properly. A bit of a letdown on that note, but for the price; it's pretty hard to complain.

This is a convenient way of collecting Opeth's first three albums all in one fell swoop. Though Morningrise is far and away the best album here, the other two albums presented are nice bonuses on top of that star attraction; Orchid captures the band in the process of gradually finding their sound, whilst My Arms, Your Hearse has a bleak, almost black metal-inspired aesthetic which makes it perhaps Opeth's darkest and murkiest release. Each disc has a few bonus tracks, giving a full overview of the band's earliest era, making this a good purchase so long as you're happy with not getting the full artwork.