GHOST REVERIES

Though not being the first Opeth album i ever listened, Ghost Reveries was, in fact, the first Opeth album i ever bought, probably sometime between November and December of 07. Since the time i bought it i liked the album but i was not able to enjoy it completely probably because i was not mature enough in prog rock and in progressive metal (specially in the extreme session of progressive metal), so it was recently that i finally realized how good this album really was.

In that maturing process was very important to listen carefully to all Opeth's discography, so i could realize their stylistic evolution. For example, though this album is still very heavy and have the guttural vocals that characterizes Opeth, Steven Wilson's influence was very deep in Mikael Åkerfeldt and that caused: the appearance of another one musician in Opeth's line-up (Per Wiberg, who would tackle the keyboard duties) and increased complexion in Opeth's music, most notably using the keyboards to build a harmonic base, better balance in the songs (the heavy songs have more calm or increased usage of acoustic instruments and with the soft songs the opposite happens) and, due to the two previous features listed, the orchestration in general became more complex.

This album is, also, the first album Opeth released without any special guest since Still Life, back in 1999. So, Ghost Reveries symbolizes some kind of rebirth, after being six years making albums with Steven Wilson.

About the songs, musicianship and other features, there are somethings i would like to state:

This album have some musical differences from its predecessors that must be pointed out. The most important is the inclusion of keyboards in Opeth's music, as i said before. The keyboards, apart from making the harmonic base, also makes the music thicker, in the lack of a better term. Also their music is noticeably more ethereal and moody, heading every time more towards progressive rock than to extreme metal.

As always, the instrumental work is wonderful: both guitars work perfectly as a team, just like the whole band that, though being reasonably independent among themselves (the only exception being the keyboards, who supports the whole band), work perfectly well together.

Grade and Final Thoughts

It almost took me a year, but i finally saw that this album is really, really good and deserves the masterpiece grade and the significant improvements listed in my review support my decision. A great album indeed.

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