HERITAGE

The first Opeth album with that features a dramatic change in the music direction of the metal giants. Gone are death metal vocals and instrumentation, the foreground belongs to prevailingly metal guitars, clean vocals (sometimes a bit lost in the mix), versatile progressive rock drumming and increasingly used keyboards -> mainly Hammond.

The band is on the crossroads between not very convincing progressive rock and for the band more conventional progressive metal or heavy metal. The music is adventureous albeit not very experimental since the band showcases influences by various bands such as Dio or Judas Priest.

"Heritage" track is a soft intro, probably a bit similar to the sang beginning of "Watershed". "Devil's orchard" is a classic live progressive metal piece; the sound of hammond and lack of extreme metal signatures is the biggest alteration in the sound. Ominous riffs and acoustic sections have not disappeared, fortunately. The last walking part with excellent drums and guitars is very original and shows greater band involvement. Then comes a memorable guitar solo.

"I feel the dark" is quite the opposite for the first track with subdued electric guitars and mellotron before a creative climax and shift changes. There is even a metal-jam-session reminiscent short moment. "Slither" is a retro nod to 70's hard rock, a good but not exceptional song. "Nepenthe" is a progressive-rock track notable for the sliding guitar.

"Häxproces" is a typical Opeth track minus extreme metal and Floydian guitar ending. "The lines in my hand" is compositionally uninteresting but has great drums and bass guitar lines. It could have stayed as an instrumental track. The end is marked by a typical evil Opethesque guitar solo which results in a perhaps heaviest moment of the album. "Marrow of the earth" is the only instrumental track, melancholic as Opeth can ever get and contrasting to the previous tracks - acoustic guitar leading with tasty lines.

Although the album was criticized upon its release by many old fans, in the advent of newer Opeth albums and further changes, it has actually stood the course of time quite well.