Artist: Opeth
Label: Roadrunner Records
Released: 2005
Opeth are a Swedish progressive melodic death metal band that’s been around since the early nineties, but that label only captures part of what Opeth offer. The guys mix jazz, blues and plenty of progressive rock into the metal, reminiscent of 70s prog rock acts. I think a comparison to Pink Floyd is fair here. Finally, I’d also mention an element of Opeth that many people don’t even notice and that’s rarely front and center, what I’d call a “Latin groove”, courtesy of bassist Mendez and especially the now-former drummer Lopez, who both hail from South America.
On this album, too, Opeth stick firmly to their concept of making music. The songs run from just under four minutes to a good ten, and as always with Opeth, you get both mellower songs and some heavier, faster ones.
The opener Ghost of Perdition sums up the whole album nicely. Over a little more than ten minutes, heavy guitar sound and double bass drums blend with Akerfeldt’s excellent deep, aggressive growl, which later slips into gentle clean vocals joined by acoustic guitars and calm keyboard melodies, and the tempo settles down. I’d say the next two songs stick to a similar concept, but that changes completely with the fourth song, Atonement. The whole song has a calm, dreamy atmosphere, nicely complemented by Akerfeldt’s clean vocals mentioned earlier. You could draw parallels between Atonement and Hours of Wealth and Isolation Years, the song Akerfeldt wrote last and which stands apart from the rest. The whole album was originally meant to be a concept album, but Akerfeldt decided to add this track, which isn’t connected to the others and stands on its own. You could basically say that Isolation Years “ruins” the album’s conceptual shape, which was originally intended for this record..Then comes the fifth track, Reverie / Harlequin Forest, followed by The Grand Conjuration, which they also shot a video for and which is, in my opinion, the most “death metal” track on the whole album.
The lyrics on this album stray a bit from what Opeth tackled on previous albums, since they talk about Satan, demons and so on. That’s a change from the lyrical themes of nature and emotions that were more present in Opeth before. Still, the lyrics are excellent, and they’re really about anything but demons, the kind you see after knocking back a few.
From a purely technical standpoint, I think special praise goes to Martin Mendez, whose bass definitely comes through more on this album than ever before, and to new band member Per Wiberg, who I was skeptical about at first, but after listening to the album a few times, I think he did a great job. The other members keep up their usual quality on this album too, and they deserve praise as well. The production of the album, which they originally wanted to record in the US, in Texas, and later did in Sweden instead, is, as always with Opeth, at an exceptionally high level.
Besides the standard release, Opeth also offered fans a bonus edition with a ninth track, a cover of Deep Purple’s Soldier of Fortune, which in my opinion is even better than the original, hehe. They also added a DVD about how the album was recorded, plus interviews with the band members, and one more video, I’m talking about the video for The Grand Conjuration. I’d recommend the bonus edition only to the most hardcore fans of the band who really care about the story behind the recording of this album, and want to know more about the band members and their view of the music they make, the future of the group and so on, because for its price I don’t think it’s worth what it offers.
When all is said and done, with this album Opeth (once again) proved that few in metal today can match them, and that they keep up their quality even after more than 15 years of playing and eight albums. I’d also recommend this album to anyone who doesn’t know Opeth (yet), since it captures well everything that made a name for Opeth over the years. The band gradually picked up listeners and never had an overnight breakthrough like some groups. I’m also hinting at a bit of repetition in the band’s work here, since they didn’t serve up anything truly brand new, and it’s partly a reworking of older tracks. That’s why this album isn’t entirely flawless and I wouldn’t give it the very top score, but that’s just my personal remark. I reckon that with this album Opeth will win over those who don’t know them yet, and they won’t leave old fans cold either.
Line-up
Mikael Åkerfeldt – vocals, guitar
Per Wiberg – keyboards, backing vocals
Peter Lindgren – guitar
Martin Mendez – bass guitar
Martin Lopez – drums, percussion
Production
Opeth & Jens Bogren
Track list
1. Ghost of Perdition (10:29)
2. The Baying of the Hounds (10:41)
3. Beneath the Mire (7:57)
4. Atonement (6:28)
5. Reverie / Harlequin Forest (11:39)
6. Hours of Wealth (5:20)
7. The Grand Conjuration (10:21)
8. Isolation Years (3:51)
9. Soldier Of Fortune*
Running time: 66:46
*…. bonus track (limited 2006 edition)
BONUS DVD (limited 2006 edition):
1. Beyond Ghost Reveries
2. Ghost Reveries
3. Grand Conjuration
