Opeth is one of my favorite bands and, after releasing their newest album, I felt it would be as good a time as any to take a listen back through their discography and rank them based on my own opinion of them. If you've never heard of Opeth then hopefully this run down will give you reason to check them out, they have evolved so much over the years that they undoubtedly have at least one album that would interest you.
As an aside, the recommended tracks aren't necessarily the ones I find to be the best on the album but the ones I think are the best representation of the album. If I were to recommend the album to a friend, they are the ones I would toss their direction first. In a bit of a twist, since Opeth's catalog is full of so much good material, I'm not going to bother going from bottom to top, we'll start right out with my #1!
#01. Blackwater Park (2001)
There isn't anything I can say about this album that hasn't been said by hundreds of others already. This isn't just the greatest Opeth album, this is one of the best metal albums of all time. I had no idea how spoiled I would be when, in the midst of a great search I had for a copy of My Arms, Your Hearse, I came across this in a store. 'Wow! An Opeth album in a cd store, I don't care if I only have twenty dollars to my name, I HAVE to get this!"
I'll be honest, as silly as it may sound I didn't like Blackwater Park at first. It wasn't what I was expecting. I was first introduced to Opeth by songs off of My Arms, Your Hearse. Blackwater Park sounded cleaner and more focused than the songs I had fallen in love with. Yet I was constantly compelled to listen to it. Each listen gave a new appreciation, every little subtlety stood out a bit more, until I found myself listening almost exclusively to it at the exclusion of every other album I owned. The layers of complexity began to grow the closer attention I paid, I realized everything I loved about Opeth when I first heard them existed on this album, I just needed to take the time to find them.
There isn't a bad song here. Everyone seems to have a different favorite track and each of them has perfect justification for it. This album was the first to feature Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree, who is an either much loved or much loathed addition to the Opeth sound, but there is no denying he came on at the right time. Blackwater Park is a juggernaut with nuclear weapons in a field of midgets with sticks, there is nothing I have heard in my life that comes this close to absolute perfection. This is an example of everything going right, from the amazing opening track to the now classic closing and every moment in between. Prepare to have your mind blown.
Recommended Tracks: Bleak, Blackwater Park
#02. My Arms, Your Hearse (1998)
I'm going to tell you this right off the bat. I have a very unfair bias toward My Arms, Your Hearse. It has the first Opeth song I ever heard on it, which happens to still be my favorite song of all time, and I spent months listening to the few tracks I was able to get a hold of in anticipation of owning it. You see, this was back in the days when downloading music wasn't so easy and YouTube wasn't even an idea in anyone's head. I put in hard work to track this album down because no one at that time had any idea what this 'Opeth' was.
My Arms, Your Hearse is distinctly heavier than the albums that came before it without going all out into the heavy guitars of typical metal bands. The depth of music that is going on at any given time can be absolutely consuming. I listened to the album a hundred times and was still catching parts I hadn't noticed before. Unlike the two albums that preceded it, My Arms, Your Hearse doesn't dwell very long on any particular instrumental, it hits at a blistering pace, nearly reaching but never passing the point of being overwhelming. Every moment has something new going on, at no point in time does the band get lazy, cord progessions change up often and explore every element of the sound being delivered.
Then there is 'When', the greatest song I have ever heard in my life. I bought a compliation cd from Century Media called 'Identity 5' back when compilation cds were the only way to test out a bunch of new bands. That album is packed with so many amazing songs that I own an album from nearly every band on it. But as great as that compilation is, the very end absolutely took my breath away. Opeth's 'When' was the final song on the album, the song that would catch my attention as I faded into sleep every night for months, and bring me into a world of possibilities I had no idea could even exist.
For those who love the experience of music, the experience of being lost in a world of noise, and taking a voyage into the unknown with an experienced captain that knows all the best stops, then you need to pick up this album. To this day I can't completely wrap my mind around everything I'm hearing and that is what I love so much about it. If my life could be music, I would want it to be this.
Recommended Tracks: When, Demon of the Fall
#03. Morningrise (1996)
Prior to the release of Blackwater Park, Morningrise was considered the great opus of the Opeth catalogue. I'm sure some who have been fans of Opeth since the very beginning may still feel that way. While there are a lot of metal inspired moments on Morningrise, there are just as many that delve completely out of the metal realm. The vocals are mostly all harsh and as I listen to it right now, I find myself growling right along with them. Growling that is catchy and fun to sing along with? I know, it still astounds me and I'm in the middle of doing it!
It is hard to give a proper description to the magic this album conjures, the way that it is both dark and uplifting, the way it flows between various styles seamlessly. It goes everywhere it wants to go and doesn't pay any attention to the set standards of genres. Despite being a rather laid back experience, the pace is still fairly quick, and no note seems unnecessary in the grand design of the album.
Morningrise also caused a fair amount of controversy in the metal world when it was released. At the time having a completely clean vocal track on a black metal album was unheard of, progressive or otherwise. 'To Bid You Farewell' became the point that split the fanbase. Metal purists could not accept a non-metal song on a metal album. Funny, since now many bands have gone in that very same direction. Oh, and I can't very well talk about this album without mentioning the 20 minute epic Black Rose Immortal. The entire album could very well be summed up in this one track, a great achievement in the world of progressive metal and a song all music enthusiasts should check out at least once.
Recommended Tracks: Black Rose Immortal, To Bid You Farewell
#04. Orchid (1995)
The one that began it all, the first LP Opeth ever released and a brilliant sign of what was to come. There is an energy to this album that is unique unto itself, it keeps a quick pace and doesn't have the common dark tones that come to be a staple of the Opeth style later on. Most of the songs are ten minutes or more but there isn't a dull moment to be had anywhere. If you're into black metal, if you like technical and catchy riffs, then absolutely look into this one. There is a reason Orchid garnered so much attention when it was released, well before Opeth was considered one of the greatest progressive metal bands of all time.
Even though it is an album I don't listen to very often, which is why it falls a bit lower on my list, it is always an absolute joy to experience every time I do. By no means am I implying this is a bad album by not having it at the top of the list. In fact, a lot of what I love about early Opeth is prevalent in abundance on this album. Fast paced guitars that slow down into deep, serene, almost hypnotic instrumentals. The variety may be difficult for some to get into, especially those who are very serious about 'metal being metal', but I could not imagine a band doing this style in a more perfect fashion than Opeth.
Wow, as I give Orchid a quick listen over I'm starting to realize just how much I love this album. It is actually compelling me to put it higher and higher on the list the longer it goes on. I admit, my memory can be a bit rusty, but Orchid is crushing me with how much it gets right and how much it offers as a listening experience. And yes, it really is an experience. It even has an instrumental played entirely on the piano, the only album to have such a track. Opeth's best albums all feel like journeys and this is easily among the best albums I have ever heard.
Recommended Tracks: In Mist She Was Standing, Forest of October
#05. Watershed (2008)
Watershed marked a major shake-up for Opeth. A lot of new elements, not to mention members, came along during this time period. Longtime members fell to the wayside for a number of reasons while new additions, while highly acclaimed for their past work in other bands, added an element of uncertainty. It was time for a clean slate, for the new members to prove they could bring a new twist to one of the greatest bands of our time, and they wasted no time making an impact.
'The Lotus Eater' was leaked early, receiving high praise from long jaded fans and garnering some new ones as well. By the time the video for 'Porcelain Heart' was released, Watershed was already being proclaimed as one of the greatest Opeth albums of all time and a return to prominence for frontman Akerfeldt. Watershed is the musical equivolent of a breath of fresh air and a great sigh of relief, one shared by Akerfeldt and fans alike. Gone is the cohesion between songs that made early Opeth albums feel like one giant song that happened to be split into arbitrary chunks, but in its place comes the sure hands of a lot of talented musicians doing what they do best.
The album is, dare I say it, fun. Watershed goes from serious sounding death metal bits to groovy keyboard breakdowns straight into blast beats with perfectly respectable clean vocals driving the insanity of the whole affair home. The energy level is amped up once again and the pacing makes everything feel important. While not possessing the technical craziness and deeply layered walls of sound that earlier Opeth utilized to great success, Watershed lives up to its name, sparking a new era for the band.
Recommended Tracks: The Lotus Eater, Burden
#06. Still Life (1999)
There was a time when Opeth could do no wrong. Every release that came out was met with great praise and were nitpicked to death more for the preferences in tone than for any honest dislike. Still Life was, and probably still is for some, the standard Opeth album. The album you MUST own if you're a 'true' fan of metal. And it is great, it is a lot more focused than My Arms, Your Hearse before it, and retains a lot of the creative investigation that made all of Opeth's early releases worth checking into.
In a dramatic shift, after the negative reaction to 'To Bid You Farewell' on Morningrise, the clean track 'Face of Melinda' on Still Life has become one of the most beloved songs in the Opeth discography by fans and non-fans alike. Still Life does an incredible job of exploring the time period that it focuses on, a time when lynchings were common and heretics were met with more than just hatred. I can fully understand why so many people would place this at the top of their list and I genuinely enjoy every listen I have ever had.
But I just don't connect to it. The story is awesome, the music is incredible, the songs demand more and more listens, but for me there isn't that personal connection. I identified with My Arms, Your Hearse, the idea of being a ghost wandering the world, where Still Life has always seemed just outside my grasp. A great work of art that I can appreciate for everything it offers even if it isn't among my favorites by the artist.
Recommended Tracks: Face of Melinda, White Cluster
#07. Pale Communion (2014)
The lynch mob gathered outside as Akerfeldt finished penning his newest album. No harsh vocals were to be found and the cry of death metal past echoed through the air. The door opened, Akerfeldt offered the newly written pages to the vehement onlookers, and everyone paused. What was this? It...it sounded like Opeth. It sounded like Opeth! Yet, where was the growling? It wasn't there but...somehow...some way...the album was amazing. The crowd began to disperse, completely dumbfounded, as Akerfeldt stepped back into his cottage and whispered under his breath "what a bunch of nobbers".
It is possible that the impossible has finally been achieved. Not only has Opeth transitioned from black metal to progressive death metal, they have now progressed from progressive death metal to straight up prog rock. And the album is really, really good. Pale Communion is already receiving praise that it may be the best album of the year from many usually jaded musical enthusiasts and no one is really disagreeing.
The tempo changes, the complex guitar work, the tons of stuff going on at once, the subtle changes in notes throughout a song, everything that made Opeth such an enthralling band to listen to finally returns...just in a slightly different form. When I heard the first single off the album I feared the worst. It was a good song, very catchy, but if the rest of the album was going to sound like it then I considered that it may be the first Opeth album I wouldn't own. Thankfully, everything else brought together some of the most beloved sounds from Opeth past that quickly won me over. Opeth has done it again, everyone is left with jaws agape, taking in their greatness.
Recommended Tracks: Eternal Rains Will Come, Moon Above Sun Below
#08. Deliverance (2002)
During this time period Mikael Akerfeldt was going through a dark place. A major death in his family had impacted him hard and the entire tone of the album is affected by it. Much like earlier Opeth albums, there is a lot to be experienced and a lot to gain from each new listen. I find that even now, twelve years after first holding Deliverance in my hand, it is STILL growing on me. Tracks I never thought much of strike me as being far better than I give them credit for.
This marks the first in a line that focuses heavily on being 'haunting'. The opening track sets the stage, being almost entirely death metal vocals until the chilling ending that sticks in your mind for weeks after you first hear it. There is just something so hypnotic about this release that I can never let go and I am at a loss for why I don't enjoy it more.
Deliverance utilizes a much heavier sound to the guitars and Akerfeldt's harsh vocals are the most abrasive they have ever been. This isn't a bad thing, within the context of the album everything compliments everything else very well, but perhaps it is the depressing tone that can make it difficult to listen to for an extended length of time. Perhaps I identify with this album TOO much for comfort.
Despite falling low on my list of favorite Opeth albums, I still have many fond memories of Deliverance and it certainly had it's weeks of running time in my cd player. However if I was recommending Opeth to someone, unless they were REALLY into death metal, this wouldn't be anywhere close to the first recommendation I would make to them. But it is worth noting that the title track of the album is absolutely beloved among Opeth fans and, if you're looking for a complete Opeth experience, then this album is definitely not one to skip over.
Recommended Tracks: Deliverance, A Fair Judgement
#09. Heritage (2011)
Opeth successfully reinvented itself with Watershed then, in the minds of many, they went and messed that all up. Gone are the harsh vocals, gone are the crazy metal guitars, gone is everything that made every metal fan drool themselves to sleep. In its place is a nice, easy to listen to prog rock album. Needless to say, this is not the direction most of Opeth's fanbase was expecting.
The rebellion was temporarily quelled with the release of 'The Devil's Orchard', a good song by anyone's standards and one that showed that Opeth hadn't completely abandoned the dark tone of music that made them so popular, they just took it into a new realm. Then the entire album was released and was met with mass disapproval. The energy from Watershed was gone, everything seemed a bit too lifeless, and came off as more of an attempt to pay homage to some of Akerfeldt's prog inspirations than it did an Opeth album.
My reaction to the album is a resounding 'its ok'. No one is likely to think this album is must own, outside of those of us who think EVERY Opeth album is a must own. Then again there is nothing really wrong with it either. It is a pleasant listen, with a mellow pacing, and a few metalish moments to set it apart from the many other similar acts in the genre. But outside of 'The Devil's Orchard' I forget what any of the songs sound like until I hear them again. Not a crippling condemnation but certainly not an impression that screams success either.
Recommended Tracks: The Devil's Orchard, Haxprocess
#10. Damnation (2003)
When Damnation was initially conceived it was meant to be released as a companion piece to Deliverance, Deliverance being the heavy bit that counterbalanced the complete lack of harsh vocals on Damnation. The label decided otherwise, first releasing Deliverance before releasing Damnation with much hype about the drastic change in style a year later. It didn't disappoint. Despite past issues of fans not taking to the clean vocal stylings of Opeth, Damnation was met with a lot of praise and regarded as a great success.
So why, then, do I not really like it? I have no good answer for that. I certainly don't hate it, I would go so far as to say I quite enjoy a few of the songs, and on a day where I want an Opeth fix but am not in a metal kind of mood then I might give this a spin. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that, under the right conditions, I have enjoyed it. But therein lies the problem, under any other conditions I can easily pass over it and not blink an eye.
The style departure was a huge risk for Opeth as a band, one that has ruined many other great bands before them, yet this was seen as a temporary excursion into more tranquil waters. After all, some of the best parts of Opeth are the breaks from the harsh vocals into the more calming clean ones and you can't go wrong with an album full of only that. Again, the album isn't bad, I just find Damnation to be a bit forgettable in the greater scheme of the band but I have a friend who absolutely loves it, so to each their own on this one.
Recommended Tracks: Windowpane, Death Whispered a Lullaby
#11. Ghost Reveries (2005)
The last Opeth album to feature Peter Lindgren, the 'other half' of the great minds that formed the majority of Opeth's songs, Lindgren would leave Akerfeldt and his musical muse behind citing lack of creative motivation. That being the case, you can quickly gleen why this album sits at the bottom of the pile. Yet in an ironic twist, Ghost Reveries marked the entry of Opeth into a more mainstream market. 2005 was around the time when the great internet music boom began to expose bands long enjoyed in niche settings to the rest of the world, catapulting them from seclusion to infamy.
I really like some aspects of Ghost Reveries. If I could take all of my favorite moments and squish them together then the disc would probably get a lot more spins than it has, I just...I don't like it. I want to like it, it has so many parts that I really like, but it has an equal number of parts that don't interest me at all. And that is a painful thing to say about one of my favorite bands. But I know a large part of why this is.
The album opens with Ghost of Perdition, a song that doesn't leave a definitive taste in your mouth. Maybe its good, maybe its just ok, maybe it works really well in context with the rest of the album. Then 'The Baying of the Hounds' starts and sucks all the life out of you. I didn't think it was possible for one bad song to ruin an entire album for me but I have to skip to the middle of the album just to avoid hearing this track in order to get any enjoyment at all. I think the greatest problem I have with the track is that it has some of the best instrumental sections on the entire album but the rest of the song is so intolerable that it ruins them. In fact, that is a problem with most of the album. I can't think of one song that I enjoy from beginning to end that doesn't have a small section that I don't care for, which pulls me out of the entire experience. A damn shame.
Recommended Tracks: Hours of Wealth, The Grand Conjuration
As an aside, the recommended tracks aren't necessarily the ones I find to be the best on the album but the ones I think are the best representation of the album. If I were to recommend the album to a friend, they are the ones I would toss their direction first. In a bit of a twist, since Opeth's catalog is full of so much good material, I'm not going to bother going from bottom to top, we'll start right out with my #1!
#01. Blackwater Park (2001)
There isn't anything I can say about this album that hasn't been said by hundreds of others already. This isn't just the greatest Opeth album, this is one of the best metal albums of all time. I had no idea how spoiled I would be when, in the midst of a great search I had for a copy of My Arms, Your Hearse, I came across this in a store. 'Wow! An Opeth album in a cd store, I don't care if I only have twenty dollars to my name, I HAVE to get this!"
I'll be honest, as silly as it may sound I didn't like Blackwater Park at first. It wasn't what I was expecting. I was first introduced to Opeth by songs off of My Arms, Your Hearse. Blackwater Park sounded cleaner and more focused than the songs I had fallen in love with. Yet I was constantly compelled to listen to it. Each listen gave a new appreciation, every little subtlety stood out a bit more, until I found myself listening almost exclusively to it at the exclusion of every other album I owned. The layers of complexity began to grow the closer attention I paid, I realized everything I loved about Opeth when I first heard them existed on this album, I just needed to take the time to find them.
There isn't a bad song here. Everyone seems to have a different favorite track and each of them has perfect justification for it. This album was the first to feature Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree, who is an either much loved or much loathed addition to the Opeth sound, but there is no denying he came on at the right time. Blackwater Park is a juggernaut with nuclear weapons in a field of midgets with sticks, there is nothing I have heard in my life that comes this close to absolute perfection. This is an example of everything going right, from the amazing opening track to the now classic closing and every moment in between. Prepare to have your mind blown.
Recommended Tracks: Bleak, Blackwater Park
#02. My Arms, Your Hearse (1998)
I'm going to tell you this right off the bat. I have a very unfair bias toward My Arms, Your Hearse. It has the first Opeth song I ever heard on it, which happens to still be my favorite song of all time, and I spent months listening to the few tracks I was able to get a hold of in anticipation of owning it. You see, this was back in the days when downloading music wasn't so easy and YouTube wasn't even an idea in anyone's head. I put in hard work to track this album down because no one at that time had any idea what this 'Opeth' was.
My Arms, Your Hearse is distinctly heavier than the albums that came before it without going all out into the heavy guitars of typical metal bands. The depth of music that is going on at any given time can be absolutely consuming. I listened to the album a hundred times and was still catching parts I hadn't noticed before. Unlike the two albums that preceded it, My Arms, Your Hearse doesn't dwell very long on any particular instrumental, it hits at a blistering pace, nearly reaching but never passing the point of being overwhelming. Every moment has something new going on, at no point in time does the band get lazy, cord progessions change up often and explore every element of the sound being delivered.
Then there is 'When', the greatest song I have ever heard in my life. I bought a compliation cd from Century Media called 'Identity 5' back when compilation cds were the only way to test out a bunch of new bands. That album is packed with so many amazing songs that I own an album from nearly every band on it. But as great as that compilation is, the very end absolutely took my breath away. Opeth's 'When' was the final song on the album, the song that would catch my attention as I faded into sleep every night for months, and bring me into a world of possibilities I had no idea could even exist.
For those who love the experience of music, the experience of being lost in a world of noise, and taking a voyage into the unknown with an experienced captain that knows all the best stops, then you need to pick up this album. To this day I can't completely wrap my mind around everything I'm hearing and that is what I love so much about it. If my life could be music, I would want it to be this.
Recommended Tracks: When, Demon of the Fall
#03. Morningrise (1996)
Prior to the release of Blackwater Park, Morningrise was considered the great opus of the Opeth catalogue. I'm sure some who have been fans of Opeth since the very beginning may still feel that way. While there are a lot of metal inspired moments on Morningrise, there are just as many that delve completely out of the metal realm. The vocals are mostly all harsh and as I listen to it right now, I find myself growling right along with them. Growling that is catchy and fun to sing along with? I know, it still astounds me and I'm in the middle of doing it!
It is hard to give a proper description to the magic this album conjures, the way that it is both dark and uplifting, the way it flows between various styles seamlessly. It goes everywhere it wants to go and doesn't pay any attention to the set standards of genres. Despite being a rather laid back experience, the pace is still fairly quick, and no note seems unnecessary in the grand design of the album.
Morningrise also caused a fair amount of controversy in the metal world when it was released. At the time having a completely clean vocal track on a black metal album was unheard of, progressive or otherwise. 'To Bid You Farewell' became the point that split the fanbase. Metal purists could not accept a non-metal song on a metal album. Funny, since now many bands have gone in that very same direction. Oh, and I can't very well talk about this album without mentioning the 20 minute epic Black Rose Immortal. The entire album could very well be summed up in this one track, a great achievement in the world of progressive metal and a song all music enthusiasts should check out at least once.
Recommended Tracks: Black Rose Immortal, To Bid You Farewell
#04. Orchid (1995)
The one that began it all, the first LP Opeth ever released and a brilliant sign of what was to come. There is an energy to this album that is unique unto itself, it keeps a quick pace and doesn't have the common dark tones that come to be a staple of the Opeth style later on. Most of the songs are ten minutes or more but there isn't a dull moment to be had anywhere. If you're into black metal, if you like technical and catchy riffs, then absolutely look into this one. There is a reason Orchid garnered so much attention when it was released, well before Opeth was considered one of the greatest progressive metal bands of all time.
Even though it is an album I don't listen to very often, which is why it falls a bit lower on my list, it is always an absolute joy to experience every time I do. By no means am I implying this is a bad album by not having it at the top of the list. In fact, a lot of what I love about early Opeth is prevalent in abundance on this album. Fast paced guitars that slow down into deep, serene, almost hypnotic instrumentals. The variety may be difficult for some to get into, especially those who are very serious about 'metal being metal', but I could not imagine a band doing this style in a more perfect fashion than Opeth.
Wow, as I give Orchid a quick listen over I'm starting to realize just how much I love this album. It is actually compelling me to put it higher and higher on the list the longer it goes on. I admit, my memory can be a bit rusty, but Orchid is crushing me with how much it gets right and how much it offers as a listening experience. And yes, it really is an experience. It even has an instrumental played entirely on the piano, the only album to have such a track. Opeth's best albums all feel like journeys and this is easily among the best albums I have ever heard.
Recommended Tracks: In Mist She Was Standing, Forest of October
#05. Watershed (2008)
Watershed marked a major shake-up for Opeth. A lot of new elements, not to mention members, came along during this time period. Longtime members fell to the wayside for a number of reasons while new additions, while highly acclaimed for their past work in other bands, added an element of uncertainty. It was time for a clean slate, for the new members to prove they could bring a new twist to one of the greatest bands of our time, and they wasted no time making an impact.
'The Lotus Eater' was leaked early, receiving high praise from long jaded fans and garnering some new ones as well. By the time the video for 'Porcelain Heart' was released, Watershed was already being proclaimed as one of the greatest Opeth albums of all time and a return to prominence for frontman Akerfeldt. Watershed is the musical equivolent of a breath of fresh air and a great sigh of relief, one shared by Akerfeldt and fans alike. Gone is the cohesion between songs that made early Opeth albums feel like one giant song that happened to be split into arbitrary chunks, but in its place comes the sure hands of a lot of talented musicians doing what they do best.
The album is, dare I say it, fun. Watershed goes from serious sounding death metal bits to groovy keyboard breakdowns straight into blast beats with perfectly respectable clean vocals driving the insanity of the whole affair home. The energy level is amped up once again and the pacing makes everything feel important. While not possessing the technical craziness and deeply layered walls of sound that earlier Opeth utilized to great success, Watershed lives up to its name, sparking a new era for the band.
Recommended Tracks: The Lotus Eater, Burden
#06. Still Life (1999)
There was a time when Opeth could do no wrong. Every release that came out was met with great praise and were nitpicked to death more for the preferences in tone than for any honest dislike. Still Life was, and probably still is for some, the standard Opeth album. The album you MUST own if you're a 'true' fan of metal. And it is great, it is a lot more focused than My Arms, Your Hearse before it, and retains a lot of the creative investigation that made all of Opeth's early releases worth checking into.
In a dramatic shift, after the negative reaction to 'To Bid You Farewell' on Morningrise, the clean track 'Face of Melinda' on Still Life has become one of the most beloved songs in the Opeth discography by fans and non-fans alike. Still Life does an incredible job of exploring the time period that it focuses on, a time when lynchings were common and heretics were met with more than just hatred. I can fully understand why so many people would place this at the top of their list and I genuinely enjoy every listen I have ever had.
But I just don't connect to it. The story is awesome, the music is incredible, the songs demand more and more listens, but for me there isn't that personal connection. I identified with My Arms, Your Hearse, the idea of being a ghost wandering the world, where Still Life has always seemed just outside my grasp. A great work of art that I can appreciate for everything it offers even if it isn't among my favorites by the artist.
Recommended Tracks: Face of Melinda, White Cluster
#07. Pale Communion (2014)
The lynch mob gathered outside as Akerfeldt finished penning his newest album. No harsh vocals were to be found and the cry of death metal past echoed through the air. The door opened, Akerfeldt offered the newly written pages to the vehement onlookers, and everyone paused. What was this? It...it sounded like Opeth. It sounded like Opeth! Yet, where was the growling? It wasn't there but...somehow...some way...the album was amazing. The crowd began to disperse, completely dumbfounded, as Akerfeldt stepped back into his cottage and whispered under his breath "what a bunch of nobbers".
It is possible that the impossible has finally been achieved. Not only has Opeth transitioned from black metal to progressive death metal, they have now progressed from progressive death metal to straight up prog rock. And the album is really, really good. Pale Communion is already receiving praise that it may be the best album of the year from many usually jaded musical enthusiasts and no one is really disagreeing.
The tempo changes, the complex guitar work, the tons of stuff going on at once, the subtle changes in notes throughout a song, everything that made Opeth such an enthralling band to listen to finally returns...just in a slightly different form. When I heard the first single off the album I feared the worst. It was a good song, very catchy, but if the rest of the album was going to sound like it then I considered that it may be the first Opeth album I wouldn't own. Thankfully, everything else brought together some of the most beloved sounds from Opeth past that quickly won me over. Opeth has done it again, everyone is left with jaws agape, taking in their greatness.
Recommended Tracks: Eternal Rains Will Come, Moon Above Sun Below
#08. Deliverance (2002)
During this time period Mikael Akerfeldt was going through a dark place. A major death in his family had impacted him hard and the entire tone of the album is affected by it. Much like earlier Opeth albums, there is a lot to be experienced and a lot to gain from each new listen. I find that even now, twelve years after first holding Deliverance in my hand, it is STILL growing on me. Tracks I never thought much of strike me as being far better than I give them credit for.
This marks the first in a line that focuses heavily on being 'haunting'. The opening track sets the stage, being almost entirely death metal vocals until the chilling ending that sticks in your mind for weeks after you first hear it. There is just something so hypnotic about this release that I can never let go and I am at a loss for why I don't enjoy it more.
Deliverance utilizes a much heavier sound to the guitars and Akerfeldt's harsh vocals are the most abrasive they have ever been. This isn't a bad thing, within the context of the album everything compliments everything else very well, but perhaps it is the depressing tone that can make it difficult to listen to for an extended length of time. Perhaps I identify with this album TOO much for comfort.
Despite falling low on my list of favorite Opeth albums, I still have many fond memories of Deliverance and it certainly had it's weeks of running time in my cd player. However if I was recommending Opeth to someone, unless they were REALLY into death metal, this wouldn't be anywhere close to the first recommendation I would make to them. But it is worth noting that the title track of the album is absolutely beloved among Opeth fans and, if you're looking for a complete Opeth experience, then this album is definitely not one to skip over.
Recommended Tracks: Deliverance, A Fair Judgement
#09. Heritage (2011)
Opeth successfully reinvented itself with Watershed then, in the minds of many, they went and messed that all up. Gone are the harsh vocals, gone are the crazy metal guitars, gone is everything that made every metal fan drool themselves to sleep. In its place is a nice, easy to listen to prog rock album. Needless to say, this is not the direction most of Opeth's fanbase was expecting.
The rebellion was temporarily quelled with the release of 'The Devil's Orchard', a good song by anyone's standards and one that showed that Opeth hadn't completely abandoned the dark tone of music that made them so popular, they just took it into a new realm. Then the entire album was released and was met with mass disapproval. The energy from Watershed was gone, everything seemed a bit too lifeless, and came off as more of an attempt to pay homage to some of Akerfeldt's prog inspirations than it did an Opeth album.
My reaction to the album is a resounding 'its ok'. No one is likely to think this album is must own, outside of those of us who think EVERY Opeth album is a must own. Then again there is nothing really wrong with it either. It is a pleasant listen, with a mellow pacing, and a few metalish moments to set it apart from the many other similar acts in the genre. But outside of 'The Devil's Orchard' I forget what any of the songs sound like until I hear them again. Not a crippling condemnation but certainly not an impression that screams success either.
Recommended Tracks: The Devil's Orchard, Haxprocess
#10. Damnation (2003)
When Damnation was initially conceived it was meant to be released as a companion piece to Deliverance, Deliverance being the heavy bit that counterbalanced the complete lack of harsh vocals on Damnation. The label decided otherwise, first releasing Deliverance before releasing Damnation with much hype about the drastic change in style a year later. It didn't disappoint. Despite past issues of fans not taking to the clean vocal stylings of Opeth, Damnation was met with a lot of praise and regarded as a great success.
So why, then, do I not really like it? I have no good answer for that. I certainly don't hate it, I would go so far as to say I quite enjoy a few of the songs, and on a day where I want an Opeth fix but am not in a metal kind of mood then I might give this a spin. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that, under the right conditions, I have enjoyed it. But therein lies the problem, under any other conditions I can easily pass over it and not blink an eye.
The style departure was a huge risk for Opeth as a band, one that has ruined many other great bands before them, yet this was seen as a temporary excursion into more tranquil waters. After all, some of the best parts of Opeth are the breaks from the harsh vocals into the more calming clean ones and you can't go wrong with an album full of only that. Again, the album isn't bad, I just find Damnation to be a bit forgettable in the greater scheme of the band but I have a friend who absolutely loves it, so to each their own on this one.
Recommended Tracks: Windowpane, Death Whispered a Lullaby
#11. Ghost Reveries (2005)
The last Opeth album to feature Peter Lindgren, the 'other half' of the great minds that formed the majority of Opeth's songs, Lindgren would leave Akerfeldt and his musical muse behind citing lack of creative motivation. That being the case, you can quickly gleen why this album sits at the bottom of the pile. Yet in an ironic twist, Ghost Reveries marked the entry of Opeth into a more mainstream market. 2005 was around the time when the great internet music boom began to expose bands long enjoyed in niche settings to the rest of the world, catapulting them from seclusion to infamy.
I really like some aspects of Ghost Reveries. If I could take all of my favorite moments and squish them together then the disc would probably get a lot more spins than it has, I just...I don't like it. I want to like it, it has so many parts that I really like, but it has an equal number of parts that don't interest me at all. And that is a painful thing to say about one of my favorite bands. But I know a large part of why this is.
The album opens with Ghost of Perdition, a song that doesn't leave a definitive taste in your mouth. Maybe its good, maybe its just ok, maybe it works really well in context with the rest of the album. Then 'The Baying of the Hounds' starts and sucks all the life out of you. I didn't think it was possible for one bad song to ruin an entire album for me but I have to skip to the middle of the album just to avoid hearing this track in order to get any enjoyment at all. I think the greatest problem I have with the track is that it has some of the best instrumental sections on the entire album but the rest of the song is so intolerable that it ruins them. In fact, that is a problem with most of the album. I can't think of one song that I enjoy from beginning to end that doesn't have a small section that I don't care for, which pulls me out of the entire experience. A damn shame.
Recommended Tracks: Hours of Wealth, The Grand Conjuration
