Opeth is a Swedish progressive/melodic death metal band.
Yes! the word "death metal" conjures of memories of scary people singing in cookie monster vocals about anti-christ. But, Opeth are anything but. They are one of the most melodic bands I have listened to. The words "beautiful" and "metal" may not have gotten more closer than in a description of Opeth’s music. Their lyrics too stay off the beaten path and tend to be metaphorical.
I must admit that I am not a great fan of music in that I must have listened to limited bands(30? 40? 50?) max. There would certainly be bands that you would consider better than Opeth or that Opeth has followed XYZ’s style in ABC album and enhanced it etc., So, my remarks may not be the whole truth as far as the vast array of music is concerned, but true as far as I am concerned.
Morningrise is the second studio album of Opeth. It follows closely on the heels of Orchid, their first effort. As part of their discography, this was an inflexion point. After this, Mikael Akerfeldt decided that he had enough of the twin guitar melodies and changed their style for the follow-up My Arms, Your Hearse. His vocals in general gained depth and sweetened in the later albums. The band got tighter and their music acquired more progressive leanings. In spite of everything that happened after this album, this remains a quintessential Opeth Classic.
Opeth may be a death metal band. But, their aggressive death growls and heavy music is interspersed with acoustic passages, clean vocals and sweet guitar riffs.
With that out of the way, let’s look at what makes this album NOT cool:
1) The album is 66 minutes long. But has only 5 tracks. The shortest one is over 10 minutes and the longest is over 20 minutes. For those with short attention spans, each song would feel like an album alternating between melody and metallic assault.
2) At the first few casual listens, it would seem that it is the same riff repeated over the length of the album. But, if you are like me, you would catch a few riffs here and there to distinguish sooner than later. They are similar, not the same.
3) If you picked up the album as a death metal fan, you would find it slow and boring. If you picked this album after listening to their later efforts like Blackwater Park, you would consider this "raw".
No wonder - Opeth is an acquired taste, especially in this album. The rawness of Orchid remains to an extent. It is certainly not as polished a presentation as in their later efforts. But, that is what makes this album uniquely interesting.
Advent, the opening track encapsulates to a large extent what Opeth are capable of. Moving effortlessly and randomly between metallic riffs and slower melodic passages, this one’s a keeper.
The Night And the Silent Water is a tribute to Akerfeldts grandfather who passed away before the album’s recording. After repeated listens, this song stands out for me as a classic rather than the most often referred to Blackrose Immortal. Sure BRIL is longer and can be considered an epic. But hey! allow some freedom here. It’s my review and this is my taste:-)
Nectar is probably the metallic of the songs.
Blackrose Immortal, their 20 minute song takes a distinct direction till about half way and then slips into a series of beautiful melodic riffs before blasting a little and then smoothening only to go out on a blast.
To Bid you farewell is devoid of death vocals and is the cleanest song on the record.
Seriously, my lack of musical knowledge and my poor writing skills did not do much justice to my aural pleasure. I have played and re-played this album more than any Opeth album in the past few months that I know almost every riff before it arrives. Yet, there is this bit of indescribable satisfaction after every listen.
But, as I mentioned before - this is not for everybody. If you have either short attention span or require your music to be heavy and heavier or need short and catchy structured songs, you are better off not wasting time on this. But if you are like me and a sucker for melodic riffs and off the beaten track music, do give it a try. Chances are - you might like it.