The much awaited new album from Opeth leaked tonight when I was at work, and it will most certainly be living up to expectations. Coil starts off with clean guitar and singing, a trademark for bits of the newer Opeth albums, and I must say it's done masterfully. Mike's singing has changed a bit but I certainly can't say that it's bad. It also introduces soem beautiful female vocals that are done very effectively at the end of Coil. I wasn't expecting the first track to be completely clean, but Opeth immediately deliver at the end of it, with some awesome guitars at the beginning of Heir Apparent. Again with the trademark heavy/clean interludes this is unmistakeably Opeth, yet there's something so awesomely different.
The album feels more organic than their earlier efforts and there's so much life in this, the guitars sound absolutely stunning and much better than they have on earlier releases. At times the ambience created will completely blow you away, and the soft interludes fit perfectly in. Mike's growls are even better than ever, and they add more of a natural harsh feel to the music, Bloodbath was a good testament to his vocal abilities, but this just blows them out of the water. The progressive influences can be heard so much clearer here than on for example Ghost Reveries and it really adds a new, greater dimension to the album.
The Lotus Eater brings another dimension to Mike's vocal expertise, with both the growls and clean vocals outshining even Heir Apparant. The guitars are incredibly catchy and memorable, and you can really see Opeth have matured from their earlier material, if such a thing was even possible. The drumming is constructed brilliantly, and it stays away from many of the downfalls of metal drumming, it keeps everything together brilliantly without being overboard. The guitar solo in Lotus Eater is even better than Heir Apparent and it's great to see some well played solos as I've never really found that to be Opeth's strong point. Quiet bits continue to impress as Lotus Eater reaches the halfway point with some incredibly ambient pieces, that despite their generally slower approach never completely lose the momentum of the song.
Burden starts out with a slow piano and ambient effects that sets an incredibly dense atmosphere, which just keeps building as drums and vocals are added. The instrumentals on Burden are some of the most stong and progressive that Opeth has ever done, and it's a joy to behold the band maturing in such a way. The guitars are brilliant, and the same can be said for everything else within the song. It's the second song completely devoid of metal and it's great to hear such progression.
The album progresses further with some lovely acoustic guitars on Porcelain Heart, the lyrics are an obvious downfall but then again they are basically just an afterthought for Mike. The dual guitars work perfectly, and in places such as Porcelain Heart are simply glorious, there is so much depth here, on just the first listen that I can feel this being even more of a grower, definitely with a very high replay value.
Hessian Peel is a very heavy listen despite the acoustic/clean instrumentals, there's something primal about it, and this works so effectively within the album. There are some incredibly 70's styled riffs filtered through the song, and it's starting to become clear that there's a lot of nostalgia throughout the whole effort. This is certainly delivering and has been well worth the wait since 2005's Ghost Reveries. There are a lot of influences that only become apparant if you really look for them, but it is certainly well worth the investigation. There are some incredibly psychedelic parts to Hessian Peel and it's definitely the best layered song on the album.
Some of the more quiet parts of the album are, to me, very reminiscent of Ulver's Shadows of the Sun, yet it's so brilliantly balanced with the heavier metal parts. Although there are some death metal vocals, it never even borders on the genre, this is pure progressive metal/rock and I'm incredibly pleased Opeth have decided to go even further in this direction. The whole album just simply sounds more fun and experimental than the earlier work, and it's clear it's got a lot less pretentia in the production.
Overall the album was incredibly refreshing and certainly didn't dissapoint, actually I don't think much of it dissapointed at all. It's certainly one of the top three releases of this year so far and the score I give will be deserving of such a place. Brilliant from start to finish, with great production, incredible intro's and outro's. The progressive element has been taken up to a whole new step, however it feels a bit more like immitation than their own progression, but that really doesn't take away from the enjoyment. Brilliant album.
9.5
Linear Mode
