Artist: Opeth
Label: Roadrunner Records
Release Date: 8/30/05
Abyss's Review:
Opeth, historically, have been one of my favorite bands of the last ten years. In that time they've garnered significant popularity, winding up as one of the most identifiable bands in the scene - a status they most certainly deserve. Being, in many ways at least, a progressive band, Opeth's music is not always easily digestible, and they've often fallen into the same traps as most bands with a progressive tag. Namely, overblown productions and over-indulgence. Anyone familiar with my reviews has read of my disappointment with Deliverance and Damnation, both of which failed to deliver either as singular albums or as a more overreaching statement.
"One word review: Bleak." Despite this, a new Opeth album still stirs up a good deal of excitement in me. This is still a band that can remain darkly beautiful and oppressively heavy at the same time, and Ghost Reveries sees the band revisiting their most compelling instance of this, Blackwater Park. While not my favorite album, I do believe that record to be the quintessential realization of their sound...so much so, that the albums that followed seemed to have no place to go. That can be seen as a problem on the new album, because we're not really hearing anything that Opeth haven't done before, and I'm sure the detractors of this band will point that out.
However, this band hasn't stagnated. In the more impressive parts of this album, the songwriting is as compelling and ambitious as it ever has been. "The Grand Conjuration," "The Baying Of The Hounds," "Reverie/Harlequin Forest," and "Beneath The Mire" all reflect the characteristics I'm looking for in an Opeth release. While themes may drag on, the music itself seems alive and evolving, despite the fact that it is somewhat overproduced and as a result can sound a little sterile (there are times I wish Mikael never got involved with Porcupine Tree).
Opeth have rebounded nicely, and I still get chills when this band gets heavy and the thick growls begin to spew forth. Despite the fact that I'm a little played out on the whole progressive/death thing, these guys have demonstrated that they deserve their place at the top of the heap. One word review: Bleak.
Death's Review:
Anyone who has been reading this site since we came online in 1999 will know that I am a huge Opeth fan. I feel they are one of the consistently best bands in the metal scene today, combining expert musicianship with finely-crafted songwriting prowess, an aesthetic appreciation for the grand prog masters of the 1970's, and (save for Damnation, perhaps) a solidly brutal "death metal" foundation. Ghost Reveries has been out for a while now, but you knew we here at Metal Judgment still had to chime in at some point on this one. You've probably heard it by now, but my verdict? Awesome. Five freakin' skulls, one of the best of 2005. No surprise, right? Right. And that is part of what is so great about Opeth - you know that when you plunk down your $15 at Best Buy that you are going to get home, peel off the wrapper, pop the album in the CD player and head off on an aural adventure like few bands today are prepared, or even able, to deliver.
"A brilliant effort by a confident and important band at the top of their game." Some of the songs on Ghost Reveries are flat out great - some of the best material Opeth has ever created. The two primary and most immediate "stand out" tracks are opener "Ghost Of Perdition" and first video "The Grand Conjuration" - both of which are heavy, with death vocals used prominently (nice to hear, especially after the mellower Damnation), and are literal masterstrokes of balance between progressive artistry, metal riffage, and infectious catchiness. "The Baying of the Hounds" is another great track, starting off with some heavy riffs, killer death vocals, and infused with a Deep Purple-esque organ that gives it a retro-prog feel. The drumming here on the bridges is outstanding - truly first rate all of the way. The song then segues with organic majesty into a mellower, haunting outro passage before moving forward into the commanding progression of "Beneath the Mire." There are some fairly mellow parts to this album, like the beginning of "Atonement," for example, but to my ears this helps to balance things out and deliver a nice sense of dynamics (critics will call this Tool-lite or something, but I think it fits). "The Grand Conjuration" really is the best Opeth song ever, and each time I hear it I cannot get it out of my head. Simple, brutal and direct yet progressive, intricate and complex all at the same time. That is the paradox that is Opeth, and once again, one of death metal's greatest trailblazers have set the bar even higher than ever before, forging further ground in their quest to combine death metal and prog metal into one.
So don't let the inevitable backlash fool you - the fact that this album debuted in Billboard's Top 200 should not deter you from this masterpiece - a brilliant effort by a confident and important band at the top of their game.
Hel's Review:
Opeth is the kind of band who have created a sound that is uniquely them. Certain harmonic patterns, for example, are telltale signs that, yes, this is indeed Opeth you are hearing. Some people deride this sort of practice, claiming it is a lack of originality, that a band does this for lack of any new ideas. But I believe many musicians have what I like to call their “signature riff” – the one they made up once upon a time and have incorporated, in one way or another, into every song they have ever written. Ghost Reveries is rife with these “signatures” and, like all of their other albums, there is never any doubt that you are indeed listening to Opeth once you pop this disc into your player.I also believe that it is these things that give a band’s catalog cohesiveness throughout their career. In most cases, it is when a band begins to deviate for their unique footprint that their fanbase begins to mutiny. The few of you who have not yet heard the record should be assured that their signature sound remains, and Ghost Reveries continues on the same path Opeth have been journeying down for some time. There are, again, some songs that are overall less heavy than in the early days, but primarily you will find them continuing to mix heaviness with softness, as these revolving dynamics long ago became integral to their most epic tunes.
"A well-written, exquisitely performed album." Fully half of the songs on the disc clock in at over than ten minutes, in true Opeth fashion, and of the half that are under ten, only one of those is less than five minutes, with the shortest duration tunes seeming to also be the mellowest on the album. Given this, you really have to respect that fact that the first single, “The Grand Conjuration,” weighs in at a healthy 10:21 in addition to featuring some of the heaviest riffs and harshest death vocals on the record.
Personally, I always have always enjoyed all aspects of Opeth, and there is nothing here to cause me to change my opinion. I did not enter into this record fervently hoping for anything in particular, except that it would be a well-written, exquisitely performed album, and that is indeed what I found. Maybe if I was hoping for My Arms, Your Hearse Part 2, I would have been disappointed, but I’m not that kind of fan. At least not in regard to this band...
The bottom line is that if you have been enjoying every Opeth album all along, you will be as floored by this record as you always have been before. Yes, the band is continually gaining popularity in the mainstream, and that will annoy many of the purists, but frankly there is nothing on this album to indicate that annoyance is justified, at least in regard to their current output. Opeth continue to be one of my favorite bands and this album will definitely spend much time in my player for months to come.
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