Artist: Opeth
Label: Peaceville
Release Date: 10/18/99
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Title: Still Life Artist: Opeth Label: Peaceville Release Date: 10/18/99 |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
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Abyss's Review:
Opeth return with another platter of epic death, Still Life. Facing an uphill battle trying to top last year's masterpiece, My Arms, Your Hearse, these guys drop the gloves and go all out, staying true to their formula, but at the same time broadening the lengths to which they will go. To those familiar with this band, a description of haunting, flowery melodies interspersed with grinding vocals and thick guitars is nothing new. And their flair for composition remains intact, as they continue to make light and dark music flow together rather than contradict. The softer parts are made even softer than previous efforts through a combination of acoustic passages that are less haunting than the predecessor, evidenced most clearly on "Face of Melinda." While acoustic passages were not uncommon on Hearse, they were darker in composition, and often left the feeling of hidden evil amongst the beauty. This isn't the case on this release, however, as the music here is much brighter, reminding me of the hope-filled parts of Edge of Sanity's Crimson.
This, in some ways, makes for a much more distinct contrast when segued into death. However, with repeated listens this illusion fades slightly and reveals a softer guitar underneath the vocals, which initially may disappoint, but turns out to be very interesting in its own right. Don't get me wrong, these guys can still grind 'em out. To believe this just listen to two of my favorite tracks, "Godheads Lament" and "Serenity Painted Death." Both incorporate a spectrum of sounds, but deliver the low end more effectively than some of the other tracks, and are accompanied by melodies that complement their respected songs to a tee.
"Bottom line, if you've liked Opeth in the past you will still like them, and if you loved them, there is no reason to cheat on them with their little sister, because they still are kings of their genre." The weakest part of the album is that they may have tried to expand a little too much. The songs are all very long in length, and the flowery passages take center stage on this album rather than just complement, as in earlier efforts. This, of course, isn't the end of the world, because they are done very well (and when the album is taken as a whole it is easier to see the expanded vision), but we are, after all, metal fans, and heaviness is important to us no matter how open minded we are.
During the course of this review I kept coming back to thinking of how to put a number grade on this album (my least favorite part of the job). I was originally going to give it just a 4, but that wasn't judging it on its own merit. I have to try not to compare this to the previous album, so that is why this gets the rare perfect score from Abyss. Bottom line, if you've liked Opeth in the past you will still like them, and if you loved them, there is no reason to cheat on them with their little sister, because they still are kings of their genre.
Death's Review:
For any proponent of the argument that death metal can be art, the Opeth catalogue should serve as Exhibit "A." The band's genre-bending artistry, exploration and creativity are executed with an intricacy and passion which explain the appearance of Opeth's new record, Still Life, on many critics' top ten of '99 lists. Nevertheless, as brilliant as it truly is, the balance of Still Life's diversity tips too heavily toward the "quiet folk-rock" end of the spectrum to satiate the fist-pumping headbanger in me long enough to make the long-term investment to fully digest it.
Still Life does contain enough moments of pure musical genius to warrant a place in most metal collections, regardless of individual sub-genre preferences. The abundance of extended minor-pentatonic guitar lines and interesting chord structures (check out some of the heavy parts in "Face of Melinda," "God Head's Lament," "White Cluster," or the artificial harmonic riff in "Serenity Painted Death") alone assures I'll continue to regard Opeth as more than just a band whose name sounds like someone with a heavy lisp attempting to identify the penguin character from "Bloom County." And the frequent heartily-emoted death metal growls move the sound far beyond the extreme space/folk-metal of other "evolved" death metal acts like Amorphis on Tuonela. Even the mellowest of the mellow parts ("Benighted," the beginning of "Face of Melinda") sound sparse and desolate enough, in that Meddle-era Pink Floyd kinda-way, to gain their own measure of intensity for sure.
"For any proponent of the argument that death metal can be art, the Opeth catalogue should serve as Exhibit A."
For the most part, listening to Still Life doesn't make me want to get up and break things. The songs don't stick in my head and incessently gnaw at my brain, like metal's catchier, more anthemic approaches do. Instead, it makes me want to kick back, chill out, and just listen.
"For the most part, listening to Still Life doesn't make me want to get up and break things." Still Life really is an incredibly progressive work from a highly accomplished group of musicians (My Arms, Your Hearse appears on many metalheads' all-time top album lists). But it is not the earth-shattering triumph that I had hoped for when I popped it in to the stereo for its innaugural listen. If I had been familiar enough with it in time, Still Life might have slipped in at the bottom of my own '99 top ten. But if next time Opeth give me more death with my death metal, like the chorus to "Serenity Painted Death," I'll be sure to give up the extra skull.
Rating Revised for Metal Judgment Anniversary
Hel's Review:
You know, a lot of this album doesn't even resemble metal. I think that if you were to place the two major musical styles found here on a scale, the balance would tip far to the side of nice, pretty, mellow music - not to the metal side.
But good music is good music. And this is. Excellent through and through. The intricacy of the music, weaving together such different styles smoothly into a fantastic product. An album that everyone in the world should hear.
"But good music is good music. And this is. Excellent through and through." And therein lies the sole problem. I'm not troubled to play this in front of my 60+ year old boss. I think she might like it, on the whole. And that isn't a really a problem. But it's not exactly metal much of the time, and that's what I was sort of expecting.
It's strange and wonderful. During one song, "Moonlapse Vertigo," you get to hear both death metal vocals and hippie guitar. And it works somehow. Perhaps it's because each song is really like three songs, in both duration and variation.
Whatever the case, I'm sure I will listen to this album many times in the future. It's just too damn good. But, I have to admit, as great as it is, I was disappointed on a certain level. Hopefully the next time around the product will be just as good, and the balance between styles even better.
Rating Revised for Metal Judgment Anniversary
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