#21 - Opeth - Ghost Reveries (2005)
My initial encounter with Opeth was pretty soon after
Ghost Reveries was released however the first album I listened to from them was
Damnation. I had never been into bands with growling vocals, but I kept hearing how awesome this band was. I remember getting
Damnation at a steep discount at a CD/movie store that was going out of business. The first time I played this album was on a rainy Sunday afternoon and the mood completely swept me away. That album got me curious into what they
really sounded like because I knew it would be quite a different experience. So I went looking for recommendations of where to go next and almost everyone mentioned either
Blackwater Park or their latest album at the time,
Ghost Reveries. I got both at the same time and that was a great decision.
I feel this album is a beautiful blend of the best parts of the preceding two albums,
Deliverance and
Damnation. It also marks the introduction of Per Wiberg to the band, and his work on the keys is quite a shot in the arm for the band. Much like "The Leper Affinity", "Ghost Of Perdition" opens the album with a soft sort of atmospheric passage that makes you almost strain to hear it before you are pummeled with the brutality of the song's true nature. Martin Lopez has always been a drummer with great feel, and it is on full display here. Great singing by Mikael, awesome heavy to light transitions, a great groove back into the heavy section, wow this song is awesome and we've just begun. "Beneath The Mire" is another great track with plenty of heaviness, but with its share of softer passages. Per takes the lead at the beginning of "Beneath The Mire" playing over a great riff by the guitars. The song fades away into the laid back "Atonement" which then leads into one of the best song transitions on any album as it abruptly stops and "Reverie/Harlequin Forest" begins with its distant riffing guitar and Mendez's sliding bass. This is my favorite track on the album. I love that wordless growl about 2:30 into the song. "Hours of Wealth" is a vast departure from the heaviness, but it does have a great moment at 1:35 with that key change. Next comes "The Grand Conjuration" (great live song) and the spookiness that comes with the lyrics and the whispering voices. I LOVE the offbeat chorus riff. The closer, "Isolation Years" is a touching little song that sort of floats by and then off into the darkness.
This album is an absolute masterpiece of progressive death metal. But it does serve as a bit of a bookend on this version of the band as both Lopez and Peter Lindgren would depart soon thereafter.
"There's a certain detail seen here
The pen must have slipped to the side"
Topic: Big Hath's Top 50 Albums v. #1: -.---.----.. (Read 65066 times)
