- Oct 22, 2006
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Opeth – The Roundhouse Tapes
Peaceville Records – No Barcode – Out Now
By Dan Fisher
To the outsider, Opeth sometimes seems to be like a soap opera. Who has fallen out this week? Who's leaving the show? Who's slept with who? Okay maybe not the last one. But you would be forgiven for wondering what Opeth are going to do next after a year or so of changes. Well, here we have evidence that they are continuing to build in the right direction for the follow up to Ghost Reveries. The Roundhouse Tapes is a live record that was made during the band's visit to the The Roundhouse venue in London. Basically, the set list reads like a Opeth fan's dream come true, with extended versions of Blackwater Park and Under The Weeping Moon from Orchid.
The artwork is melancholic, minimalist and achingly tasteful, with the ghostly image of the maiden on the front conjuring the women in Akerfeldt's songs. In the image, the woman is revealing her face from behind a mask, and I wonder whether this is alluding to the nature of this album, where the songs are laid bare for people to examine. Using the analogy further, if it were to sit an exam, then this album would pass with flying colours. The intricacies of texture, the nuances of loud and soft, the brutality of the voice, the dissonant folky guitar work coupled with power chord bombast, the ethereal keyboards, the majestic Gilmour-esque lead lines. A stopgap release this isn't. You get the impression that here is an example of a band at the peak of their powers and we are left desperately hoping that their next release lives up to expectation. It won't of course. Because whatever our expectations are, there are sure to be some new elements to the band that will require analysis. Until then, let us just be content with this collection of treasures mined from the past.
Official Opeth Website
Official Peaceville Website
Peaceville Records – No Barcode – Out Now
By Dan Fisher
To the outsider, Opeth sometimes seems to be like a soap opera. Who has fallen out this week? Who's leaving the show? Who's slept with who? Okay maybe not the last one. But you would be forgiven for wondering what Opeth are going to do next after a year or so of changes. Well, here we have evidence that they are continuing to build in the right direction for the follow up to Ghost Reveries. The Roundhouse Tapes is a live record that was made during the band's visit to the The Roundhouse venue in London. Basically, the set list reads like a Opeth fan's dream come true, with extended versions of Blackwater Park and Under The Weeping Moon from Orchid.
The artwork is melancholic, minimalist and achingly tasteful, with the ghostly image of the maiden on the front conjuring the women in Akerfeldt's songs. In the image, the woman is revealing her face from behind a mask, and I wonder whether this is alluding to the nature of this album, where the songs are laid bare for people to examine. Using the analogy further, if it were to sit an exam, then this album would pass with flying colours. The intricacies of texture, the nuances of loud and soft, the brutality of the voice, the dissonant folky guitar work coupled with power chord bombast, the ethereal keyboards, the majestic Gilmour-esque lead lines. A stopgap release this isn't. You get the impression that here is an example of a band at the peak of their powers and we are left desperately hoping that their next release lives up to expectation. It won't of course. Because whatever our expectations are, there are sure to be some new elements to the band that will require analysis. Until then, let us just be content with this collection of treasures mined from the past.
Official Opeth Website
Official Peaceville Website
Also they need to find some of these "fans" to record those fan interviews for the DVD... I mean, 2,000 sales in a world with multiple billions of people... the search will take a very long time! 
