HERE IS MY REVIEW DO NOT READ FUTHER IF YOU DONT WANT TO READ A SPOLIER...BUT I KNOW YOU CANT RESIST
OK first of all let me start off by saying this album is
1)heavy as @#%$ (morid angel, dan swano, porcipine tree rolled into one amazingly heavy bitch).
2)very good.
3) it takes time to grow on you
4)its too early to really compare with other opeth albums in terms of how great it is. its very different as you'll soon fidn out
ok basically opeth have never done anything like this. its so heavy in pieces.
7.49 masters apprentice is vocals are unlike ANYTHING mikael has ever done before (perhaps maybe only on bloodbath).
1)wreath- starts off very hard with a massive riff and mikael sounding more evil then ever before. flows into typical opeth-like melodies. typical of the whole album the pace is slowish and very riffy. has a very nice solo at 5.15. very cool drums (very new for sound for opeth). rips another mad solo around the 8.10 mark. haunting mix of clean and heavy vocals then alternates for the last 2 or 3 minutes. the clean vocals have a very new sound to them, place in the background. and then finishes off as it started with thunderous riff. 4/5
2)deliverance - starts off with some ear blasting drumming and a unquie sound for opeth. (most of the riffs on the album sound very structured and unlike the usual opeth which used to have flowing melody these riffs are more headbanging,slow paced and fucknig heavy) . 1.17 aucoustic part enters after the ear blowing opening and mikael sings beautifully. very peacful/tranquil. vocals tend to be placed in the background of the music. then follows up witha @#%$ heavy riff section which amazing drum work. This alternating between clean vocals and heavy continues on for a few minutes and gives a great atmosphere and you begin to get the feeling you listening to something epic in nature. 4.00 a nice solo flys out. guitars sound alittle different and heavy growling continues as the songs enters the middle of its lenght. 4.44 the song changes up to a @#%$ sweet melody (very opeth BWP style) clean vocals now and mikael is sounding very cool!!! another semi-solo at 5.20, followed by crushing vocals the song is creating an amazing atmosphere at this stage and its only half through @#%$ orgasiming about now!!! the best song on the album so far.
7.38 song takes another turn - amazing clean vocals from mikael backed by sweet drumming. and a ANOITHER @#%$ solo leaps for his guitar has a slight egyptian sound! but its really high pitched and rocking. the next few mins are the calm after the storm. "deliverance.. deliverance .. thrown right at me... deliverance laughing at me" reapted serveral times. 10.00 amazing fucknig drums!!!! this finishes the song out the next 3 minutes is this heavy drumming and guitars until the end of the song. at first i was like wtf, but now i absoutly love it. the best song on the album by far. at this stage. 5/5
3) a fair judgement - my favourate song on the album. the most technical, cant believe how cool this is. starts off with haunting piano for the first minute or so and slow paced and emotional,m then turns into mikaels clean vocals which sound super. very nice drums in the background and a sweet base line, fires up into an epic sounding OPETH MK2 RIFF. this is amazing stuff, this is really quality work. almost so melodic its making me sleepy. reaptes the epic riff from before, then a quite aucostic passage which shows more opeth magic, very clean voice with even some backing vocals!?!?!? steve wilson work probably. very cool creedence like guitar happening over the top for a little solo Song 5.45 suddenly turns heavy, with a beautiful opethian riff
a solo ripps out almost perfectly and creates a sweet atmosphere, with more opeth trademark riffs and another part of a solo. returning to the "losing sleep . into deep, came so close to what i need most" part at the beginning and finishing off with a slow heavy as hell riff which is nothing like the opeth we previously knew. the song drifts out for the next 2 minutes as this huge riff slowly limbers towards the end of the song. THAT WAS MAD. 5/5
4)for absent friends instrumental - aucoustic instrumental perhaps giving us a taste of what to expect in the damnation album soon to be released. its only a short song 2.16mins! like patterns in the ivy a little. very slow moving and soulful as youd except from the title. people propbably will weep a tear to this one if they've lost a friend. this song mainly acts to help the listener prepare for more opeth onslaught. 3/5(opeth could do something better here, cponsidering the cd is 63 mins long, i would have enjoyed a riff and solo fest like epilogue from MAYH.)
5)master's apprentices - oh my god what the @#%$ is this. is this a morbid angel song renamed? this is BY FAR THE HEAVIEST SOUND OPETH HAS EVER HAD. slow/evil growls/with the heaviest riffs you can imagine. holy @#%$, dont scare your parents. i cant beleive this is opeth, where is the melody? just a massive riff repeatiting itself. 2.20 the song losens up a little bit more opethlike (phew in my opinion)! my god still heavy though. a "the moor" like lead guitar flys over the top at 2.50 which is great to hear. and this song continues to GRIND on . FInally 3.56 the song cracks into clean vocals and a much more opeth liek structure and its sounds very uplifting and powerful, and very opeth! guitars wine away in the background leaving a a specatcular atmosphere on the listener, with great clean vocals by mikael (much emotion), breaking into acoustic at 5.20 and VERY BWP lead guitar in background, reminding me of harvest at this stage. and hypnotising lyrics resinate from mikael, very very good at this stage. this sounds very chilled out at this stage a long way away from the bone crunchign start which i nearly shitted my pants too.
this peacful middle part of the song is about to be ripped apart by the most EVIL SOUNDING MIKAEL THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN. i promise you that you have never heard anything like this. its so brutal its scary, and shocks the crap outta you the first time as you simply do not expect it to come straight after this chill out section. its from here that the song take a MASSIVE step towards brilliance. an iron maiden like riffs fires the song up into a fenzy as a perfectly timed solo fits in, and mikael growls create a beautiful atmosphere in the most brutal song yet. VERY VERY OPETH THIS ENDING, and sounds great. overall one of the strangest songs opeth has done. starts off so brutal then turns so lovely.
the ending of this song is pure class and i rate it 4/5
6)the pain i see in others- WTF IS THIS START. its awsome. starts off distant like on a crappy old radio, then a large sonic boom brings it into cd quality sound. then this jumpy stop start riffs comes in (reminisent of old death),followed 1.20 by the coolest aucoustic part sooooo evil and sooo beautifulat the same time. the growl at this stage is @#%$ creepy. Distortion effects have changed mikaels voice sounds bizzare and totally different. this is savage, brutal "rise the submission!!!!!!" you can barely make out of this crazy chaotic mash of sounds drums and bass. great solo at 3.35 rings out to restore a bit of order( at least tempory order
) this song is heavy and the vocals are harsh , another solo 4.37 (yes alot of solos in this album). 5.08 CARNIVAL MUSIC! what the hell is this! sounds like a dodgy music u hear in a n elevator, but opeth manage to pull it off with mikael melodic vocals which mask this simple but effective music. very ballzy to put this in, some people will not like this. 6.37 the song fires back up with growls and menacing guitar and the heavy riff from the start returns, 8,15 more acoustic followed by cool efffects and vibrating guitar.the song really finishes at 9.00mins or so except there is another 4 minutes left on the track....... the seems to be a hidden message which i cant really make out without spending pointless time analysising it. its mikael distorted saying something anyway. i rate this song 3.8/5 because i just dont get it? i think over time i will like this but at the moment im perplexed by it.perhaps i need to listen to it heaps more but at the moment it seems bizaree. its not crap or anything but opeth are experimenting here.
overall i rate it 4.5/5. and the more i listen to it the better this rating gets. opeth has traded beauty for brutality in this release HOWEVER dont be afriad it still has its beautiful moments its just that some parts are bonecrushing.
