Make Opeth Metal Again?
Now one of the biggest metal/rock bands on
the planet, Opeth’s career has taken an important detour with
Heritage
in 2011. Legions of fans and detractors alike are asking themselves
what will be the sound explored on this new album. Let’s not burn
the sorceress before hearing her plea, shall we?
The Swedish giant is a band in constant
evolution and unlike their peer, In Flames, they managed to make the
transition into softer territories in a good way. They were already
showing signs of their evolution with their gorgeous 2003 opus
Damnation
but with Heritage,
they went all in, and it displeased and divided their audience. While
they will not win back the fans who wants them to be truly metal
again with this new album, it might be viewed more favorably. Anyway,
I don’t really care about what other people say about Opeth, I care
only about what Mikael Åkerfeldt is doing since he’s been the
leader of my favorite band since I discovered them in high school.
I will not let the suspense go on much
longer, yes Sorceress is
a good album but I do think Opeth never (and probably never will)
released a bad album. I do have some reservations towards the album
though. It’s clearly not as good as I wanted it to be. The
band
has always been somewhat disjointed as it’s usually the case with
bands with long song structures. Nevertheless, it’s never been as
apparent and obvious as it is here except for Heritage
which is possibly their weakest album. Maybe
it’s because of the eleven-tracks format (the most of any Opeth
album) or the fact that the songs are a bit shorter and more self
contained.
Opeth had the tendency to be meandering
and includes a wide array of styles within the same songs. Sure,
there’s exceptions found in their past career with songs like
“Harvest” or “To Bid You Farewell”, but Sorceress
feels much more like an amalgam of different styles than any other of
their other albums (extreme metal excluded, no they’re not coming
back to their death metal blend...). You
have the folky Jethro Tull-influenced ballad “Will o the Wisp” or
the heavy metal/hard rock of “Chrysalis” and the different
elements are a bit less melded together than before. Furthermore,
“The Seventh Sojourn” is even a track similar to the Fertile
Crescent sound, and it works as a sort of smooth interlude similar to
the non-metal tracks found on Melechesh’s excellent albums The
Epigenesis
and Enki.
Oh man speaking of that, an Opeth/Melechesh tour would be killer.
Make this happen, Nuclear Blast.
The final important negative point would be
the abrupt end of the album. It
ends with a short, one minute outro after the hard rocking “Era”
and it was a bit like if the waiter removed your plate from the table
while you’re eating it. It was a sudden
and unexpected finale to an otherwise great album. The introduction
right before the title track works though. It’s classical guitars
with some ethereal female spoken word, and it sets the tone in a good
way. It’s not unlike “Coil” from Watershed
but it’s not a “complete”
song.
Still, I reckon my criticisms are pretty
small. I’ve learned to disregard those aspects after four or five
spins and it remains a collection of great songs. Regardless, the
album isn’t as condensed as their previous one. The cohesion is
lacking and the flow isn’t perfect. Still, it’s not as incoherent
as Heritage and
doesn’t have as many disposable moments. I’d say that “Sorceress
2” is the only truly weak point found on this record. It’s a
boring four-minute acoustic ballad with unremarkable vocal lines.
It’s the total opposite of
the aforementioned and super great folky “Wisp” and it has to be
one of the weakest tracks Opeth ever composed.
While Pale
Communion was pretty much Opeth
without the extreme metal elements,
Sorceress is less limited and
feels it could be another transitional album. Nevertheless, I do
think Opeth never did a real transitional album except Watershed.
They’re just creating landscapes based on a large amalgam of
approaches and themes, and it turned out their 2008 record was the
last one with death metal components. Still, the tracks without
Mikael’s harsh vocals like “Porcelain Heart” or “Burden”
were signs of their future incarnation. I can’t help but think that
Sorceress could
be interpreted as a new watershed for the Swedes. It’s hard what to
predict what they’ll do next, but based on the lyrics of “Era”,
it could be the conclusion of their current manifestation. It’s the
“end of an era, we’ll start a new...” so maybe they’ll go
back to their prog death sound and tour with Amorphis like it’s
2002 all over again?!
As far as
their evolution is concerned, Sorceress
is still Opeth exploring
progressive rock in their own way but it probably has their heavier
moments since the album that gave us “Lotus Eater” and “Heir
Apparent.” To answer my own Trump reference in the title, yes this
is (probably??) a metal album ,and the heavy parts possess a new
sense of perspective. They added some stoner flavors to their
newfound metallic formula and it’s heavier than Pale
Communion when it actually
decides to be. The title track released as the first single is a good
example of Sorceress’
metallic identity. While this is still Opeth, it’s a widely
different album even if there’s their usual tropes.
Compared to the previous album, the jazz
influence are gone and the combination of heavy metal, progressive
rock and folk took their rightful place. We already had heavy
rock parts on Heritage
(“Slither”, a song dedicated to Dio) but those parts are boosted
on this album. This side of the band’s identity took time to appear
and knowing how much Mikael is a lover of 70s and 80s heavy metal and
hard rock, it was simply a matter of time. He’s a massive Michael
Schenker fan and it’s obvious that UFO, Uriah Heep and the NWOBHM
scene were huge influences on the compositions. Those classic rock
influences were included into the idiosyncratic sound of Opeth, they
never were and never will be a cheap throwback or a “vintage rock”
band. They’re innovative while looking at the rightful musical
identities of the past.
Concerning the individual performances of
this opus, Martín Méndez’ bass is a shining beacon. He’s been
playing a role within the band’s sound recently and it’s a good
thing; the dude is on fire and deserves more credit and praise.
Another key element: The keys of Joakim Svalberg (his second album
with the band) are thunderous and give Opeth their well-deserved rich
sound. The chemistry between the keys and the guitars is certainly
something to behold.
“There is a voice surrounding me...”
-Mikael Åkerfeldt on “Strange Brew”
About the leader himself, he’s always
been one of my favorite singers but he has been improving his clean
vocals for a while now and probably offers his best performance ever
as a clean singer on this 12th
album. He shines on the rougher moments, and he’s been expanding
his pallet for the softer parts. While I’ll admit I do miss the
growls at times, even if they wouldn’t fit here, he’s masterful
on Sorceress. He’s
soulful, charismatic and sensual on the heavy bits, and sensible and
mystic during the calm instants. My favorite Mikael moment of the
album has to be the memorable chorus of “The Wilde Flowers”.
Production-wise, I dig the guitar tones,
they have this old school feel but with strong doom sensibilities.
The riffs on tracks like “Chrysalis” or the truly sole epic they
did “Strange Brew” (the most varied track of the album) are
killer and absolutely well written. The acoustic guitars are back in
full force too and their inclusion on tracks like “A Fleeting
Glance” are pertinent. Fredrik Åkesson and Åkerfeldt are expert
guitarists, this is known. Their guitar parts range from being subtle
to over the top in a matter of instant (listen to the soloing of “The
Wilde Flowers” or the Blackwater
Park/Ghost Reveries-esque calm
parts in some songs). Nonetheless, they’re a bit too mechanical
during the “stoner” moments (such as the debut of “Era”) but
overall, the two guitarists keep things interesting, uncomplicated
and tidy. It’s yet another strong slab of strong and creative
musicianship.
To
conclude, the new influences ranging from stoner rock to heavy metal
made this a fresh record without being overly modern or distasteful.
That’s a feat in itself in this saturated musical age full of bands
trying to mix everything together in the hopes of creating something
unusual or redesigned. Twenty-one years after their debut album, the
Swedish monolithic entity still has the upper hand.
It may be the most chaotic album they ever
did and the direction they took isn’t quite clear to me. Are they
coming back to a more metallic sound to please the fans? Anyhow, the
mixture of elements is working. It almost sounds like the perfect
marriage of Ghost Reveries,
Watershed
and Pale Communion
into one potent magical spell but it has the main downfall of
Heritage,
the incoherence of its tracklist.
Make Opeth Great Again?
They’ve always been great and they’ll always be the best band.
Metal or not. Is this album even metal? Who cares? It’s Opeth, and
they’re awesome.
Originally written for The Metal Observer.
