My first contact with Opeth was when they released their critically acclaimed “Blackwater Park”. The masterful combination of death metal with progressive elements made a lasting impression on not only me but on a ever growing fan base.
When “Deliverance” was released in 2002 (the “brutal” album) the first impression was very positive but after a while the realization came that something was missing. Then “Damnation” (the “mellow” album) saw the light of day and again, something was missing in the whole picture and “Blackwater Park” remained my favorite.

Now that I’ve listened to “Ghost Reveries” a couple (actually dozens) of times I am more than ever convinced that the thing that makes Opeth truly unique is the combination of brutality and melody. As much as there is no light without darkness and no yin without yang, there’s no Opeth without this combination of two extremes.

The opener “Ghost Of Perdition” exactly illustrates this point: after a short piano intro the beast is unleashed with roaring grunts, powerful riffs and heavy drumming. Then, after this intense beginning singer Mikael Ĺkerfeldt proves that he learned to sing clean even better over the years before falling back again to his primordial grunt. This shifting of musical moods continues throughout the song and builds up to a staggering ten minutes of sheer brilliance. And this is only the first track! Oh my god, how I love this band!
Track two “The Baying Of The Hounds” is perhaps the heaviest one the album but underneath the butchering there are melodic keyboard patterns laid down by new permanent member Per Wiberg. In this song too there are melodic interludes with beautiful clean singing but the overall atmosphere is one of darkness and doom.

the overall tone of the lyrics is very dark and sometimes occult and the artwork reflects this state of mind. The majestic keyboards further accentuate that, although the reputation of Opeth is growing by the day and they signed to Roadrunner, they refuse to write about beer ‘n titties. There are however a few shorter tracks on the album (“Hours Of Wealth” and “The Isolation Years” that break away from the “ten-minute-rule” that was present on their previous albums but these tracks are by no means potential hits or anything, just shorter melodic songs that show a more introspective side of Opeth.

The first single from “Ghost Reveries” will be “The Grand Conjuration”. Another ten-minute monolith that is a bit less technical than the others and this should appeal to more people without being commercial in any way. People that were afraid that after signing to Roadrunner Records they did sell their soul to the devil are proven dead wrong, luckily.

The production this time was not in the hands of Porcupine Tree-member Steven Wilson , who produced the last three albums but was taken care of by Mikael himself, with engineering help from Jens Borgen. The latter also mixed the album and the result is a fresh, sharp sound with enough body that is perfect for both melodic and brutal parts.

With “Ghost Reveries” Opeth take another step in terms of song writing and musicianship. I’m sure that the love for music was still the number one intention for making this album but an increase in popularity in this one-hit-wonder filled world of today would by no means be unjustified. If only one band would be allowed to break out of the metal world into the world of million copy sales and stardom I hope it will be Opeth.