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Sorceress

MODERBOLAGET/NUCLEAR BLAST, 2016

It’s worth noting that at one

point, Opeth’s twelfth album

was Nuclear Blast Records’ best-

selling album on vinyl ever. By

this point, of course, the band

were on fire. Sorceress was a tour

de force of ingenious ideas,

ranging from the Tull-esque

twinkle of Will O’ The Wisp and

the quirky, harpsichord psych

of A Fleeting Glance, to the

genuinely astonishing dynamic

ebb and flow of Strange Brew.

Even the album’s more straight-

ahead moments – the big-

metal-riff stomp of the title

track, the balls-out clatter of

Chrysalis – fizzed and crackled

with creative exuberance.

Another year, another brilliant

Opeth album.

Heritage

ROADRUNNER, 2011

With no death metal vocals, but

with distinctly non-metal guitar

tones and a very noticeable

penchant for wonky jazz,

Heritage was an album designed

to ruffle feathers. In truth, songs

like perennial live favourite The

Devil’s Orchard and the Dio-

saluting Slither were very much

in keeping with Opeth’s

freewheeling ethos, it’s just that

extreme metal was no longer

an essential part of the band’s

sonic make-up.

An album full of startling

moments, not least Åkerfeldt’s

extraordinary guitar solo at the

end of Folklore, Heritage was

a fearless leap forward and

a hugely important milestone

for Stockholm’s finest.

Orchid

CANDLELIGHT, 1995

There will certainly be some

Opeth fans who have followed

the band from their early days,

this writer being one of them,

but even the most ardent

acolytes would probably

struggle to deny that Orchid

sounds a little primitive and

tentative when compared to

the band’s many triumphs that

came after it. You can certainly

hear the first glimmers of that

immense potential as the

meandering, blustery likes of

In The Mist She Was Standing

and Forest Of October play out,

but Opeth’s debut is more

historical curio than seminal

monolith. That said, dedicated

Opeth fans really shouldn’t avoid

any of their records. Obviously.

Damnation

MUSIC FOR NATIONS, 2003

Recorded simultaneously with

the previous year’s Deliverance

album, Damnation was the

elegiac, acoustic flip-side to its

sibling’s brooding, metallic

thunderings. A bold step at this

early stage in Opeth’s rise to

glory, its delicate and pointedly

melodic songs showcased the

band’s desire to keep evolving,

regardless of the demands of an

increasingly rabid fan base. In

the end, most Opeth fans fell

instantly in love with Damnation,

not least because the likes of In

My Time Of Dying and Hope

Leaves are both absurdly beautiful

and subtly adventurous. From

this moment on, Opeth were free

to follow their own path.

Pale Communion
ROADRUNNER, 2014
The first Opeth album from the
band’s current (and arguably
best) line-up was an exercise in
harnessing freshness and vitality.
Although less overtly
experimental than the preceding
Heritage, it’s full of unexpected
detours, including blissful folk-
rock harmonising on the
gorgeous River, angular, Goblin-
style instrumental prog on the
shuffling Goblin, and austere but
haunted chamber music on
closing ballad Faith In Others.
Elsewhere, As Above, So Below is
a gloriously opulent epic, while
preview single Cusp Of Eternity
summed up Opeth’s appeal in
five furious minutes, and became
an instant live favourite.

Ghost Reveries

ROADRUNNER, 2005

The last album from the early

classic line-up of Åkerfeldt,

guitarist Peter Lindgren, bassist

Martin Mendez and drummer

Martin Lopez, Ghost Reveries was

a bombastic, densely detailed

encapsulation of the now well-

established Opeth sound. But

while dominated by labyrinthine,

multi-part epics like Ghost Of

Perdition and Harlequin Forest, it

also boasted a sublime, thinly

veiled Beatles tribute (Atonement),

fragile ballads (Hours Of Wealth,

Isolation Years) and a ferociously

heavy paean to Satan himself

(The Grand Conjuration). It might

have been the end of an era, but

Ghost Reveries was still focused

on the future.

Essential

Playlist

Advent

Morningrise

Demon Of

The Fall

My Arms, Your Hearse

Face Of Melinda

Still Life

Harvest

Blackwater Park

The Drapery

Falls

Blackwater Park

Deliverance

Deliverance

In My Time

Of Need

Damnation

Ghost Of

Perdition

Ghost Reveries

The Grand

Conjuration

Ghost Reveries

Burden

Watershed

The Lotus Eater

Watershed

The Devil’s

Orchard

Heritage

Cusp Of Eternity

Pale Communion

Faith In Others

Pale Communion

Strange Brew

Sorceress

De Närmast

Sörjande

In Cauda Venenum

Heir Apparent

Watershed

Allting Tar Slut

In Cauda Venenum

Deliverance

MUSIC FOR NATIONS, 2002

Often overlooked due to

following the much-loved

Blackwater Park and preceding the

acoustic curve ball Damnation,

Deliverance is a much stronger

and more substantial record than

legend has it. For a start, the

album’s monstrous, 13-minute

title track is still the closest thing

Opeth have to a hit, and it

remains a live staple. But the

rest of the album is equally

dazzling. For best results, check

out the 2015 remixed version:

from the windswept fury of

Wreath to the intricate melodic

churn of the closing By The Pain

I See In Others, Deliverance is

Opeth’s heaviest record and also

one of their most cohesive.

Still Life
PEACEVILLE, 1999
After three albums which quietly
established Opeth as major
players in the metal underground,
Still Life felt like a major statement
of renewed intent. Impossibly
ornate and immaculately
produced, it marked a huge leap
forward for Mikael Åkerfeldt’s
songwriting skills and for the
band’s collective chemistry.
Increasingly wandering into
acoustic and psychedelic
pastures, rambling behemoths
like opener The Moor and
Moonlight Vertigo still had audible
roots in death metal, but this was
the sound of a new strain of
esoteric heaviness being
developed in real time. As the
21st century loomed, Opeth were
clearly ready for bigger things.

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