DAMNATION

What a beautiful sounding record with great playing, great songs with excellent chord changes, understated vocals, excellent arrangements and production. The whole thing is cool and understated - there are no growling vocals and no crunching riffs.

Now, whether this will appeal to Opeth fans is another question. But .... in my view it is essential listening for fans of Steven "Porcupine Tree" Wilson's music, as his producerly fingerprints and peerless sense of taste can be found all over this record.

My only complaint is that 'Damnation' is a little short and that the final two tracks feel a little like add ons .... actually I dislike the final track 'Weakness' and am ambivalent about the penultimate piece 'Ending Credits'.

I think ending the album more conclusively would have made 'Damnation' feel more like 'an album' than a collection of great tracks cut from the same moody cloth. For this weak ending I knock away a point, from 4.5 to 3.5, which rounds it all up to 4 stars for me....