MY ARMS, YOUR HEARSE

'My Arms, Your Hearse' is the Opeth album which finally sees the evolution of the band's early blackened death metal sound, and in some respects, it paves the way for the run of classic albums that would eventually follow. The third album from the Swedish innovators is still a very rough, bleak and heavy excursion into the compositional force of the Åkerfeldt-Lindgren duo but it sees a degree of sophistication in the writing as well as a more eclectic array of influences, with the band taking some tropes from folk and even jazz music. Focusing on shorter songs here allows Opeth the explore the various ways in which their death metal opuses could develop, which naturally leads to some exciting results. Some of the music on here is excruciatingly heavy, featuring several significant riffs but 'My Arms, Your Hearse' also offers a few really melodic acoustic passages that counterbalance the overall intensity of the heavy guitar sounds and the fast-paced rhythm section.

An attempted concept album, this fine release is in many ways a step up from the first two albums yet still a very undeveloped entity, lacking a lot of that epic, progressive nature of later Opeth compositions, making 'My Arms, Your Hearse' the so-called "transitional" album. The band had introduced a new drummer for this LP and also did not have a bassist, which had necessarily created further difficulties for the writing and recording process. Nevertheless, this album gives us classics like 'Demon of the Fall', undoubtedly the bast track off the album, then other really solid songs are 'April Ethereal' and 'When' - dark, heavy and at times largely technical, one understands what the band would shape to be. 'Credence' and 'Epilogue' are decent entries on the acoustic end of the spectrum, while 'The Amen Corner' and 'Karma' both have really promising beginnings but do not develop much later on. A strong third album from Opeth, not really on par with classics like 'Blackwater Park' or 'Ghost Reveries' yet.

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