DAMNATION

So this is part two of the 'double release' together with "Deliverance". Damnation isn't the style of music Opeth normally stands for. Sometimes there are songs on earlier albums sounding similar but a whole album in this style isn't normal for Opeth. We also got to know that there will not be a similar project in the future and this album just was a short excursion. What we find on this album is a lot of Porcupine Tree and Camel. Not astonishing because Steven Wilson is a good friend of Mikael and Peter (Steven Wilson even played Piano on Mikaels wedding with his wife Anna) and produced this album as well as "Blackwater Park" and "Deliverance". On this one he also appears as a musician, he played all keyboards and I think he also has some vocal parts, at least some backing vocals. And that's the style of this quite mellow album, beautiful prog songs with a strong Porcupine Tree and a flimsy Camel touch. The instrumental 'Ending Credits' is said to be 'riped off' from Camel, that's what Mikael himself said on the DVD release "Lamentations..." now we can guess what this "ripped off" could mean, strong inspiration or just copied...no one knows. So this is a very fine album by this great band but totally different to their other releases, like said before exept for some songs on earlier albums. If you like Porcupine Tree or Camel this album is a good one to buy. But even you don't know Camel or PT you can't do anything wrong with this one.