STILL LIFE

The unanimous pinacle of Opeth music, and progressive music in death metal period, well, I think I will leave that with Ghost reveries. This album is absolutely astonishing though, the musicianship is superb, I had trouble beliving a metal band could make a four bar riff, I was wrong. Just about everyone is at a musical peak, but if I had to choose a weak point in the album, it would be... the music. Sometimes I feel the music is so technical and overbearing that I cant even pay attention to the concept or any of the lyrics. Another minor flaw is the lack of bass, I can barely hear it, which is disapointing, considering how all the other instruments are very well recorded. Any ways hear is my review.

The moor- Very nice opener, with a haunting opening riff and killer acoustic second opening part, then the electrics come in and just saw right through the harmony the acoustics have created. Then our favirote growler shrieks his way to the front of the song and gives us the concept, a man, who is returning to his hometown, which he was exiled from for being an atheist, but returns for his maiden fair Melinda. As for the rest of the song musically, a typical ten minuete Opeth opener, with acoustic passages, spacey little brakes, and absolute hell in your ears. 4.5/5

Godheads lament- A very angry song, most of it is a very upset Ackerfeldt singing about how bad his past was, and how bad his future is gonna be. Musically, everything else is very mad as well, the guitar riffs are supringly short and very non OPeth, but the solo after the first couple of versus is amazing. Afterwords we go into a false build down into an acoustic passage, just to be destroyed by more anger. 4/5

Benighted- A nice cool down from the previous two songs, but the lyrics dont really fit the concept. Acoustic for the first three versus, then a smooth jazzy fourth verse. The song is about some guy who is benighted by his fright, and is coming into some night... weird. 4/5

Moonlapse vertigo- Awesome song, kinda like the moor, but with a lot more skillful guitar licks and a lot less growling, the inro kinda drags on though. But that just goes into a smooth acoustic passage, just to be, yep you guessed it, destroyed by growling and electricity, the riff on this part is one of my favirote opeth licks of all time by the way. The rest of the song kinda bounces soft heavy through out the song. The lyrics are kinda dodgy, but are about him leaving the village many years ago. 4/5

Face of Melinda- Despite its reputation as one of the major Opeth songs, I dont really find it very interesting. It's acoustic for the first five minuetes with some lame lyrics, "fair maiden neath beckoned hair" c'mon, I can read some mid evil fantasy book if I want to hear that. The songs picks up quite nicely when the electrics come in with a killer riff though. 3.5/5

Serenity painted death- My favirote song on the album, I dont exactly know why, but one thing I do know is that the chorus is absolutely awesome, and when he Mickael screams about everyone dying at his hand, it makes me want to pick up a sword and slice up some people. The song is about our hero being caught by some towns people with his lady fair, so he fight them off for a while, but is eventually taken down and is sentenced to death. 4.5/5

White cluster- I'm not sure why this song is called white cluster, but it's a very cool song. With some cool riffing and drumming. The lyrics are very sad and suspensful that lead you wondering what happens after he is dead. Well, I kind of explained it for you, but it's about our hero and melinda being hung, and right before he dies he sees melinda's face in the crowd, of course being an atheist means he's going to hell in my book, but thats just me. Super cool song that ends in a typical Opeth dark, gothic acoustic passage.

Overall, this album is quite good, but it 's very hard to get into, and the music is very challenging. After you get over the mental hump though it turns out to be a very superb album. I'm not sure if I agree with the masses here on this site, believing this album is one of the best, but maybe after listeneing to it for a couple more months I will be convinced otherwise. Until then...

4****