PALE COMMUNION

A vast improvement over Heritage... But still underneath their best albums.

I think the best virtue of this album is being a lot more focused, centered that their previous work. The style of more of less the same, but this time Mikael managed to compose a very much coherent and cohesive collection of songs, far from the proggy mess of Heritage. But again, if you are waiting a return to their metal albums, you will be disappointed.

The production of the album is really good, again with the mixing of Steve Wilson, and the sound of Joakim Svalberg at the keys is very similar to Per Wiberg, so it is hard to notice any difference in terms of keyboards. The rest of the band is the same since Watershed, and I have nothing to complaint. They are all great musicians.

Pale Communion starts with Eternal Rains Will Come, in a style very reminiscent to Heritage with its old fashioned keyboards. But we can hear that Mikael sings a lot better this time, far from the excesses their previous work. But sadly Cusp of Eternity bring back the horrible clear voices of Heritage, with Miakel shouting rather than singing in the attempt to break his voices in the style of Bonnie Tyler. Nevertheless, this song has great riffs and a very good instrumental section.

Moon Above, Sun Below is maybe the best song of the album, with tons of mellotron and an acoustic part which clearly reminds to Damnation. Mikael sings very well at the beginning, but soon after he screws the vocal melodies again. This way to extend the vowels in the words is artificial, ugly and typical for rookies than for experimented singers. The end of the songs is pretty good... Only circles on the water.

Elysian Woes is a beautiful acoustic song with mellotron but not really remarkable for the career of the band. Goblin is a homage to this band, beloved for the Dario Argento films and in some parts the music sound just like one of his films but a bit more jazzy. River is another highlight of the album, which opens with a good acoustic sound which reminds me to Kansas and a very good guitar solo with a blues feeling. The instrumental section is also wonderful, one of the best parts of the album.

Voice of Treason starts in a menacing and dark way with good orchestral arrangements. After that we can hear another lame vocal interpretation from Mikael, who again shouts his lyrics in a rather annoying way. The final part of the song is another instrumental tour de force in the same way of River, but not so good.

The beginning of Faith in Others could be included in a King Crimson album, and again Mikael ruins what could have been a great song. In the minute 2 starts a Savatage sounding piano melody and the song gets better with its mellotron, good choirs and another imitation of the seventies prog-rock. Mikael shouts again towards the end of the song, this time through a telephone.

Conclusion: Pale Communion is better than Heritage. No doubt about it. The songwriting is stronger and more coherent, and the singing of Mikael is also a bit better, though his way of shouting his clean vocals annoys me sometimes. The work of the rest of the musicians is flawless.

And this record also confirms that Opeth are not this outstanding and influential prog metal band anymore... Now they are just a good prog-rock band which tries to imitate the glory days of the seventies prog-rock, with just a moderate success. And that is a pity in my opinion.

Best tracks: Eternal Rains Will Come, Moon Above Sun Below and River.

My rating: ***