MORNINGRISE

Morningrise is an album that my opinion has changed drastically over time, being the second album by Opeth (my favorite band), Morningrise was an album that I already loved, but which I currently think is the weakest the band has ever made, the least inspired, the messiest and certainly the least consistent, the debut, Orchid, is not perfect, it is quite flawed in fact, but because it is such a substantial album, I end up loving it, what makes Opeth, Opeth is there, less developed, but with the band proving the bright future they had.

Their second release is the last album from the melodic black metal phase and the band last album to feature Johan DeFarfalla on bass and Anders Nordin on drums and percussion, with a total of 5 songs (6 if you count the bonus version) with them all having lengths of 10+ minutes, with the way I'm describing them, all the songs are pretty flawed, right? well.

The album starts with Advent, and Advent... is fantastic... absolutely fantastic... holy shit, what a way to start an album, this song catches all the mistakes of Orchid songs, the lack of structure, direction and cohesion, and corrects them, I say without a shadow of a doubt, that this song is better than any of Orchid, and one of the best that Opeth has ever done? Wait, brother, are you saying all this even though you think the album is weak??? yes, continuing, Advent is a wonderful start, the mix is ​​much better than in Orchid, Mikael and Peter release riff after memorable riff that is very melodic, Anders Nordin gives a great performance, and Johan... man, I really like Martín Méndez bass, I really like it, I started to appreciate the guy more, but Johan has a stunning bass performance, very creative and mesmerizing the way he plays, an aspect that is worth praising about Morningrise which is much better than in Orchid, are the acoustic, they are more present and certainly fit better, the more macabre and atmospheric feeling of the acoustic is less present, but something more melancholic and eclectic, which is certainly an interesting change, an aspect that would be present in the other albums, With that, I would say that Advent is the culmination of this formation, an incredible song that even though it's 13 minutes long, it doesn't seem like it, it's all very well structured, and very well executed, this song has some of the most powerful rhythm sections that Opeth has ever done, and so, the track ends, with a quiet acoustic, slowly fading away... incredible track, and then comes the next one, The Night and the Silent Water, you know? One thing that Morningrise gets a lot right and that I like is... how lonely and melancholic the songs are, and The Night and the Silent Water further intensifies this feeling that Advent established, it's less fast and more mid-tempo, giving even more emphasis biggest in acoustics, this one in particular has a sad story behind it, it's about a relative of Mikael who ended up dying during the production of the album, he wrote a lyric in honor of this relative, it's one of the most beautiful and saddest that Opeth already did it, with Mikael vocals sounding more ethereal, as if we were seeing someone's memories, and then, the music becomes more powerful, sadder... and the final part arrives, with the most beautiful acoustic that Opeth has already played, the percussion slowly returns, the melodic riffs are more present, with Mikael singing the following lines.

''Yet the night and the silent water Still so dark''

In a macabre way and full of pain, and then, the song ends, with another quiet and solo acoustic...

THE BEGINNING OF MORNINGRISE IS AMAZING, the band has evolved a lot, the songs finally have structure, the acoustic is better implemented, the riffs are more interesting, Johan has his best performance as a bassist ever, and everything is very atmospheric, beautiful, 2 incredible songs, so why? Why is Morningrise my least favorite, with all this praise? weeellllll... here things get more complicated...

and the next song is, Nectar, and... Orchid problems came back, where, where's the structure, where are the well- implemented acoustic sections, where's it? where is the formidable consistency of the other songs... yes, Nectar brings back what made Orchid flawed, and that wouldn't be a problem... if it were an Orchid song, but it isn't, it's a song from an album that brought 2 extremely competent compositions that solve the problems of the previous album, Nectar simply doesn't compare to how good Advent and The Night And The Silent Water were, it's the most forgettable of the album and the lowest point an Opeth performance has ever reached, What saves it is Johan DeFarfalla's performance, which is surprisingly his best here, the ending has a bassline that, oh, is awesome, but otherwise, the weakest on the album.

The next song on the album is the penultimate one, the ambitious Black Rose Immortal, simply the biggest song Opeth has ever done in their entire career, 20 minutes long, and it's better than Nectar? Yes, it's better than Nectar, actually quite competent but... the song suffers from something that I'll talk about later.

it's quite adventurous, going into several different sections, slower or faster, Mikael gives a very interesting performance on the vocals here, making it sound like an epic poem, there are a lot of really good riffs here, and Anders Nordin performance is his best here, but even with all that, I can't think that she comes close to the first 2 songs, Black Rose Immortal is ambitious, and going back to what I said about what she suffers, and that's where it is, it's 20 minutes of an Opeth song, and this is a huge weight for this song, I love it when Johan bass is so present in one part, but I don't really like half of it, I love Mikael and Peter's riffs in many parts, but others I just don't care, I love the part where there's only Mikael vocals, as if he were a ghost... do you see the problem? Black Rose Immortal is a song with very good sections in the middle of sections without anything interesting, which sound drawn out, uninteresting, it's an inconsistent song that also inherits from Orchid's problems (and interestingly enough, Black Rose Immortal WAS supposed to be an Orchid song, this has been confirmed, so... yeah...)

Hmpf, going from 2 amazing songs to 2 pretty weak songs was a more disappointing deal than play Megaman X6, and then, the last song arrives, To Bid You Farewell. the first soft song that Opeth ever made, after this drop I had low expectations with a very critical eye, but I can easily say that To Bid You Farewell is my favorite soft Opeth song, bringing back everything that Morningrise got right in the 2 songs, unexpected, I know, anyway, this is an absolutely beautiful song, the acoustic is well implemented, the vocals are ethereal, structurally great, with the jazz elements being very well fitted, and then, after powerful riffs, the song ends with an acoustic and drums along with Mikael's voice, in a hypnotic atmosphere, with Mikael finishing the song with these following lines.

''Why can't you see that I try When every tear I shed Is it for you?''

and then his voice disappears, and just like that, Morningrise ends...

It's easily Opeth weakest point, Morningrise is an album that I have mixed feelings about, a amazing start, with a disappointing half, and a very good ending, this album had a lot of potential to be even better than Orchid, better production, better lyrics and Advent and The Night and the Silent Water being perfect, with a sharp, inconsistent, but fascinating things, Morningrise is the lowest point in Opeth career, it's a good album, in the middle of masterpieces, I keep listening him and appreciating it, but he had potential, he had, good album, but Opeth weakest album.

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