MY ARMS, YOUR HEARSE

Like many of the people writing before me, before hearing Opeth I was NOT a fan of death metal. I had previously considered the more extreme sub-genres of metal to be quite unintelligent and unintelligible. Nor had I ever heard of prog. When some of my extreme metal fan friends from uni got me this for my 19th, I really didnt know what to expect, but in hindsight no album has ever made such a huge impact on me! Whithin the week I was inspired to go and buy all the rest of this magnificaent bands albums. Upon first listen, i was completely captivated by Mikael Akerfeldt's clean vocals, right from where his vocals first soften up on the second track 'April Ethereal'. From that moment on, the rest of it just seemed to click. The death metal growls, rether than being a deterent, became a necesary contrast, the heavy use of guitar distortion seemed to suddenly sounded far more melodic and expressive. The whole theme of contrasting light with dark, just suddenly seemed to make sense. A sense of Autumn- like beauty through loss came into focus, and the darkness of this album became serenity, like the flickering shadows cast by leaves upon a forrest floor as the leaves gracefully drift towards eternal rot. It is this darkness that makes the flickering light so much more precious! The song writing is thoroughly inteligent, saturated in emotion and unrelentingly captivating, but it is really Akerfeldt's vocals that make this a masterpiece. Even a non death metal fan like me could appreciate the mastery he exercises in his growls and screams. The minute long growl of pure agony that marks the closure of 'karma' is chilling and spine tingling in its intensity and finality, and in my opinion the perfect way the album should have ended. The additional epilogue that follows, is completly overshadowed by it and thus made obsolete, and the two bonus tracks are also unnecesarry and usually skipped. That having been said, the part of the CD which I personally consider to be "the album" (i exclude the last three tracks) is an absolute opus of agony. In my opinion it is the strongest publication by a remarkable band, and although it is the heaviest of their albums, I consider it to have the best progressive "flow" from one track to the next. Taking into account that most people who take the time to read this will generally be accustomed to music of a far lighter nature, i recomend that you should strongly consider Opeth's "Damnation"; their much more accesible accoustic album. However, if you're genuinely interested in trying something much darker and heavier, "My Arms Your Hearse" is the place to start!