MORNINGRISE

A Magnificent album! Opeth have blown me away with every record, and pretty much every track they have made! Morningrise, lacks some of the oomph of all their work after this as it sounds a little dated, as well as their debut. The production and quality isn't as good as their later works but it has a great rawness to it. The music here is top notch.

It is great to see how Opeth have evolved from their debut. Morningrise is a 5 track epic album, and quite an ambitious volume of works for this band. I think that Opeth know what sound they want to make and have gone the extra mile to perfect that sound here. I have to say that this album is the most different of all of their discography (along with Damnation). The riffs on this album have a very different style to them. I noticed this on my first listen and it put me off a little but the album has grown on my a lot since with repeat listens. The riffs on this album sound a lot more metallic and speedy. The albums after this concentrate on more powerful, melodic and gloomy heavy parts. This record suggests that Opeth had not quite gained their essence that would first appear on "My Arms, Your Hearse".

Like usual, Opeth make very long compositions but this album has the longest. Every track is over 10 minutes. Black Rose Immortal is a 20 minute epic. "Advent" sounds almost like a prototype structure for "The Leper Affinity", the riffs aren't as powerful and the vocals also lack oomph but you can tell that the band are passionately playing well written music, the production is probably taking away some of this albums spirit. The mellow vocals that appear on this album however, are top notch, with some rather interesting acoustic work. Some parts even sounded quite mythical and reminded me of Genesis.

Mikael Akerfeldt admists to being a huge prog fan and it is clear that Opeth are making progressive rock. Black Rose Immortal is something just short of a masterpiece. This epic travels through many different parts. It is very captivating yet it can often struggle to flow as most of the time there are brief gaps of silence that usual separate the change between heavy and acoustic guitar parts. This is something that Opeth have improved on as their albums after this flow incredibley.

"Nectar" has some amazing riffs in it and is a standout piece on the album. The outro is very effective. Some of the riffs can feel repitive on this album but it doesn't seem to lack in creativeness and ideas. "To Bid You Farewell" is just beatiful. A great moment for their acoustic abilities which always astonish me. This is one of the mellowest and most emotional pieces they have ever written and is truely an Opeth Classic.

I would say that Morningrise should be one of the last albums you by. I would start with "Blackwater Park" or "Still Life" and progress from there. A brilliant work of music that unfortunately gets held back by its production problems and dated sound.