HERITAGE

'Heritage' remains one of the most boring Opeth albums, which is rather unfortunate, since the bold shift in sound and the complete embracing of classic progressive rock and folk rock as well as the upfront keyboard-heavy rock mentality that is presented here together with the unusual song structures and the quirky levels of experimentation even by Opeth standards should have been a formula for an exciting release. On the contrary, large chunks of this album seem to be directionless despite being full of with majestic or ominous sounds that either become too monotonous as the songs unfold, or are led astray by an additional instrumental section or a riff that does not fit the general idea of the composition, and with a prominent influence from the more avant-garde side of the 70s prog scene, 'Heritage' stands as a fine but not too convincing heavy rock (meets psych-prog) album from a legendary band responsible for some iconic metal albums.

Lacking heavy guitars and completely omitting the harsh vocals of previous albums, 'Heritage' gives space to a much more keyboard-centered sound, where all the Mellotron and Hammond organs can dominate the build-up of the songs. Acoustic guitars and drums are also widely used here, often as elements adding up to the shifting moods of the songs. With this in mind, we might say that this album conserves the darker themes from 'Watershed' and even expands upon the symbolic imagery and the like. This is a befitting quality of the music on 'Heritage', which can often be described as "lacking a clear form" - this is due to the seemingly open approach to writing as well as the embracing of a more eclectic range of influences. And in this regard, songs like 'I Feel the Dark', 'Häxprocess' and 'Folklore' epitomize this fleeting sound, failing to make any lasting impression, meandering and overly psychedelic. Contrarily, 'Slither', 'Nepenthe' and 'Famine' are all really strong and serve as fine examples of the true possibilities of this iteration of Opeth. 'Heritage' is an interesting album, quite different from anything else the band has done, but it is way less impactful and more forgettable than a lot of preceding releases.

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