DAMNATION

This is a great album, but quite surprising for most of the Death metal fan of Opeth. I personnally hate that style of music, the only exception being Opeth... In fact growling has been a blocking point, when I first heard Opeth album, despite the great critics of their album. I get used to it, thanks to the numerous changes in rythms and riffs, thanks to the mellow moments and the clear, warm, relaxing voice of lead singer (when he really sings). Damnation contains beautifull melodies, the production is brilliant and helps anyone like me to get loving all the other albums of this great band. The funny part is that now I learned to like the "death metal" part of their compositions, I miss some hard riffs when listening to "Damnation". But let's be honest: it allows much more people to really love them making it more accessible, but at the same time not compromising the quality... some of my friends who couldn't hear 30 sec of other albums are following the same path, getting to love songs in all OPeth albums. That is why, even if an exception among the other albums it clerly deserves 5 stars. Apparently, the critics on this album in the first place were quite hard, because all death metal fans were frustrated by so much beauty (I summarize it with some distorsion, but that's the way I feel it). But any other fans of prog rock will probably be convinced and that is what really matters, as far as I am concerned.