THE DEVIL'S ORCHARD

So this is where it all starts, my first review for progarchives! since I never have owned a record (because we don't have any records in our country) , and this being a digital release, I felt like I had a right to review this one.

The Devil's Orchard is the first single released from Opeth's upcoming album Heritage, which is awaited eagerly amongst the prog community, and even much more for me as it is my favorite band of all time just after Pink Floyd. It also follows the the release of "Remainder the Black Dog" another single from the massively anticipated Steven Wilson's solo album Grace for Drowning , but we're not going to talk about that here!

The music here definitely sounds like a work of genius, which is to be expected from giant proggers like Opeth, but wait, why cant i enjoy it like any other Opeth song? I don't mean to say that due to the lack of growling vocals that this album is going to lack the whole album is placid and will be a let down among the metalheads. I found "Damnation" to be one the most refreshing and original works of music ever and holds a slot in my favorite top 3 Opeth albums. But in my opinion what lacks here the original Opeth sound. Yes this band is hugely influenced by a vast array of prog bands spanning half a century, from artists like Scott Walker, King Crimson or Death. And yeah you can even hear these influences in their songs, sometimes to the point that you can hear the unchanged copied riffs! But even then the music sounded like original Opeth music, with its peculiar Opeth sound. Damnation has is a soft record nevertheless it sounds like Opeth!

When I listened to this song, it sounded like everything from ELP, Gentle Giant, King Crimson and all those other 70's Eclectic/Symphonic bands BUT NOT OPETH!

Well I can only wish now that the whole album when it comes out turns out to be different from this single! And BTW the track-listing would've made great titles for death metal songs. 2.5 stars really....