HERITAGE

After listening to the first single from Heritage, The Devil's Orchard, I admittedly had low expectations. Often low expectations are followed with a pleasant surprise. This was not the case for Heritage. The album doesn't flow from song to song- it sounds like one shitpiece separated into shorter segments.

Opeth has released solid album after solid album culminating with Ghost Reveries, which is probably the best progressive death metal album ever written, or at least that I've heard. Watershed had it holes (pun intended) but still had some good moments. A band of Opeth's stature can be expected to have a weak release every now and then, particularly after some major changes in the band lineup. With Heritage, it is clear that Mikael has either hit a creative block or that he has completely burned out.

Under normal circumstances, each individual song would merit their own review, however pretty much all songs fall under the same category. Amateurish songwriting, unoriginal melodies, boring, rushed, rehashed, uninspired, with only a few moments on the entire album deserving an exception from these descriptions. There's maybe two noteworthy songs on this album. Folklore is what you might expect as a 'good' song on a typical Opeth album. The Lines in My Hand has a nice pace, a typical cool Opeth acoustic hook and some energetic vocals. The Jethro Tull-like flute in Famine, the plagiarized Nietzsche quote in The Devil's Orchard, and overall lame lyrics didn't do anything for me.

I think Mikael has great clean vocals and that Damnation was a solid album so this was not a contributing factor to the overall low opinion of the album. If Live at the Royal Albert Hall is any indication, Mikael's guttural vocals are shot or he is going too far with experimenting. For the sake of Opeth fans, I hope that this is not a trend and that the creative juices have not run dry. If Opeth releases another weak album, it would be safe to say that it is time for them to hang up the gloves and call it a career. Actually listen to the album before rating it, so that some poor sap doesn't buy this album because it has high ratings and it says "Opeth" on the cover. When it comes to prog, a brand name doesn't cut it. Save your money.

I would have put more effort into a review if Opeth had put some effort into releasing a half-decent album. Pain of Salvation, Opeth's Swedish counterpart, released an album in the 70's prog styling last year and they not only beat them to the punch but released a far superior album. It's called Road Salt One if you're looking for something decent to listen to.