GHOST REVERIES

Take the best heavy parts from Deliverance and the best mellow parts from Damnation and you get this wonderful Ghost Reveries. I think it's the first effort from Opeth where the threatening music and the relaxing one blend really smoothly, with extreme vocals not too overused (and that's a good thing).

"Ghost Of Perdition" is awesome. Mid paced riffs, mellotron, acoustic interludes, even clean singing on heavy parts. "The Baying Of The Hounds" has a great intro and a catchy melody, and the extreme singing really fits well here (the little piano interlude is nice too). "Beneath The Mire" is short for a classic Opeth song (under 8 minutes heh), and it has a very long intro too, with mellotron and folkish type of music. "Atonement" is fantastic: a pure Damnation-like mellow track. There comes the centerpiece of the album: the short instrumental "Reverie" (in the vein of "Requiem") introduces the awesome "Harlequin Forest" (the "forest metal" Opeth is back yeah...) - starts heavy but with great clean vocals before the first growls appear, but the mix clean/extreme vocals works really well here (a bit like on "Moonlapse vertigo"), then it's really emotional again with all clean voice before ending in a classic soft paced/growls style like on old songs ("twilight is my robe" or "night and the silent water" for example). Then comes the shock: "Hours Of Wealth" feel like it isn't Opeth playing, but Depeche Mode! It had a very Martin Gore style of emotion, with frail voice and minimal instrumentation. "The Grand Conjuration" is the heaviest track on the album and the weakest: it sounds too much like a "Deliverance" part II. And what a way to end the album: the beautiful ballad "Isolation Years", very emotional again.

Rating: 90/100