MORNINGRISE

I think what makes this album even remotely tolerable past the horrible vocals (well, other than the occasional moment of relief where the singing is clean) is just how great the music is. If you're on the bus with nothing to do, this CD probably won't satisfy you because it'll be all you're focussed on. But, if you're occupied with something else, it serves as amazing background music because the growling is a lot easier to ignore and you just get entranced by the excellence of the music.

If you ignore the bonus track (eternal soul torture) then there really isn't a bad song on here. I think that's what saves this album - the ability for a listener to ignore its flaws. And, because that's a lot to ask of someone, I hesitated to give this four or five stars and instead settled with 3.

Opeth should be an instrumental-only band. Or, at least, they should ditch the growling vocals altogether. Akerfeldt isn't all too bad of a clean vocalist, and the growls are what scare away so many potential fans.