GHOST REVERIES

To me Ghost Reveries is the most progressive record that Opeth has come up with! After working with Steven Wilson on their last three records they really got the taste for making progressive metal! Their music matured even more and got even more melodic containing loads of keyboards and mellotron. They even hired a new band member (playing keyboards) turning this album in a progressive metal masterpiece.

The album consists out of 8 tracks that last an average of 8:00 minutes each. Typical Opeth album so far you could say. But now lets discuss the album.

The opening track Ghost of Perdition starts out quiet for about 7 seconds after which you will find yourself falling off any chair you were sitting on. Mikael's growls kick in and the music blasts you away. After 1:00 minute we get some great drumming followed by Mikael's clean vocals sounding better than ever. After this we get some growling again until the 2:30 time mark. Here Mikael's voice gets pseudo heavenly (very atmospheric part) and this is interrupted by even better drumming than the part I mentioned earlier. WOW! The singing after this part has some great melody and the variation in this song is great to make it all complete. This song is pretty much a good representative for the entire album.

The Baying of the Hounds also kicks in with some heavy growling until 01:50 when we hear some great guitar riffs and Mikael displays his beautiful clean vocals again in a very catchy part. From 03:15 the song changes quite a bit and we get a beautiful instrumental part with great keyboards and bells. Mikael continues to sing with clean vocals again until the next instrumental part after which we hear some more of his growling. Me not being a fan of "grunts & growl" can even appreciate it in the way Opeth does it. Combined with great instrumentation, melodies and tempo shifts in one song it makes the whole very complex and interesting to listen to.

Beneath the Mire is another great song and I especially like the instrumental part that starts around 03:25 followed by another nice clean vocal part that goes : Lost love of the heart in a holocaust scene memory

Atonement is a nice mellow song where Mikael sings with a soft voice and the music has some Arabic touch to it. Very catchy ending.

Reverie/Harlequin Forest also starts out rather heavy and the change to mellow instrumental piece happens around 03:30 followed by some more wonderful clean vocals. The song really seems to change around the 05:00 time mark, so I guess that's where Harlequin Forest would start? I especially like the dreamy catchy instrumental guitar chorus if you like, which reminds me quite a bit of the Damnation album. Great stuff!

Hours of Wealth starts out as a good instrumental track where after 2 minutes we get some delicate singing. Very mellow track that also could have been on Damnation as well.

The Grand Conjuration probably is the heaviest track of this album and probably my least favourite track.

Fortunately the album "closure" is the wonderful mellow track Isolation Years which also could have been easily a track on the Damnation album. This track is simply beautiful!

Probably, together with "Still Life" and "Damnation" my favourite Opeth album!

Definitely a step forward for Opeth! 4.5 stars