ORCHID

This is a really good listen although it has it's problems. I find it to be a very satisfying album, some of it spectacular. the best pieces are "In the Mist She Was Standing", "The Apostle in Triumph" and "Forest of October". The latter being the album's standout piece. This album has quality and production problems and sounds dated comapred to their 3rd album and onwards. "Orchid" and "Morningrise" go well together, they are both great albums that have similar sounding tunes. The vocals on here are really good but lack power. The riffs are speedier and metallic but lack melodic guitar work and their gloomy essence. Overall there are a lot of similarities between this album and Morningrise but i love them both.

This is actually one hell of a debut, Opeth know what sound they are after and achieve it well. This album is full of the heavy riffs and growling vocals, as well as beautiful mellow parts and soft singing. Orchid is a great prototype for their later masterpieces.

In The Mist... is a great opener, kicking in straight away with a cool riff. This track is quite special as it kicks off a one of the best bands i have ever heard. the vocals at the begining are actual whispers before it kicks into the full out death metal vocals. Under the Weeping Moon is a decent piece though it can have its struggles.

Silhouette is a crazy piano interlude, its quite interesting but not as good as some of their other pieces like this such as "Epilogue", "Patterns in the Ivy", "Ending Credits" and "For Absent Friends". It's nice to see that they have included this formula of linking songs together with short bridge pieces though. Orchid really has some of Opeth's best ideas, just perhaps they are not quite as polished, but they had 6 more albums to improve on their songwriting skills. Orchid has great musician skills with some top notch acoustic, riff, solo and vocal work (not to mention the drums and bass).

"Forest of October" is the standout on this album, where most of this album's praise belongs. It has the best range of style and flows beautifully, containing most of their ideas for this album. Some of the solo work is really inspiring. I have a really cool live version of this which turned me onto this album.

"The Twighlight is My Robe" is one of the softer full length pieces on this album. It builds up reall nicely and is a very decent track. "Requiem" is the second interlude piece on this album. This one is an acoustic piece that builds up. Due to no fault of the band, half of this track ends up being put onto the front of the last track, but i think it actually makes "The Apostle in Triumph" sound even better with that cool acoustic opening! The last track is a solid album closer but nothing as spectacular as "Forest of October".

Altogether this album presents some interesting tunes, a great range of ideas. Passion, ambition and emotion. Orchid hasn't aged well as all the albums after are better but i often look back on this amazing album. It is very good, especially for a debut, Opeth seemed to have settled into their sound and formula for success straight away. Production and quality on this album has some issues but its a very good listen overall. Save this album as one of the last to get though, probably more for the true fans.