ORCHID

Opeth's debut album (I rented it from the library and it sports a small tin circular case, which I suspect would be a special collectors-edition) is certainly an impressive one. I am not a metal fan (any kind of post-77 metal leaves generally fairly cold) and to be able to tell you whether this would be Death, Black, Thrash or Doom metal, I would even with a quick crash course. But one thing is for sure; there are enough elements on this debut album to make it qualify as Prog metal, without any discussions possible, making me wonder why such a controversy arises when Opeth is mentioned as such.

From the 14 min opener with its good but by no means groundbreaking crunch-power chords, making you more think of 70's (early Judas Priest or early Scorpions) metal than the 80's NWOBHMB, and its other-worldly vocals (it reminds me of the singer of My Dying Bride, but I suspect a lot of bands have adopted this type of vocals), this group appears as a combination of outstanding young musicians out for blood and vengeance, loving guitar melodic crunch without the obligatory masturbatory heroics. However , I must say that the bonus track is really too extreme for me.

More impressive to me are the quieter moments (or even tracks such as Under The Weeping Moon) when I think the band shows best its talents, (even playing an atmospheric piano piece the 3 min Silhouette) displaying their dark and gothic moods (which if not for the singer's voice, I would rather think of them as gloom or doom metal) and with the Flamenco-influenced intro of the almost 14 min Apostle In Triumph, it is clear that Opeth is one of the better bands in the prog metal sub-genre.