MORNINGRISE

Opeth took the Orchid sound, fixed some of their early flaws, developed their sound further, and focused on long songs. Remaining problems are some of the unremarkable acoustic sections, some pauses in the songs that break a bit of the continuity and fluidity of the album, and the drumming is not as excellent as Martin Lopez.

However, The growls are more in the mix since the guitars and drums are louder and heavier. Also, there are less growls out of place (though they still are a bit too high-pitched). Not to forget, the acoustic parts are less repetitive and fit better in the album (except for the epic). In addition, their double-guitar riffing is much more catchy and interesting (most notable improvement over Orchid). Finally, the melodies are stronger.

Advent comes off as the best track, and since the music in this album is similar throughout itself, I will describe the opener. It starts with an imaginative guitar riff combined with a neat bass guitar that will be prominent in a very short acoustic bit. More electric guitars continue for a while until a sustain growl stops it and helps a good acoustic guitar/bass duo take over for a bit, which is later developed with electric guitars. Suddenly, a fast paced bass is alone until the guitars kick in! More cool heavy stuff + grunts. Later, another acoustic parts with clean vocals comes in. The bass is loud in the mix again (something I miss in their next albums, where it is barely audible), the theme develops and a slow distorted guitar comes in for a few seconds while the acoustic music keeps playing. It coherently leads to a loud double-guitar part with "Shut uuuuuuuuuup" screams. The grunts are a bit high-pitched but I can tolerate them. Some clean vocals appear in this section. Later, the song changes yet again with another brutal guitar riff and awesome fretless bass guitar. A few seconds later, another new riff, a few seconds later: even another riff is introduced and those two alternate back and forth and a beautiful section stop the madness in the moment you would least expect it. The song ends with many different acoustic parts. Ha, it's good not to be repetitive in a song!

The rest of the album sounds like a whole big song as the songs seem connected and follow a story, as well as sound in a similar tone. The Night and the Silent Water has a few amazing riffs from Mikael as well as a beautiful mellow section in the early stages of it. Nectar is similar to Advent, but far inferior. However, it doesn't mean it is a bad song. Instead, it lacks experimentation and sounds a bit like if the band was lacking some good ideas, except for that powerful bass line near the end. Black Rose Immortal has coherence issues (some pauses within the song), and a very unimaginative intro. I do not like the song very much though I admit that the ending is pretty epic.

The last song is very different from the others. It is an extended growl-free track that starts with a simple guitar theme, then develops, then clean vocals and jazzy guitars appear and the song ends in a heavy fashion combined with strong vocals which sound very appropiate for this album: Epic! Unfortunately, the song is too repetitive for my liking.

Highlights: Advent

Let Downs: Nectar, Black Rose Immortal.

My Grade : C+

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