Opeth’s first two releases, «Orchid» and «Morningrise», were grand musical journeys into the heart of frontman Mikael Akerfeldt. Both albums consisted of long, mind bending opuses which took progessive death metal into uncharted territory. Akerfeldt later stated that the band was usually quite lazy in the studio, which came as a surprise given the incredibly ambitious nature of their recorded output.

The element that set Opeth apart from any other band was the overt influence of 70’s progressive rock, be it the complicated, yet mesmerizing sounds of Gentle Giant, or the Yes-ish quality of bands such as Camel. Being the prog-lodyte I am, I was naturally drawn to this amazing hybrid of my two favorite genres in one package.

1998 brought «My Arms, Your Hearse», a morose concept album that picked up where «Morningrise» left off. The music was darker, but still contained all of Opeth’s crucial components, making it a success with fans both old and new.

Akerfeldt and Co. have now added a fourth chapter to the saga, entitled «Still Life». The songs are well crafted, the vocals are more varied than in the past, and the core constituents of the «Opeth sound» are generally intact. In spite of many similarities to the earlier material, this stuff isn’t grabbing me the way I think it should be. Perhaps it’s in the fact that «Still Life» seems to rely more on textures and atmospheres than I’m comfortable with. There just seem to be fewer moments when the band cuts loose and lets it rip. The mellow sections are a lot more drawn out than I remember on previous albums, and I think this tends to weaken the material as a whole. I often find myself just drumming my fingers or tapping my toes through these slow parts, waiting impatiently for the guitars to lurch forward and kick me between the eyes. This is still a worthwhile release, just not quite what I was hoping for. Every review I’ve read of «Still Life» seems to corroborate my findings, but don’t let that discourage you. Start off with «Orchid», then buy the albums in order of their release. That should make Opeth’s latest affair a little easier to digest.

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