Thursday 9 February 2012

Opeth - Heritage



I have not come across another album that has received more mixed views than Opeth's latest release - Heritage. It seems that people either adore it or completely hate it.

True, that compared to Opeth's previous albums, Heritage is very different. For starters, it has no growls or heavy dark repeating riffs. The entire album sounds like it was made in the 70's and hidden away in a time capsule only to be found 40 years later.

The slow songs, acoustic sections, flute and organ, brush drumming and vintage distortion patches gives a beautiful mixture of folk music and progressive rock. The King Crimson influence is almost palpable.
Mikael Åkerfeldt, the only constant member of the band since it's formation, has always been experimental with his music. But, Heritage is none like any others before it; very un-opeth-like. Much like jazz improvisations, the entire album has many extended interludes and solos.

Lyrically, the entire album is very dark and very often melancholic. Strangely, to me, the album would be the perfect soundtrack to a dark middle ages fantasy story of sorts. The album has many elements that repeat themselves through the songs. With the exception of Slither (which is dedicated to Dio), all other songs have long slow acoustic sections as well as very beautifully pieced solo's. The song Devil's Orchard starts off with a moderately fast tempo and slows down two minutes into the song. The intermediate section like many interludes throughout the album is very psychedelic. The song quickens towards the end finishes off with a solo.
Opeth - Devil's Orchard

The next song on the album is I Feel The Dark which starts off with slow acoustic riff as flutes, strings and soft drums played with brushes add on to give an eerie atmospheric feel.
Opeth - I Feel The Dark

The next song is the fastest song of the album - Slither which also is the least experimental song of the album. The album then moves into slightly more psychedelic and experimental set of songs - Nepenthe, Haxprocess, Famine, The Lines In My Hand and Folklore. All three songs are well over 6 minutes and have very long interludes. Nepenthe is mostly a soft slow songs with abruptly sharp and fast paced interludes and solos. Famine starts off with a very interesting flute and percussion intro. On first listen, these songs can sound quite random especially if you haven't listened to a lot of experimental music. The Line In My Hand has a quicker tempo and some very intricate drumming. Folklore starts off with a beautiful guitar piece and smoothly transitions into an 8 minute piece of pure brilliance.
Opeth - Folklore

The albums ends with one of the best instrumental pieces by Opeth - Marrow Of The Earth. It's a shame they didn't play this live when I saw them. I'd rather let the song speak for itself:
Opeth - Marrow Of The Earth

The album certainly is slower, more melodious and more experimental than Opeth's previous works. Listening to Heritage live is a completely different experience altogether. The atmosphere they create with their music is incredible. To me its perhaps one of the best psychedelic progressive rock album in a few decades. If you have listened to the album and you didn't like it, then you definitely need to listen to it again and this time keep your ears open!

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