Opeth is a swedish metal band which is can be best described as a wholesome union between Dream Theater's progressive style and Arch Enemy's heavy, harmonic riffs. Formed in 1990, My Arms, Your Hearse is their 3rd studio album.
Now if you're listening to this album, you've either heard songs from previous albums, or you've not. If you've heard the previous albums, what will strike you first is the lack of dual harmonic guitars, which made Orchid and Morningrise hauntingly beautiful, yet powerful death metal albums. Opeth decided to go with more progressive and heavy riffs, and Åkerfeldt (lead guitarist and vocalist) has taken his screaming vocals to a whole new level, while maintaing his clean and whispered vocals. All this meant that it took me a while to get used to the new style the band was playing in this album (read: listening to it start to front about 3 times), but its wonderful to listen to once you get over the fact that this album is not as melancholy as the previous albums, but definitely more eerie in its themes, scales, chords and timing. Its one of the many paradigm shifts the band has undergone during its life.
One way or the other, this is arguably Opeth's heaviest and most progressive album to date. I started listening to Opeth only after hearing Ghost Reveries, which was progressive, yet had death metal influences in it. My Arms... is twice as heavy, twice as complex, twice as fast... Pretty much twice as much in everything. Its an outstanding piece of music, and considering this was made in 1996, I can't help but appreciate the musical genius of Åkerfeldt, because this album is still good and fresh, 13 years down the line.
Oh and lest I forget, most songs in this album are less than 10 mins long, which is short, by Opeth's standards; Most of the bands songs are in the 9 - 16 min bracket. Fluid, elegant, yet hard hitting compositions.
Overall Ratuing: 8.7 /10
PS - You'll agree with the rating if you allow the music to sink in over a period of time; this stuff most probably wont endear itself to you immediately.
Now if you're listening to this album, you've either heard songs from previous albums, or you've not. If you've heard the previous albums, what will strike you first is the lack of dual harmonic guitars, which made Orchid and Morningrise hauntingly beautiful, yet powerful death metal albums. Opeth decided to go with more progressive and heavy riffs, and Åkerfeldt (lead guitarist and vocalist) has taken his screaming vocals to a whole new level, while maintaing his clean and whispered vocals. All this meant that it took me a while to get used to the new style the band was playing in this album (read: listening to it start to front about 3 times), but its wonderful to listen to once you get over the fact that this album is not as melancholy as the previous albums, but definitely more eerie in its themes, scales, chords and timing. Its one of the many paradigm shifts the band has undergone during its life.
One way or the other, this is arguably Opeth's heaviest and most progressive album to date. I started listening to Opeth only after hearing Ghost Reveries, which was progressive, yet had death metal influences in it. My Arms... is twice as heavy, twice as complex, twice as fast... Pretty much twice as much in everything. Its an outstanding piece of music, and considering this was made in 1996, I can't help but appreciate the musical genius of Åkerfeldt, because this album is still good and fresh, 13 years down the line.
Oh and lest I forget, most songs in this album are less than 10 mins long, which is short, by Opeth's standards; Most of the bands songs are in the 9 - 16 min bracket. Fluid, elegant, yet hard hitting compositions.
Overall Ratuing: 8.7 /10
PS - You'll agree with the rating if you allow the music to sink in over a period of time; this stuff most probably wont endear itself to you immediately.
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