The Best Opeth Songs...So Far!Jan 24 '05 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Everything that I love about Opeth can be found within the following 10 tracks...aggressiveness, slow calming acoustic moments, atmospheric passages and a good mix of vocal styles overall. For those who are not easily impressed, don’t expect to “get it” on the very first spin. Opeth is not immediate music, though it does pack a hard punch and has a lasting impact on you, it is NOT mainstream metal. Opeth mix aggressive passages with acoustic ones, moving from brutal to melodic to soft atmospheric moments in just about every song. That is what they do best and those who take the time to listen and who allow the music to sink in, are richly rewarded... When I first started out to make this list I thought this would be an easy task, I mean how many really good songs could one band have anyway? So I started out by writing down those songs that I felt should be on my top 10 list. Isn’t it funny - when making “best of” lists - how the first few songs are always easy to jot down but then the rest of the songs usually just seem to flow naturally and not necessarily in order of importance. By the time I was done I had 23 tracks on my list. I was having such a hard time deciding on 10 that I changed my approach and thought I would eliminate some tracks instead. But scratching some songs proved to be an even harder task! So, out came the discs - 5 in all (Morningrise and Orchid not in the mix yet) - and I programmed my CD player to play those 23 songs on my initial list. Then I hit random mode. This proved very helpful, scratched two songs off my list in the first week alone. At that pace, I might just have my list down to 10 in about two months, and after making the list I have to write my review, God, this top 10 list was proving to be quite the challenge. So to speed things up I started comparing songs two at a time, sort of a one-on-one competition. Whenever a song won, it would get 10 points and the loser 0, a tie would result in both songs gaining 5 points each. Whenever I found a loser I would compare it to another track immediately. If one track lost 3 times in a row it got scratched and I moved on to the next pair of songs. I managed to scratch 5 more songs in one weekend this way. I was so excited, finally making some serious progress but I still had 6 songs to scratch? Then, I replaced Deliverance with Morningrise in my CD player and had to add a couple songs to my list. God, this little exercise was taking forever. Finally got some time off to finalize my list. Then I put it away for a few weeks. Took it back out and made some more changes. I was starting to wonder if this process was ever going to end. I must admit that this was definitely one of the hardest list I have ever done. So, my absolute FAV Opeth tracks narrowed down to 10, and they are: 10. “In My Time Of Need” - 5m50s - Damnation - 2003 What better way to start off my list than with a progressive acoustic flavoured track. Mikael Akerfeldt’s staccato singing style during the verses and especially during the opening moments of the song is somewhat lacking emotion and melody, but everything comes together beautifully in the chorus, very comforting piece as he sings to help “ease the pain...” 9. “The Moor” - 11m28s - Still Life - 1999 “The Moor” opens with an almost two minute long fading in atmospheric intro which then leads into a beautiful yet short acoustic passage just before the song explodes at the two and a half minute mark into some good solid heavy riffs and then Akerfeldt’s trademark growl comes into focus and fills your speakers. There are some clean passages, some acoustic ones and some brutal moments found throughout the track. 8. “Demon of the Fall” - 6m13s - My Arms Your Hearse - 1998 OK, no real surprise here. Akerfeldt's vox ranges from clean melodies to digitally enhanced death growls. The track opens with some weird sounds, in fact haunting moments abound on this track. Not the best lyrics Akerfeldt has ever written but certainly one of the stronger tracks they have ever written, musically speaking. This is the track the band has traditionally always ended their shows with...not always so nowadays, but a crowd favourite just the same. 7. "Bleak" - 9m16s - Blackwater Park - 2000 Strong opening, a most heavy track with many musical transitions. The atmosphere of this track is heightened by a haunting lead guitar lick. Mikael is accompanied by Steven (Porcupine Tree) Wilson on vocals and when they sing together, it is without question one of the better vocal moments found anywhere on my list here. “Moving I am moving closer to your side Luring You are luring me into the night Crying Who is crying for you here Dying I am dying fast inside your tears” 6. “The Amen Corner” - 8m43s - My Arms Your Hearst - 1998 The jazzy flavoured guitar riff opening of this track is rather unique. The beauty of this song is that the music alone, and I’m talking about the acoustic strumming in the first half of the song is immensely depressing - as is the rhythm guitars’ distorted wandering scale on the second half. Clean vocals and clean guitar solos with some heavy moments in between. “Unwritten secrets beneath the cobwebs. I can not endure. And so I rose from my sleep. The moon turned away its face. Overture of the long, black night begins... something you said: "Eerie circles upon the waters".” 5. “Closure” - 5m16s - Damnation - 2003 This is the second acoustic track on my list. This time the song ends with full band in tow (not the brutal side of the band) and some interesting Eastern flavoured influences. It’s the originality of the track that wins me over. Akerfeldt stretches his voice here, kinda sounding a little awkward at the beginning. The repeated lick and slowly building keys in the mid section fo the track all adds a sense of anticipation and urgency. The listener awaits impatiently for something to happen at the climax, but nothing really happens...closure. “Heal myself-a feather on my heart Look inside-there never was a start Peel myself-dispose of severed skin All subsides-around me and within” 4. “White Cluster” - 10m02s - Still Life - 1999 The heaviest track on Still Life earns a spot on my list. Like most epic tracks found here, “White Cluster” is no exception, they all contain some clean vocals, some soft acoustic passages and some very fast paced brutal moments. This is essentially the Opeth trademark, to include as much musical diversity as they can in every single track, but “White Cluster” epitomizes perfectly everything that the band does so well. 3. “The Leper Affinity” - 10m23s - Blackwater Park - 2000 Relatively short atmospheric intro that leads into a most brutal performance. They don’t let up on the aggression until almost the midway mark where we are treated to another beautiful acoustic passage. They return for an encore performance of the most brutal kind before slowly ending the song with piano only. You’ve never heard anything done quite like this before...a rare mix indeed. 2. “April Ethereal” - 8m41s - My Arms Your Hearse - 1998 Sounds like Akerfeldt and the boys are harmonizing in a short fading in “Aaaaaaaah...” just before the band kick it in for another brutal assault on your ears. This song has it all, double bass drums, multiple clean acoustic moments, galloping riffs... “It is a mere destiny I thought, a threshold I had crossed before. The rain was waving goodbye, and when the night came the forest folded its branches around me. Something passed by, and I went into a dream.” 1. "Deliverance" - 13m36s - Deliverance - 2002 “Deliverance” is a 13 minute massive undertaking with some of Opeth’s best composition handiwork. The ever constant quality of their music is truly astounding and to include those awesome progressive elements that we’ve come to expect from them over the years just adds credence to those who believe in the bands greatness. This title track includes a 3 minute instrumental moment, highlighting the band at it’s best, not always at it’s frenzied best, but it’s best nevertheless. Honorable Mentions: “Serenity Painted Death” - 9m14s - Still Life - 1999 “Godhead’s Lament” - 9m47s - Still Life - 1999 “Dirge for November” - 7m54s - Blackwater Park - 2000 “Face of Melinda” - 7m59s - Still Life - 1999 “Black Rose Immortal” - 20m14s - Morningrise - 1996 “The Drapery Falls” - 10m54s - Blackwater Park - 2000 With the exception of the all acoustic Damnation, there is one thing that Opeth has managed to do album after album and that is to maintain a perfect balance between soft and heavy, technical and melodic, dark and atmospheric. I’m going to end my essay with a short lyric sample from “The Drapery Falls” that appropriately conveys my sentiments about...this list: “Nails bleeding from the struggle It is the end for the weak at heart Always the same A lullaby for the ones who've lost all...” ~Vanwarp~  |
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