Liste der Bands Progressive Death Opeth Heritage

Have you ever felt like being a part of an imaginative situation created by you, while you are listening to an album? Well, for me it is the second time this year that I am taking part to a personal imaginative situation. The whole atmosphere of Heritage makes me feel, anytime I hear it, like being in an old building which is a musical academy and I am sitting in the main hall of it, trying to capture all the sounds I hear that come out from the different rooms. Heritage is not the album for the fans of death metal, it is for all the fans that know to hear the beautiful music and are able to realize it without subjective thoughts that confuse everyone.

The beginning of the album “Heritage” is the moment of my entrance to the academy, just a medley on a piano which is trying to make you see what exactly you are going to face or much better to be a part of it. After so many albums from Opeth now is so obvious more than any other time that Mikael Akerfeldt is not only a magnificent musician, but also a man who knows how to use all the legacy of progressive and general music which has been given to him since the time he has started to receive it. All the psychedelic atmosphere of the great decade of the ‘70s is placed in songs like “The Devil’s Orchard”, the deepest meaning of progressive which is seen on its drumming, complicated and yet light and simple and from the other side of the things we hear Mikael singing so gentle, so clear, so sure that words mistake or error will not be found in here and in the end a guitar solo that somehow welcomes the next step.

Another surprise from Opeth is the song “Slither” which is dedicated to the memory of Ronnie James Dio, no Mikael is not trying to change his style on vocals, he maintains his personal ability and he lets it evolved during the song, which could belong to a Rainbow album and believe me that the solo is much better than any solo from the last of Ritchie Blackmore. “Nepenthe” is the song that makes me imaginative situation more alive than any other song, a peaceful and psychedelic too air that makes me think nothing else. At this moment I try to hear carefully the sounds from the rooms which all together are a song, humble as its lyrics.

Music cannot stop being played and your thoughts start getting full by other great musicians like Al DiMeola, Rush, Camel who left their personal mark in the gold era of the ‘70s. All these thoughts are molding through “Haxprocess” and “The Lines In My Hand”, with electric guitars different from the usual guitar parts of Opeth that lead to death metal and all the groove screams of death could be somewhere here, in some small parts, but not this time, as time goes by you are being one with this material, you hear the epic ending of “Folklore” which is derived from the genre of folk too and you are not wondering about the melodic death alternations. Joakim Svalberg is responsible too for this result and the biggest brain with Mikael is Steven Wilson.

Well, time passed by and now it is the moment to leave this music academy and the exit is on the other side, there where the building is ending, “Marrow Of The Earth”. All the grandeur of melody, all the talent of Mikael and Fredrik Akesson is described in here. This ending is a painting with different and multi colors that give you chance that they will never stop. Is it my imagination or I hear some essential female vocals flying together with that melody?

Heritage is a gift from the heaven of music, it will be for me the guide to another music horizon and the together with The Tree Of Life from the Finlands Orne will be my personal diamonds. Pay careful attention while you are listening to it and give the chance to yourself.

Full disclosure: I have never been a massive Opeth fan. I like their first few albums because I feel that they captured the spirit of prog into metal, (even if it wasn't death metal exactly) but overall throughout their career they've written largely disjoint songs that never 'gelled' to my ears. The first couple of records had that problem but they also had really interesting riffs/melodic ideas throughout, which is something I can't say from about Blackwater Park forward.

I actually didn't hate the idea of Opeth basically ditching metal for an attempt at 70's prog back when this came out; I actually WELCOMED that change. Alas, this record inherits the problems that have afficted Opeth throughout their career. Heritage is a frustrating record, in that for every good melody Opeth comes up with, they throw in a stupid non-transition or bad guitar riff that completely takes me out of what they're trying to accomplish. "Haxprocess" is the biggest example of this: it starts with a really ominous and cool drum part that really builds up some tension that's promising to be released, and then... it goes into an acoustic section. That's this album in a nutshell: no matter how good a melody they're going to play is, they're going to switch away from it in a matter that less implies 'adventure' and more that they can't quite put everything together well.

And that's the biggest same of this album, because really, it does have some great guitar playing on it, and I do LOVE the warm production this album sports. "Slither" in particular has a great central riff, even if the song overall kinda peters out. This is a frustrating album that I wish I enjoyed a lot more than I actually do, but alas, I can't really say that I think it's much more than a missed opportunity.