Soldiering on through their new growl-free era, Opeth have
either musicially neutered themselves or continued to push progressive
boundaries with quality music, depending on who you ask.
Splitting their fanbase down the middle with 2011’s infamous
(but really rather good) Heritage
album, guttural growls and heavy riffing went out in the window in favour of a
greater emphasis on haunting, autumnal atmospherics and slight noodling, all
drenched in 70’s worshipping prog.
This turned away a sizable number in disgust, with the rest
(and music publications) praising the resultant music for what it was, rather
than what it wasn’t: and crucially, it was really fucking good.
The same was
said of 2014’s Pale Communion, which
tumbled deeper down the prog rabbit-hole.
The naysayers can be forgiven, however, for while both Heritage and Pale Communion were excellent slabs of music in themselves, there
was certainly something strangely different.
Where the likes of past albums Blackwater Park, Still Life and Ghost Reveries
were genuinely awe-inspiring, almost maddeningly inventive works hitting a high
clang on the how-did-you-do-that register, Heritage
and onwards are merely really-quite-good in comparison, destined to occupy an
interesting spot in Opeth’s gleaming back catalogue but never to knock the twin
giants of Ghost Reveries and Blackwater Park off their (deserved)
high perches.
With this in mind (and in one’s ears), 2016 brings us the
mysterious Sorceress. Boasting a title-track
with the first heavy riffing of any kind since 2008’s Watershed, this new gilded release, essentially, continues onward
from Pale Communion – as it should.
A straightforward return to death-metal stylings would carry
a 99% chance of being an obvious rehash and lazy genre-milking, so hats must
come off to Mikael Akerfeldt and co. for having the confidence to writing from
the heart with more deliciously classy prog-rock.
So to an extent, the listener knows what to expect – piano,
acoustic guitar, tasteful flute, looming keyboards, etc – and is rewarded in
kind with more achingly beautiful instrumentation, inspired passages, haunting
melodies and Akerfeldt continuing to be one of rock and metal’s most favoured
sons.
Simply put, the quality bar is still endearingly high and
Opeth have reliably rewarded those deciding to stick with them in a brave new
musical world. Their classic past albums will always exist for those who prefer
them, and the band have long since earned the right to do whatever they damn
well please, and the results are fantastic.
