The Flashcards: Opeth - Ghost Reveries (2005)

70/100

I finally worked up the courage to try one of the deities of progressive metal, Opeth, tackling what is considered their best album—according to Metal Hammer (Louder)—even though I have previously dipped my toes into Pale Communion (2014).

The opener, "Ghost of Perdition," instantly made me feel a sense of sorrow. Was it sorrow from being deeply moved by remarkably pristine music? No, it was sorrow because the use of clean vocals on that track left my brain yearning entirely for death/doom metal. As the record progressed through "The Grand Conjuration" and "Isolation Years," the feeling remained exactly the same. The riffs and emotive growls, set against an instrumental dynamic that lacks the sheer destructiveness of typical death metal, constantly had me wishing for death/doom approach instead.

In the end, this highly revered offering failed to win me over. Will Blackwater Park suffer the same fate? We shall see and that's all.

Tracklist:

1. Ghost Of Perdition

2. The Baying Of The Hounds

3. Beneath The Mire

4. Atonement

5. Reverie/Harlequin Forest

6. Hours Of Wealth

7. The Grand Conjuration

8. Isolation Years

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