Opeth - Heritage

Published October 06 2011

*=Staff's pick	Heritage The Devil's Orchard I Feel The Dark Slither* Nephenthe Häxprocess Famine The Lines In My Hand Folklore* Marrow Of The Earth

Genre	Progressive Rock	Michael Åkerfeldt	Vocals
Tracks	10	Michael Åkerfeldt	Guitar
Running time	57 Min.	Fredrik Åkesson	Guitar
Label	Roadrunner Records	Martin Mendez	Bass
Release	16 September 2011	Martin Axenrot	Drums
Country	Sweden	Per Myrberg	Keyboard
Producer	Michael Åkerfeldt/Steven Wilson
Similar artists	Porcupine Tree

Retro.

That´s it. Not very often you can sum an album up in one word, but with this one you can. The newest observation by Opeth, is a distinct move in a new direction, which seems like a logical thing to do for this band. We cannot deduce, however, that this new direction will last long. Not even to the next album, which is one of the thrills with this band.

When it was first announced that this album would contain no growls, most fans probably started thinking in terms of the last "calm" album, "Damnation". But, Mr Åkerfeldt has more cards up his sleeve than we might know, and this album turned out to be as different from said predecessor as can be. Sure, no growls and not much of the brutal metal-parts we´ve heard for some time now, but still not the kind of laid-back melancholy that was "Damnation". This is a sort of homage to the 70´s prog bands. The sound is oozing with 70´s, the recording took place in an analog studio, and the general influences from prog in the music is evident.

You can hear inspirations from rather different sources. Not only is the prog era of the 70´s present, but we also get a bit of Swedish jazz in the Jan Johansson inspired "Heritage" (The same Johansson whose sons are now found in two of Scandinavia´s biggest metal bands.). Along with that, "Slither" shows obvious influences of Rainbow, and is allegedly a tribute to Ronnie James Dio.

I can´t help but feel that this album is a little bit all over the place at once. I can´t really distinguish the songs from each other at some times, and I get the feeling that the band aims a bit high sometimes. Some really good parts are cut of way to early, and what feels like almost meaningless jams takes place instead. I guess if I was more into the prog music these guys got a lot of their influences from on this one, I would maybe think better of it. But, that´s not the case.

See also review of: Pale Communion , Blackwater Park

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	6	7	7	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Olof