Opeth - Pale Communion

Published September 03 2014

*=Staff's pick	Eternal Rain Will Come Cusp Of Eternity Moon Above, Sun Below Elysian Woes Goblin River Voice Of Treason* Faith In Others

Genre	Progressive Rock	Mikael Åkerfeldt	Vocals
Tracks	8	Mikael Åkerfeldt	Guitar
Running time	56 Min.	Fredrik Åkesson	Guitar
Label	Roadrunner Records	Martin Méndez	Bass
Release	27 August 2014	Martin Axenrot	Drums
Country	Sweden	Joakim Svalberg	Keyboard
Producer	Mikael Åkerfeldt
Similar artists	---

I believe that I haven't heard one single second of Opeth's music in eight or nine years and even back then I can't recall listening to more than a few songs in total. To see what the band has to offer nowadays, I decided a few weeks ago to lay my hands on the band's latest effort, Pale Communion. Naturally, I almost have no clue what this unit's history is made of, but at least I know that Opeth started up things as some sort of death metal band in the mid-nineties and that they at this point in their career shows something completely different.

Pale Communion is a record that sonically pretty much derives from progressive rock of the seventies and basically it has nothing in common with any kind of metal and frankly this isn't exactly my favorite type of music. A few people will probably acknowledge the band's ingenuity, creativity and the way that they challenge the experimental vein, but personally I believe that quality in the songs should be the primary aim and curiosity and change should be secondary. This record is more or less a demonstration that shows that everything is possible and that the band's artistic talent is more important to display, than to actually give the fans what they want to have.

Pretentious music with a classic progressive orientation including a somewhat loud organ is a sound that doesn't have a good ring to my ears. I usually am rather patient and I have listened to this release exactly 10 times, but this is just too inert for what I believe is something worth paying attention to in the long run. I think that many listeners will perceive this type of music as dull and boring, since it doesn't have any immediate effect whatsoever.

The record's total end result isn't especially complex or intriguing, but if you like intricate and hard to grab songs, maybe you should check out this album. Personally I will most definitely put it to the great eternal rest. It's quite difficult to rate this album since it's a little outside, or quite frankly, beyond my usual perspective, but I have decided to give it 4 chalices based on my own thoughts. I personally doesn't like it at all, but I know that people who likes this kind of music probably will and therefore I rate it as something semi-decent.

See also review of: Heritage , Blackwater Park

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	7	6	6	4

Summary
4 chalices of 10 - Tobbe