The Night And The Silent Water... Still So Dark

Opeth - Morningrise

We've skipped an album on my reverse journey of Opeth albums. My Arms My Hearse came between Still Life and Morningrise, but I'm sure my loyal readers will forgive me for skipping it, I haven't been CD shopping for a while. Morningrise is their second album and according to your average metal elitist on the street also their best. I'm going to risk being beaten to death the next time I go to a metal concert and come out and say that it's my least favourite out of all their albums that I've heard (which is everything except My Arms My Hearse and Orchid). Yes, I even prefer Ghost Reveries.

Morningrise is a decent listen, but the riffs are nowhere near as sublime and the arrangements not nearly as flawless as on Blackwater Park or Deliverance. I hate to say it but at some times the melodies have a lifelessly plodding medieval style that is reminiscent of, god help me, Satyricon. Particular offenders are the opening track 'Advent' and 'Black Rose Immortal'. The former song is just plain average while the latter contains some really good stuff but unfortunately not enough to fill up its twenty minute running time. On the other hand the obligatory acoustic song, 'To Bid You Farewell' is up to their usual standard (i.e. brilliant) and the bonus demo track 'Eternal Soul Torture' is also very good if you can get past the production issues, bringing a final blast of real metal where the rest of the album spends a lot of time noodling around on acoustic guitars.

And also I must note that I have only good things to say about 'The Night and the Silent Water', a mournful epic written about the death of Mikael's grandfather, which completely deserves it's reputation as a fan favourite.

I've said it before and I'll now say it again: even bad Opeth is great music.