Tuesday, September 24, 2013

My First Memories Volume 5 - Opeth

This is not a sign that I am coming out of retirement, but I have wanted to revisit this series for some weeks so here is the next chapter.

Thinking about it now, this represents that last time I truly took a punt on a band without having heard a single note. My introduction to Opeth came in the latter part of 2005 - when I bought 'Ghost Reveries' on a whim (HMV, Grafton Street). I was aware of the Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) connection, and the band's merits were well celebrated on the Rush forum site The National Midday Sun. This certainly seemed qualification enough that they deserved my attention.

No doubt about it, Opeth music is genuinely progressive when taken as a whole, but on first playback I was struck by what I dismissed as a straightforward cross between Dream Theater and Voivod...with decidedly gruff, death-metal styled vocals. Good. Well played. Modern production. But not amazing. Ok, well it was my own fault for not doing the research extensively...there really aren't any excuses in this overconnected age. However, I still liked to think of those days when you would go to record shops (!) and try something new based on a trivial connection: the album cover, the band name, the track titles, the producer that produced your favourite album by such and such a band...and so on. By 2005 those days really were ancient times but I am a music fan, a music collector, and I can still experience that hopeless (love?) optimism that you will be able to find new treasure in recorded music.

Eventually (read: a few weeks later - Ed), I did find the treasure. Not unnaturally, it was in the quieter, groovier moments that I first started to get to grips with this masterwork. However, it is in the grandiose title track and the epic 'Harlequin Forest' that I actually heard Opeth for the first time. 'Ghost Reveries' was an album that I found I could listen to on constant repeat and was ideal for the lengthy bus commute into Dublin. It is an album of tremendous complexity and texture and fully demonstrates the excellent vocal range of band leader, Mikael Akerfeldt. The man has at least 4 strong vocal personalities and he utilities them expertly as musical tones that weave in and out of the heavily orchestrated guitars.

I have since become a major fan of the band, travelling to see them if necessary. Subsequent albums have seen something of a stunning rise to the top of the Prog tree, and I am sure there are still several moments' of genius still to come.