Review Summary: In summary, Ghost Reveries is an album filled with great musicianship, flawless vocals, deep, powerful lyrics, and all around a beautiful mixture of death metal and progressive rock.
Let me start off by saying if you want to get into Opeth but are not sure which album to buy first, I would suggest buying this one. I would give Ghost Reveries by Opeth a 5, but I don't believe it fits into the category of a "classic" album. Released in 2005, it was the last album with the famous line up of Mikael Akerfeldt: Guitar and Vocals ; Peter Lindgren: Guitar ; Martin Mendez: Bass and Martin Lopez: Drums. This is also the first album in which Per Wilberg was listed as a member of the band. This album is a beautiful mix of death metal and progressive rock which always keeps the listener interested.
1.Ghost Of Perdition- This song starts off with a few quiet chords and then expoldes into a progressive death metal song. Right off the bat you hear how superb Mikael Akerfeldts screams are. As the song progresses you are introduced to Mikael Akerfeldt's beautiful clean vocals. Since this is song is full of great vocals, interesting chord progressions and all around good musicianship, I give it a 5/5.
2.The Baying Of The Hounds-My favorite song on the album. It starts off with a catchy guitar riff geniusly accompanied by an organ. This song shows you what Opeth is really all about with its incredible song writing and musicianship. Easily a 5/5
3.Beneathe The Mire-My least favorite song on Ghost Reveries, but it is not by any means a bad song. wouldn't hesitate to say that I have yet to find a bad song written by opeth. It starts with a drum fill leading into a riff accompanied by strings. The reason its my least favorite is because i cant seem to make it through the song without wishing i could just get on to the rest album. Nevertheless, I give this song a 3/5.
4.Atonement-This is the most underated song on Ghost Reveries. Its very catchy and cleverly written with a very interesting piano solo at the end. The bongos in the verse add a nice touch and add to the feel of the song. 4/5
5.Reverie/Harelquin Forest-This song is absolutely perfect. The chord progression of the verse is extremely catchy and is infatuated by Lopez's groove filled drum part. The song proceeds into a bridge consisting of acoustic guitar and Mikael Akerfeldt's soothing clean vocals. As the bridge continues it evolves into two guitars playing a harmony together over the acoustic guitar to make one of the most beautiful parts of the album. This song is defenetly a 5/5.
6.Hours Of Wealth-One of the most laid back tracks on the album. It starts with a clean guitar and eventually is accompanied by a piano and strings. The second half of the song is dominated by a mellotron and Akerfeldt's vocals. This song ends with a very well constructed solo. This is a song any fan of Opeth, metalhead or not, can enjoy. 4/5
7.The Grand Conjuration-This is a song that will appeal mostly to the metalheads that listen to Opeth. The beggining riffs are dark and are balanced well with Lopez's groovy latin-styled fills. This song has some of my favorite lyrics from the album. For example: "The eyes of the satan fixed on his sinners. The arms of satan assembling his flock." The second chorus is followed by an awesome finger tapping guitar solo compliments of Akerfeldt. Although this song has many great elements, I lose interest after the first couple of minutes and so i can only give this song a 3.5/5
8.Isolation Years-The last song on the album. It has a very melancholy feel. The lyrics of this song are the most poetic I've ever seen from Akerfeldt. "The wound in me is pouring out to rest on a lover's shore." I couldn't have asked for a more interesting way to end the album so ill give this song a 4/5.
