Album Rating: 4.5

Okay I want Sorceress to be like this. If they're gonna do another DM-free album this is how they should do it, not by following the 70s prog handbook.

If we get another Damnation I for one would be very disappointed. Almost certain we won't anyway.

Heritage didn't "follow the 70's prog handbook". Heritage ruled and featured some uncharacteristically adventurous instrumentation and compositions for Opeth. Something along those lines would be great rather than the safer prog sound of Pale Communion.

heritage is cool but if they make another pale communion i'll cry

pretty laughable that it has a lower average

Album Rating: 4.5

I agree Ryus but the band seem to have enjoyed making PC, meaning they'll probably carry on with that style.



We can only hope not but it's looking too good.

I fear it will be another Pale Communion tbh.

it sounds like it

and it looks like it also with the 70s nostalgia jizz-fest that is the tracklist

Album Rating: 4.5

they need to get out of this mindset of constantly looking back and start thinking forward, the 70s were an amazing time for prog but it's hard (or impossible) to recapture the magic those albums had in 2016

Album Rating: 4.5

The only albums that come close to that for me are Raven and possibly Heritage. PC just sounded flat and uninspired.

Album Rating: 4.5

People who want more of the same still don't get what Opeth are about, which is ignoring fan's wishes and doing what they feel inspired to do. This and Heritage are amazing albums in their own ways partially for those creative decisions to make them possible, and not continue with the progressive death metal route. In that way, different people like and dislike certain albums and have totally different rankings for them, the sign of a very special band. I for one would love for them to keep exploring new sounds, basically hoping for mystical guitar passages and jazzy drumming given the album information we've just seen. Just as adventurous and unpredictable songwriting as possible.

"People who want more of the same still don't get what Opeth are about"

To be fair, Opeth were all about 'more of the same' for quite a while.

Album Rating: 3.0

I agree Jamie. But that is the irony of it. The heads that are big on Heritage and Pale Communion are delusional. Opeth where at their best in '99, which was a more of the same formula, but it was a formula that was completely unique at the time. Now they've gone back to the 70s

Album Rating: 4.5

Disagreed for many reasons, they changed it up more than most bands do throughout their career. It's not the band's fault if certain people don't like it, that's their own issue. But anyways, PC was a step down from Heritage, and if they lessen the cheesy vocal melodies and accessibility it had, maybe going even lighter, Sorceress could be fantastic.

I'm glad they've moved on from that same formula now. Heritage was much more interesting musically than many of the albums that preceded it.

Album Rating: 3.0

Heritage was tremendous in places - the drumming for example. But fuck me, the guitar playing was very weak.

Never really listened to Opeth for fantastic guitar playing (except some of the acoustic playing on Morningrise) so it doesn't really bother me. Some of the guitar playing in a few places on Heritage is actually very good though, albeit those places I can think of are few and far between.

Album Rating: 3.0

Famine is a guitar master class, other than that there's nowt. Interesting that you don't listen to the band for the guitar playing. Akerfeldt is an incredible player.

Haxprocess' solo is one of the few very memorable guitar solos I've heard in an Opeth song. Not that Opeth have ever really been about solos thankfully but that one is definitely the guitar highlight on Heritage.

Album Rating: 3.0

How can Opeth not be about solos? Leper Affinity, When, Godheads Lament, Harvest - gorgeous solos there off the bat.

They've never really been one of the main draws for me. Don't get me wrong, they're good solos, they've just never done an awful lot for me personally and generally I think there's a lot of other aspects of their sound that they're better at, which is a good thing because any [metal] band that's mainly about solos is doing something wrong.