Normally, when four musicians of similar musical ideas and perspectives come together, they form a band. Yet sometimes, they form so much more then that. Sometimes, what comes together becomes a full musical experience. It becomes much more then just another band you listen to; it becomes a way of life. An experience that shapes you, showing you a whole new world - one that would have seemed too amazing to be possible.
Such is the case of Opeth, a death metal quartet that hails from the land of Stockholm, Sweden.
Their name had been taken from the book Sunbird, which was written in 1972 by Wilbur Smith, but was originally spelled Opet. The original meaning of Opet was "city of the moon".
Opeth first began in 1990 in Stockholm, Sweden by Mikael Akerfeldt on guitar and David Isberg on vocals. Soon afterward, Anders Nordin joined on drums and Nick Doring came in on bass. Finally, second guitarist Anderas Dimeo came aboard. The line-up lasted about a year - after a single gig, Anders and Nick quit only to be replaced by Kim Pettersson and Johan DeFarfalla. Once again, Kim left after a mere one gig. For the next show, they had recruited Peter Lindgren to play bass, but after Kim left, Peter switched back to his first instrument, guitar. In early 1992, David left the band. Since Mikael had been the vocalist for Eruption, he was unanimously chosen as the new vocalist. After spending a year as a trio, Stefan Guteklint joined a bass player, only to saty for about a year. After landing a deal with Candlelight Records, Stefan was kicked out of the band. In 1994, Orchid was recorded with DeFarfalla as a session bassist. The album was released in '95 with Dan Swano as engineer and Opeth themselves handling all the production.
I'm getting bored with the unforgiving factual crap, so on to the music.
In Mist She Was Standing - 10/10
This was the song that got me hooked on Opeth. It starts out with brutally melodic guitar work, and only gets better as the song gets heavier with Mikaels' trademark vocals. It soon transitions from heavy electric, to soft acoustic, and back again giving a sense of the death metal brutality with the strong sense of beauty. An amazing solo follows, and the rest of the song unfolds, becoming a metal epic that sticks on the mind of the listener with the classic Opeth style.
Under The Weeping Moon - 8/10
I very good follow-up to the last track. It starts out with eerie acoustic, and then leads to the other 8 minutes of the song which turn out to be heavier then IMSWS. This track seems focused less on melody and more on heaviness, but never ceases with the guitar solos or the musical style we've grown so accustomed to. Definitely not a track-skipper.
Silhouette - 7/10
Here we get our first taste of Anders' abilities as a pianist. Traditionally, Opeth instrumentals are short, and this is no exception. It's nice and soft, but somehow Anders seems to ba able to do so much with just a piano. But don't let it fool you. This song is still definitely metal - but more importently, Opeth.
Forest Of October - 7/10
This song starts out deceptively slow, but then seems to combine the first two tracks into one thirteen minute ballad. Nice and heavy, but never straying from the melodic qualities. So far, this track has focused more on acoustic playing then any other song. It also gives glimpses as to what Mikael can sound like outside of his Swedish screaming voice. So far, the album has definitely not proved a disappointment...
The Twilight Is My Robe - 7.5/10
Back to the melodies. This is another song that focuses more on being melodic then heavy, similar to IMSWS...until the vocals come in. After a few lines of lyrics, we see how creative Opeth can get with guitars. This song definitely adds to the variety of the album. The structure is very similar to the other song on the album, but the music itself is unquestionably worth a listen now an then.
Requiem - 5.5/10
I know many people are going to hate me for this. This another instrumental, and at just over one minute is easily the shortest song on the album. This is just as easily the weakest track on the album. Aside from some half-decent guitar riffs (the song is all acoustic, by the way), the song is really nothing special.
The Apostle In Triumph - 8.5/10
Sure as hell picks up after Requiem. AIT starts out with some of the coolest acoustic riffs I've ever heard. After a short break, it comes back with some laid back electric instruments. The song is made heavy soley by Mike's voice. But the music itself is relatively soft, and really nice sounding.
Into the Frost Of Winter - 9/10
This not originally on the album. After the reissue of Orchid in 2000, Opeth added this, a rare rehearsal recording of a 1992 session. {Parts of this song ended up on the morningrise song, "Advent". The rehearsal explains why the sound quality is so bad. But the song itself has nothing wrong with it's quality. This sh*t is heavy all the way through. Heavy riffs, heavy vocals, even the soft clean guitar parts are heavy. Although I was immediately turned off and confused by the lousy quality, just stop and listen to the music. The band really goes back to their death metal roots here, and proves that they don't need to go acoustic to make a good Opeth song.
And there it is. Opeth is an amazing band, and with Orchid we see that they were like that from the start. Although some of the tunes get kind of repetitive after a while, the music overall is a perfect blend of melody and heaviness. This is a definite must-have for anyone interested in death metal or Opeth (or even better, both!). This album is a metal epic that will live on through it's musical integrity.
Recommended tracks:
In Mist She Was Standing
The Apostle In Triumph
Into The Frost Of Winter
Overall rating - 3.5
