Review Summary: Despite it's an unfocused album, that suffers from a bad the band solved and improved in their later albums, it's, for sure, a must-have to any Opeth fan, and still worths a hearing and yields several good moments.
Well, I have to say that Morningrise is not one of my favorite Opeth's achievements, either by being a little repetitive, either by being, lyrically, their weakest album.
The album starts with a recycled riff from the band earlier demos. And you only get it when you listen to the previous album bonus tracks. So, the introduction can be pushed forward, if you, like me, can't wait for the repetitive riff to break into the opening song, "Advent". Well, than came the massive feeding of Black Metal silly stuff, that only saves its own ass, by reaching the final song, the excellent "To Bid You Farewell". I know what you're thinking: "This guy is crazy". "Opeth is not Black Metal". Really, it's not, that’s why the album creeps me out.
I know that Black Metal and Death Metal are linked by their roots, the Thrash Metal sound. And Opeth's Mikael uses this link to make some, like he stated during the Roundhouse Tapes's DVD concert, "Black Metal noises". And that works, but not in their whole discography. While Mikael is a deep, emotive, gothic, romantic and effusive songwriter (and any other adjectives a guy can get to be considered great in its Progressive Rock/Death Metal/Gothic Appeal blending style), this album seems lyrically unfocused, wasted. Sounds like Mikael just picked up some wasted phrases, some poem fragments, and Black Metal common stuff and blended without any sort of criteria.
Another con in the album is the massive repetition of the songs’ main riffs, a bad the band only solved, or, at least, improved, in their later albums. Even if you love Opeth, sometimes it's annoying how they repeat the same riff over and over again for a minute straight. You can see that on “The Night and the Silent Water”, a good song, which is supposed to be a homage to Mikael’s grandfather, that died shortly after the album’s recording. While the song is considered a missing classic, you can still feel the "holly ***, when they will stop repeating this riff?". The introduction riff is repeated like ten times, only interceded by the DeFarfalla bass lines. Something I love about this album is how the bass was used and got focus, even more than in the 1995’s “Orchid”.
If you want to get this album, buying or renting, or listening on the Web, don't do it waiting for a great classic. Anyway, it's not a bad album, at all. The songs yield a good hearing. Just try to listen to "Black Rose Immortal", the monstrosity that interludes the album "shorter" songs with its 21 minutes lenght, and think. It's simply a reverie. A dream. It don't take too long to start, and carry you away all the song long. From its basic Death Metal riffing, the powerful solos, to the ethereal, clean and beautiful acoustic sessions. Again, you have to despite the lack of creativity on the lyrics. "WTF is a secret orchard?", you would say.
But, my favorite song, for sure, is "To Bid You Farewell", a really great achievement in the Opeth extensive song catalogue: their first "clean vocals only" song. The lyrics are simple and beautiful, relieving the album crazy Black Metal stuff, and even if they repeat the notes, the introduction (taking nothing less than 3 minutes), is calm and good to the ears, after all the grinding Nordin's drumming and Mikael & Lindgren heavy guitar riffing, being far from the boredom. Worths a lot the hearing, even more if you pay attention to the bass contribution to the song rhytm and construction. The electric guitar session is great, too. I still don't understand why this song is missed in their performances.
Anyway, the only song I just didn't get, was "Nectar", but it's not a very memorable song, in my opinion.
And after all this confrontation I have to state: This album is good. Even if it's not on the average of the Opeth discography, it worths a lot the hearing, it's a must-have, a must-hear, a must-know for all the Opeth fans.
