Review Summary: It may be a taxing listen with 5 songs stretching over 60 minutes, but Morningrise is more than worth the playtime it requires
In many ways, Morningrise is easily Opeth’s most taxing listen-5 original songs that are no shorter than 10 minutes in length, plenty of slow gentle acoustic passages and Opeth’s longest song to date with “Black Rose Immortal”. However, look past perhaps the obvious flaws and what you have is a key and beautiful piece of progressive death metal in which Opeth solidify themselves and more importantly laid the foundations for every other Opeth record to follow.
Instrumentally, the album is classic Opeth in quality, which is phenomenal. The stuttering guitar line opening “Advent” and the brilliant bass line present in “The Night and the Silent Water” add an extra dimension to the album that was perhaps lacking from the original recording. The guitar lines on the album are some of Opeth’s finest from their earlier work, the melodic lead in “The Night...” being the best example, swirling and leading the song from mood to mood. There is also an added poignancy to the song, it being inspired by the death of Akerfeldt’s grandmother and the beautiful acoustic passages on offer here would do her proud. This piece also includes a fantastic build up before its conclusion, the acoustics building into a menacing guitar line and Akerfeldt whispering the songs name over the top. Other songs worthy of mention would have to go to opener “Advent”, with its dramatic changes in style scattered throughout the song and “Black Rose Immortal” for its black metal inspired passages and superb, moody atmosphere, starting with the acoustics at 4.30.
While the drumming on the album is constant, with a nice swing to it on “To Bid you Farewell”, meaning that this is no standard death metal record, it is Akerfeldt who merits most of the attention here. While many, including me vastly prefer his later vocal style which is deeper with more sonorous cleans, he still sounds top-notch here. His vocal quality isn’t too shabby either, growling and singing about some heartfelt and complex issues that compliment the music perfectly. In more ways than one, it is a shame that Akerfeldt felt the album was boring for many parts and changed the sound, for in many ways this is by far Opeth’s most interesting album as it all sounds so fresh, even today and so consistent.
Nonetheless, the record in many ways pays the price for its originality, meaning it is not as enjoyable as it could have been. Perhaps the main area of complaint is the song lengths, which is most certainly an Opeth trick, yet it is not as well executed as on the records that followed. One huge offender of this is the middle patch of “Black Rose Immortal” that has a rather bland acoustic passage and unremarkable, and dare I say it even slightly annoying cleans. There is no denying that even if 2008’s “Watershed” is not as good a record, the clean passages of songs like “The Lotus Eater” are so much more interesting than on this song. And because Opeth are trying to shove several different style changes into one song, some sections do not flow as smoothly as they should. In one place on Advent it sounds like an entirely new song has kicked in altogether while on “Nectar” Opeth do something very rare and fail to combine the two in any way whatsoever. Akerfeldt’s growls can also falter if he has to prolong them at times as well, although for the most part they are solid.
Regardless of its obvious flaws, “Morningrise” is still one brilliantly executed piece of progressive death metal. It has a darker side than its predecessor, it is more atmospheric, it is a great instrumental performance and Akerfeldt often delves into deep, emotional thoughts that shine through the melee of noise. Yes its long, yes it is a demanding listen, but just listen to the standard of music on show here. It is not going to disappoint.
Recommended Tracks:
1. Advent
2. The Night and the Silent Water
3. Black Rose Immortal
4. To Bid you Farewell
