Review Summary: A good debut album, but shows a band in their infancy who are yet to master their craft.
Signing a band without even hearing a demo sounds like a risky endeavour, but that’s exactly what Lee Barrett of Candlelight Records did after hearing a ninety-second rehearsal clip from Opeth. Was he right to do so? Definitely.
Released in 1995, Opeth’s debut album Orchid was recorded in the cellar of a tiny house located in the middle of a field. For a lot of the recording, the only light in the cellar was emanating from candles Åkerfeldt was burning. He wanted to capture a certain atmosphere. And boy did he. This album is drenched in atmosphere. The middle section on Under the Weeping Moon with the EBow guitar and the reverb-heavy Silhouette put you right in the room with them.
Åkerfeldt said he chose his notes so that they sound evil, and you can hear those satanic sounds on tracks like In the Mist She Was Standing and the leads of Forest of October. But those satanic notes are what make the consonant melodies even more satisfying and relieving when they come in.
With the 2023 Abbey Road Remaster, I can only detect a more audible bass guitar and that they fixed the mix-up on the end of Requiem being the start of The Apostle in Triumph (something the band regretted on the initial 1995 release). I’m glad the bass is more audible in the remaster because there are some tasty basslines on this album. The bass slide into the heavy riff on Under the Weeping Moon is so satisfying, and the riffage on Forest of October is a particular highlight. The drumming is also top-notch here and a standout is the fast double bass drum part juxtaposed over a slow acoustic riff in Forest of October. I do think Åkerfeldt’s vocals are not up to par with future efforts, however.
Something Opeth would become known for in their career is the contrasting acoustic parts. There are some beautiful progressions and leads on this album, particularly on The Twilight is My Robe. But while this will become Opeth’s trademark, I feel that they are overused on this release, and often become predictable. This is why Requiem is the weaker of the two instrumental tracks. It comes at the tail end of the album and while very melodic, we have heard it a bit too frequently in all the previous tracks. Even though the end of the album starts to feel a bit stale, we are still treated to a very funky instrumental EBow section on The Apostle in Triumph that freshens up the track and breathes new life into it.
Another downside to this album is the tracks can meander around too much and would benefit greatly from trimming the fat. In the Mist She Was Standing is a good example as they start with a great-sounding Celtic riff, but it goes on for around two minutes without adding anything new. Twilight is My Robe suffers the most from this. After the beautiful acoustic section, it felt like the perfect place to end the song, but instead, we get a disjointed bass riff and more of the same leads, which is a shame because this would have been the best track otherwise.
Finally, while the playing is mostly stellar, there are a few moments performance-wise where I felt they didn’t have the time to fix some problems. In The Twilight is My Robe, during the acoustic part, there is a few BPM increase in the drums which the guitars must follow. It sounds a little jarring and I think stems from them not playing to a metronome on this record. The solo on In The Mist She Was Standing also suffers and could have been cleaned up. But a case could be made that these only increase the rawness and atmosphere of the album.
In summary, this is a good debut album, but shows a band in their infancy who are yet to master their craft.
