Opeth
Pale Communion (Roadrunner Records, 2014)
The latest album by Swedish band Opeth, Pale Communion, has attracted a lot of attention. The rumors indicated that Opeth had left behind heavy metal and had turned towards progressive rock. Indeed, now that I’ve had the opportunity to listen to the album a few times, I can confirm that most of Pale Communion is a step forward in the right direction.
Except for metal songs ‘Cusp of Eternity’ and ‘Moon Above, Sun Below,’ the rest of the album is a highly enjoyable set of pieces where progressive symphonic rock, jazz-rock and folk influences stretch Opeth’s musical boundaries.
Band leader, producer and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt invited his colleague Steven Wilson to mix the album. Åkerfeldt opted to focus on vocal and instrumental melodies. Pale Communion opens ‘Eternal Rains Will Come’ with a vibrant interaction between the electric organ and guitar that leads into a series of dreamy, calm and up tempo epic sections. In addition to Åkerfeldt’s signature guitar solos, the band’s new keyboardist, Joakim Svalberg, shows his mastery on the electric organ and majestic mellotron.
Beautiful acoustic guitars and vocals introduce ‘Elysian Woes.’ The instrumental section with electric guitars, bass and keyboards is truly exquisite. Symphonic rock at its best.
Jazz-rock fusion is the genre where musicians get to show their skills as instrumentalists. ‘Goblin’ is a fabulous instrumental with electric piano, guitars and a powerful rhythm section, in which Opeth ventures into jazz improvisation territory, demonstrating their versatile capacity.
On ‘River’ Opeth makes another unexpected turn, presenting a folk-rock sound with acoustic guitars and well-crafted vocal harmonies that develops into full blown progressive rock with call and response guitars plus more glorious mellotron at the end.
‘Voice of Treason’ brings back a harder sound. Prog rock with a hard rock edge.
The album ends with ‘Faith in Others,’ a symphonic rock progression featuring majestic layers of keyboards accompanied by drums and bass. The vocals here have a distant feel recalling the memorable work of early King Crimson. It’s the grand epic of the album that builds up stunningly into a rich palette of symphonic sounds.
The lineup on Pale Communion includes Mikael Åkerfeldt on vocals, guitar; Fredrik Åkesson on guitar, backing vocals; Joakim Svalberg on piano, keyboard, backing vocals; Martín Méndez on bass guitar; and Martin Axenrot on drums, percussion.
The excellent cover art was designed by Travis Smith. However, the Gothic font used in the booklet is hard to read.
Opeth’s Pale Communion is a magnificently crafted, forward thinking venture into the wondrous world of progressive rock.
Purchase Pale Communion