Often called ‘death metal’, Opeth are really far removed from much of that genre. This isn’t something played at 5,000 mph for a start and while Mikael Åkerfeldt sometimes employs a low guttural roar, he can do sing properly too, and there are no piercing screams to be found here. Rather the overall style veers from My Dying Bride doom metal, to proggy Led Zeppelin-like numbers, and even gentler acoustic moments such as ‘Atonement’. While ‘Ghost Of Perdition’ is arguably the pick of the heavier numbers, it’s the melodic sensibility that really stands Opeth head and shoulders above many of their peers.

Ghost Reveries is certainly an album grand in scope, with half of the eight tracks running over eight minutes, but such is Opeth’s range that they pull it off majestically. In fact, the epic scale allows them to pull off atmospheric tracks like ‘The Grand Conjuration’ with ease, and even the sub-four minute ‘Isolation Years’ sounds like a timeless lament cut off too soon, with the return of acoustic guitars and Mikael’s singing. Though each song does rather blur into the next, the fact that the album never once gets boring throughout over an hour is testament to the variation, both within and between songs, and the band’s technical ability. Proof that metal can be intelligent and melodic rather than simply heavy, and probably the best thing to come out of Sweden since… well, Opeth’s last album probably!

(4½/5)

Release Date: 29 August 2005

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