This album is my favourite in the world.
This was my first Opeth experience, a long time ago now, there are no faults on this album at all, from beginning to end every song is carefully crafted and shaped in to an epic exceeding 10 minutes in every case, dark, cold, atmospheric and stunningly professional.
Opener "Advent" is my favourite Opeth song, it fades in to a brilliant riff, leading to a series of acoustic passages followed all by another heavy riff. The bass work by Johan is outstanding, being a bassist I like to sit and play along with this album, I'm getting there!
"The Night and the Silent Water" is another masterful work of riffs and acoustic passages, the first of which really catches me, one of my favourite on the album.
"Nectar" is an unpredictable song, this is true of many Opeth songs, it is not restricted to the usual "verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus" song structure, and still a brilliant song.
Now comes a 20 minute long song called "Black Rose Immortal", this an enormous epic, heaviness and acoustic both included, only twice as long as your average Opeth song, simply brilliant. This is where I feel "Morningrise" beats "My Arms Your Hearse", sheer beauty. "Black Rose Immortal" does not even for one second get boring, the whole 20 minute experience is a vast musical ride, worth every second, second only to "Advent".
The final song "To Bid you Farewell" brings some light and warmth to the album, and fits so very well there at the end, its a fully acoustic number and can almost bring a tear to my eye, the great tranquility of the song is a prime example of how songs on this album create so many pictures in the listeners mind, pictures of twilight and dawn, the beauty of nature passing by in silence, "Morningrise" does this better then any other album I've heard.
Over time Opeth have become my favourite band, along with Paradise Lost, and "Morningrise" is not just my favourite Opeth album, it is my favourite album in the world.
I'd recommend this album to anyone interested in interesting complex music with a heavy edge.
Brilliant.