Morningrise [CD]

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.

Morning rise is to put it simply amazing. From the opening riff of "Advent" to the closing beauty of "to bid you farewell", the album is flawless, after that things go a little downhill with the inclusion of the bonus track "eternal soul torture"...but let's not dwell on that. Morning rise is too much to take in at a single listen: the first time i heard it i thought it was ok and went straight back to the very accessible damnation/deliverance pack. But put it on again...NOW(!) and you'll hear all that you missed the first time round and more... Advent, the opening track builds slowly for about 15 seconds before breaking into a crushing guitar riff and pounding black metal drumming...soon to be followed by the intense roaring of Mikael Ackerfeld at his best. This heaviness contniues for some time but is beautiful in it's own way, twisting and turning through a tempest of drums and guitar. And when the accoustic break comes in you can almost feela tear in the eye: truly beautiful. Going on to possibly the best track on the album "the night and the silent water" (which i interpret as a reflection on the hypocrisy of organised religion, read the lyrics and see what you think: particularly "you sleep in the light, yet the night and the silent water still so dark") which breaks upon you like a wave on the shoreline and batters you senseless before lulling you with some breathtaking instrumental passages. The track most people will remember from this album however will be the twenty minute opus "black rose immortal" which incorporates everything from lone vocals (with no backing) to violas and cellos to black/death metal riffage. Anyone who has listend to a couple of opeth albums will know that they are a band who always like to throw in a ballad and it is "to bid you farewell" which wrenches at the heart strings on this one: a slow accoustic number with sombre mournful vocals for the fisrt 7 minuts or so before breaking into one of the best guitar riffs penned by opeth with soul destroying vocals....anyway enough of my ramblings: BUY NOW!!!!! please... for your own sake...

It’s more than an open secret nowadays that Opeth are one of the very finest bands in hard rock, possibly in music as a whole, as their popularity is increasing rapidly, but for those who still don’t know, Morningise is the best album by one of the greatest bands on the face of the planet. This sounds like hyperbole, but once you listen to the record, you’ll soon realise that is is nothing of the sort. Blessed with the sort of songwriting skills that Chris Martin would kill for, Mikael Akerfeld is the driving force behind Opeth and Morningrise is still the best album they have put out to date. Obviously though, the band’s standards are a fair bit higher than most outfits, so even an aparent failure by Opeth would still be equivalent to a great effort from anyone else.
It’s hard to explain to the non-Opeth fan what it is that is so special about the band, but one of their finest aspects is the constant sense of contrasts that runs through their music. From acoustic balladeering to virtually Death Metal riffing, soulful singing to vicious growling, often within the same song, there is no band around who can match what they do. The music is rarely over-technical but it just always works so perfectly it is a delight to listen to. Virtually all of their songs extend well over the ten minute mark (some reach double that), allowing the band to explore the sense of light and shade within the song.
One of the main reasons that Morningrise is my favourite Opeth album (a view held by many other of their fans as well) is the presence of their masterpiece “Black Rose Immortal”. The twenty-minute long epic incorporates more fine ideas than most bands have during their entire careers, and is one of the finest songs ever recorded by any artist in any genre. When this is combined with the presence of opener and live favourite “Advent”, not to mention the other three songs (four if you’re lucky enough to get the bonus demo of “Eternal Soul Torture”) any competition this album may have had may as well just pack up and go home. Total genius and a must for any lovers of music. Simply awe inspiring.