Opeth - Still Life (Peaceville Records/1999)

Well when they were still good.  This is a sad reality when a change towards the virtual mainstream is just to make money.  But I think that with this release their focus was this kind of progressive sort of style which fluctuates between soft melodies to much more deathly ones.  The old Opeth (meaning before the fall) delved into things that they were notorious for: progressive metal fluidity never knowing what to expect from this album.  It has a conglomeration of mood-swings musically and stays with this for the whole album.  Acoustic guitar, clean vocals, heavy guitar, hoarse vocals.  That's what I mean by the "mood-swings" here.  But this was a staple Opeth displayed for years till they lost heart.  Every song on here you don't really know what to expect, heavy or clean?  That's the magic about it.

I think what makes this album good is it's diversity without going completely over-the-top in various modes.  "My Arms, Your Hearse" was another one of theirs that displayed a more solid release than this album.  That remains to be my favorite Opeth album of all time.  I think "Watershed" had a lot to offer as well.  "Orchid" had its moments but as each album came into play more and more changes.

Musically this is not their best, less and less riffs that really stick.  This is a quality album no doubt, but not their best.  I think they've always have been this progressive metal mixture until they just gave up.  Tempos here just mild, they've never been much of a fast paced metal mixture of tunes, but they sure haven't fallen short here.  The material I think was merely at par to about a B-rating.

I'm sure that YouTube has this, I own the physical copy of the CD.  It's worth getting before they changed completely.  Ir'a definitely worth picking up if Opeth of the old is your thing!!

Rate: 85%.

Reviewed By Death8d699 (ryanfanucchi@gmail.com).
 
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