Opeth – Still Life (1999) 9/10

Opeth is a band I discovered several years ago when I bought the brilliant My Arms, Your Hearse. Then I didn’t listen to them for some years (don’t ask me why). Last year I gave Watershed a chance, and it was simply amazing. Like the headline say, this isn’t about any of those, but Still Life.


What we’re talking about here is progressive death metal. There’s a lot of bands out there that claim to be progressive, but Opeth is one of the few bands that actually plays progressive  death metal, with the emphasis on progressive. It’s so obvious that Mikael Åkerfeldt loves the old progressive bands from the 70′s. He’s one of the best growlers around, but what separates them from the rest of the bunch is that his clean vocals are out of this world. I don’t know how he does it.  The combination of brutal death metal with beautiful vocals and acoustic guitars is what makes them unique.


The opening track, The Moor (11:27),  is worth checking out if you, like Mikael Åkerfeldt, are into ABBA. You know what I mean when you hear it.  Track no.2, Godhead’s Lament (9:48), is a brutal progressive death metal masterpiece. Then when you’re prepared for another growl attack no. 3, Benighted (5:00), starts, and it turns out to be sort of a ballad. The track has an eerie feeling to it, but it’s so beautiful, and Åkerfeldt gets to prove his clean vocals.


No. 4, Moonlapse Vertigo (9:00) starts out as a metal song with some nice melodic guitar playing, then goes into a clean part with acoustic guitars before going back to the metal and growling.  No. 5 Face Of Melinda (7:59) starts out as a calm song, but then goes into distorted guitars with clean vocals. No.6, Serenity Painted Death (9:14), continues with more metal and growling. Once again Åkerfeldt proves his ability to mix growling with clean vocals. Last, but not least, no. 7, White Cluster (10:05), is the grande finale of this album. Simply amazing! It has everything one could wish for from a progressive death metal album. Once again with the emphasis on progressive.


It may sound like I’m idolizing Mikael Åkerfeldt. But his voice and amazing guitar work is what creates the Opeth sound. The only reason I’m not giving this 10 out of 10 is that Watershed is better.


Spotify: Still Life