I approached the task of reviewing this masterpiece with quite a bit of emotion, all the sensations experienced from the moment I listened to the album for the first time began to concentrate suddenly in my mind in all their weight, even preventing me from writing itself - I'm not kidding - and from approaching an intimate description of the work by Åkerfeldt and company.
For a moment, in fact, I gave up the intent of such an in-depth analysis of the record, too much confusion in my head... would I be quite objective despite the enormous emotional weight of the album weighing on my still sore and weary shoulders (and quite some time has passed...)? For this and other reasons - which I won't list to avoid boring you after just a few lines - I had quite a few uncertainties, but after inserting the CD into the stereo, the songs of the album slowly began to slip away, evoking in my soul beautiful episodes, even very distant in time, and that's when the following words came to mind: "The memory of pain is still painful! It is the memory of joy that is no longer joyful..." I don't know whose thought this is, but somewhat intimidated by this sentence that continued to beat on my neurons, I made the final decision and apologize in advance for the prolixity of the review, thus recommending its complete reading only to those who are truly interested.
For those who don't want to waste time browsing through my words, which might seem tedious to many, I will just say that "Damnation" is not a mere album, it is an experience you absolutely must have! Considered by yours truly as one of the highest points in the discography of the Swedish band (although it has received quite a few criticisms from those who find no peace unless they hear a single growl), it was released in April 2003, following another great album, "Deliverance," with a sound decidedly more oriented towards death metal - which is completely absent in "Damnation" - even though I am aware that defining Opeth's music so simply is an insult.
The full-length album described here features eight magnificent tracks recorded between the summer and fall of 2002, with production by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree (who also collaborated on some episodes with the composition) and published by the label "Music For Nations."
Well! In a very concise outline, I have presented "Damnation." Want to know more? Continue reading... The first verses of canto III of the immense work by the divine Alighieri seem most fitting to me here, to be quoted, of course, with all due respect:
"Through me the way into the suffering city,
through me the way into eternal pain,
through me the way among the lost people.
. . .
Abandon all hope, you who enter here"
You are already projected into this fictitious parallel world with "In My Time Of Need," a figurative flight of fancy into the realm of imagination that contributes to completely destabilizing the listener: Åkerfeldt's subdued voice stands out over the dissonances created by Lindgren's guitar, up until the chorus where the vocalist is accompanied by his acoustic guitar and vibrating bass lines; the desolation and melancholy in this little gem intensify: "I can't see the meaning of this life I'm leading", but a subtle hope still lives, despite its initial and forced abandonment before the journey... . "Would someone watch over me, in my time of need?".
It's time for the shadow of death that looms creepingly over us, whispering its lullaby: "Death Whispered A Lullaby" sings Åkerfeldt, supported by a gloomy acoustic guitar arpeggio accompanied by the warm, rich sound of the electric guitar which lays the tracks over which the piece will move in the minutes to follow. The lullaby "sleep my child" accompanies the listener until an unexpected and sudden electric guitar delirium that will repeat in the final moment of the song, even more unexpected and shocking. The poetry of the music and lyrics is disarming, also thanks to Wilson's contribution: he is the author of the lyrics of this third little masterpiece.
With the following "Closure" the register changes decisively, here it is Åkerfeldt's 12-string acoustic guitar that becomes the protagonist, identifying extraordinary and engaging arpeggios of oriental inspiration, an atmosphere of other lands that will characterize the entire song: at first glance, the song might seem nothing more than a divertissement but, in reality, it hides a marked attention to detail on the part of the Opeth leader, especially for the acoustic guitar sections and the keyboard parts entrusted to the ingenious Wilson throughout "Damnation."
And we reach "eternal pain," this time with "Hope Leaves", an anesthetic against the pains of reality but not against those of the dream, which are presented mixed with a heart-wrenching hypochondria: "There is a wound that's always bleeding, there is a road I'm always walking and I know you'll never return to this place" and so hope departs. The clean electric guitar arpeggio is once again splendidly expressive, Wilson's backing vocals confer depth to a song that would be an understatement to describe as wonderful, both from an emotional and a structural standpoint: the rhythmic part is throbbing, Lopez adapts to the soft pace of the melody but never puts his "touch" in the background (although the "scaffolding" of the piece is quite regular, in 4/4); and Åkerfeldt seems on the verge of a crying fit. Here we reach the musical pinnacle of Opeth, with inevitable and uncontrollable variations in the listener's heartbeat.
A gem after another, and that's how "To Rid The Disease" reaches the listener's ears: it's at this point that what I'm writing on the keyboard seems empty and meaningless. Can such beautiful sensations be transposed into words? Quite a banal question, certainly, which unfortunately corresponds to a sad difficulty. Once again, in this track, everything is perfect, and in the piano interlude, a few seconds later fused into an unsettling blend with bass and percussion, there's time to think: how to get rid of suffering (to "rid the disease" indeed)? Suffering that at this juncture has become truly difficult to sustain.
The flight is nearing its end, and a guitar weeps: it's "Ending Credits", a touching instrumental that needs very few comments; no words in the track, no words to describe its rare beauty!
The claustrophobic sound of Wilson's mellotron finally introduces us to "Weakness": Åkerfeldt's filtered and moving voice seems to be part of an impossible-to-decompose melody, an inseparable harmony, the same sensation one feels listening, moments later, to the timid yet moving guitar solos causing nothing but barely hinted distortions in waxen otherworldly visions... the "lost people"! The closing of "Damnation" deserves, once again, an accurate description, in its simplicity (three instruments: mellotron, electric guitar, and Mikael's soothing voice - also inevitably an instrument) "Weakness" encapsulates about 4 minutes of high lyricism: ataraxia, intended in its etymological sense (absence of disturbance) is an impossible goal to achieve, the melody itself forms that sort of primal agitation that seems to leave no escape nor give peace to the listener. It's in "Weakness" that the listener, now completely intoxicated by such an upheaval of senses, tries to disentangle, to escape this kind of prison that has enclosed him isolating him from the world and struggles increasingly, slowly losing hope; until Åkerfeldt's last words abruptly, like a gust of wind, break this kind of curse... and crying at the end of the record would neither be excessive nor so inexplicable.
Now useless is the discussion of the musical genre proposed here or the influences shown on this album: simply, give it a listen! Perhaps alone or at most with one other person who can mitigate for you, after the end of listening, the abrupt return to reality preventing emotional collapse; I am truly not exaggerating, whoever has listened attentively can understand me.And indeed, I dedicate the review to the person with whom I have many times entered the dream of "Damnation"...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Windowpane (07:43)
Blank face in the windowpane
Made clear in seconds of light
Disappears and returns again
Counting hours, Searching the night
Might be waiting for someone
Might be there for us to see
Might be in need of talking
Might be staring directly at me
Inside plays a lullaby
Slurred voice over children cries
On the inside
Haunting loneliness in the eye
Skin covering a secret scar
His hand is waving a goodbye
There's no response or action returned
There is deep prejudice in me
Outshines all reason inside
Given dreams all ridden with pain
And projected unto the last
02 In My Time of Need (05:49)
I can't see the meaning of this life I'm leading
I try to forget you as you forgot me
This time there is nothing left for you to take,
This is goodbye
Summer is miles and miles away
And no one would ask me to stay
And I should contemplate this change
To ease the pain
And I should step out of the rain
Turn away
Close to ending it all, I am drifting through the stages
Of the rapture born within this loss
Thoughts of death inside, Tear me apart from the core of my soul
Summer is miles and miles away
And no one would ask me to stay
And I should contemplate this change
To ease the pain
And I should step out of the rain
Turn away
At times the
Dark's fading slowly
But it never sustains
Would someone watch over me
In my time of need
Summer is miles and miles away
And no one would ask me to stay
And I should contemplate this change
To ease the pain
And I should step out of the rain
Turn away
03 Death Whispered a Lullaby (05:49)
Out on the road there are fireflies circling
Deep in the woods, where the lost souls hide
Over the hill there are men returning
Trying to find some peace of mind
Sleep my child, sleep my child
Sleep my child, sleep my child
Under the fog, there are shadows moving
Don't be afraid, hold my hand
Into the dark, there are eyelids closing
Buried alive in the shifting sands
Sleep my child, sleep my child
Sleep my child, sleep my child
Speak to me now and the world will crumble
Open a door and the moon will fall
All of your life, all your memories
Go to your dreams, forget it all
Sleep my child, sleep my child
Sleep my child, sleep my child
04 Closure (05:15)
Heal myself - A feather on my heart
Look inside - There never was a start
Peel myself - Dispose of severed skin
All subsides - Around me and within
There's nothing painful in this
There's no upheaval
Redemption for my pathos
All sins undone
Awaiting word on what's to come
In helpless prayers a hope lives on
As I've come clean I've forgotten what I promised
In the rays of the sun I am longing for the darkness
05 Hope Leaves (04:29)
In the corner beside my window
There hangs a lonely photograph
There is no reason
I'd never notice
A memory that could hold me back
There is a wound that's always bleeding
There is a road I'm always walking
And I know you'll never return to this place
Gone through days without talking
There is a comfort in silence
So used to losing all ambition
Struggling to maintain what's left
There is a wound that's always bleeding
There is a road I'm always walking
And I know you'll never return to this place
Once undone, there is only smoke
Burning in my eyes to blind
To cover up what really happened
Force the darkness unto me
There is a wound that's always bleeding
There is a road I'm always walking
And I know you'll never return to this place
06 To Rid the Disease (06:20)
There's nobody here, there's nobody near
I try not to care, dead eyes always stare
Let these matters be, don't trust what you see
Take hold of your time, step into the line
There's innocence torn from its maker
And stillborn, the trust in you
This failure has made the creator
So would you tell him what to do
Leave your mark upon the head of someone
Who'll cry for his state, we know it's too late
I turn round to see what was meant to be
Faint movement release to rid the disease
There's innocence torn from its maker
And stillborn, the trust in you
(I have lost all trust I had in you)
This failure has made the creator
So would you tell him what to do
(I have lost all trust I had in you)
08 Weakness (04:07)
Found you there in the blink of an eye
(I) miss you
Turned away into a thousand dreams
Found out what they mean
Lost you there in a moment of truth
(I) trust you
Gave away the one and only heart
(A) gift to tear apart
Stain me, Save me
Take me to my home
Hold me, Show me
Take me to my home
Weaker now, Drawing fluid from me
(You) kill me
I'm not afraid of what you have just done
(But of) what you've just become
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By 3poundsoflove
The peak, the song that stands out from all the others and will eventually prove to be among the best in the entire Opeth production, is undoubtedly Hope Leaves.
It’s a dark, sad album, to be listened to in complete solitude, and preferably with dim lights to be fully absorbed.
By KingJudas
A lullaby strangled at birth, like a dawn that doesn’t want to rise or a butterfly that gives up flying knowing that sooner or later its end will come.
To interpret 'Damnation' it’s not enough to listen, one must reflect and comprehend the absurd meaning behind it and that is the basis of the 'Opethian' thought, genius, and recklessness.