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Rating: While waiting for "Heritage" to see the light of day, just a matter of weeks, Opeth delight us with a release that combines tradition and innovation. What makes this union possible is very simple: "The Devil's Orchard" (published exclusively by Rock Hard DE) is nothing but the performance of the Swedes at the Rock Hard Festival '09, enriched by the title track, the band's latest single, which has the honor and the burden of opening the record.
In recent months, "Heritage" has been a hot and debated topic within the metal community: among a myriad of rumors and hearsay, the only certainty was the total difference of this one from what had been heard so far: vintage sounds and entirely clean vocals. The thought immediately runs to the well-known "Damnation": nothing could be more wrong.
"The Devil's Orchard" is a song of unequivocal power, thanks not so much to the renewed sound, with flurries of organ and formidable basslines, but to a groove that is unprecedented in Opeth's history, not even in the experimental Watershed. In its six and a half minutes, it is impossible not to catch the famous touch of Mikael Åkerfeldt who, this time, has really brought out the famous seventies influences that characterize his progressive songwriting, especially in terms of sound.
As for the concert held at the Amphitheater Gelsenkirchen in 2009, not much to say: a concise setlist (five tracks for an hour of performance), aimed at showcasing the internationally successful albums (Heir Apparent, Ghost of Perdition, The Leper Affinity, Hessian Peel, and Deliverance were the songs selected for the occasion). As one might expect, the performance of the Swedes, except for a couple of imperceptible mistakes, is top-notch: the pillars Mendez and Axenrot are solid and cohesive; skilled and elegant Per Wiberg, who adds effective embellishments to the songs; phenomenal Fredrik Åkesson and, of course, Åkerfeldt immense, lethal both on guitar and behind the microphone: after a first angrier and more concise half-hour, an animalistic and passionate dimension takes over that can only confirm him as one of the best, even as an entertainer (Wie geht's? My name is Michael Hübsch!). Little post-production can only make the experience even more enjoyable.
In conclusion: on the one hand, a single that will leave both longtime fans and newcomers bewildered, both positively and negatively, and on the other, a convincing and enjoyable performance that will surely be appreciated by those already accustomed to the dynamics of the band and, why not, even by those who know little or nothing about this extraordinary Swedish group.
Waiting for Heritage... 8/10.
Tracklist and Lyrics
04 Ghost Of Perdition (11:32)
Ghost of Mother
Lingering death
Ghost on Mother's bed
Black strands on the pillow
Contour of her health
Twisted face upon the head
Ghost of perdition
Stuck in her chest
A warning no one read
Tragic friendship
Called inside the fog
Pouring venom brew deceiving
Devil cracked the earthly shell
Foretold she was the one
Blew hope into the room and said:
"You have to live before you die young"
Holding her down
Channeling darkness
Hemlock for the Gods
Fading resistance
Draining the weakness
Penetrating inner light
Road into the dark unaware
Winding ever higher
Darkness by her side
Spoke and passed her by
Dedicated hunter
Waits to pull us under
Rose up to its call
In his arms she'd fall
Mother light received
And a faithful servant's free
In time the hissing of her sanity
Faded out her voice and soiled her name
And like marked pages in a diary
Everthing seemed clean that is unstained
The incoherent talk of ordinary days
Why would we really need to live?
Decide what is clear and what's within a haze
What you should take and what to give
Ghost of perdition
A saint's premonition's unclear
Keeper of holy hordes
Keeper of holy whores
To see a beloved son
In despair of what's to come
If one cut the source of the flow
And everything would change
Would conviction fall
In the shadow of the righteous
The phantasm of your mind
Might be calling you to go
Defying the forgotten mortals
Where the victim is the prey
05 The Leper Affinity (08:56)
We entered Winter once again
Naked, freezing from my breath
Neath the lid all limbs tucked away
This coffin is your abode from now and onwards
Your body is mine to avail
Such a tragic sight you are
Slave under my creed
Spurring me with those tears
I am beyond death
Midst a dreaming affinity
Saving strength now, faint whispers
Come erotic communion in its splendour
Fever mirrored ghosts
Night time consolation, cross the line
Draw murder into art
Sleep inside through days
In the wake of this relief
Shivering, longing for more
Insanity at its peak
Love me to my death
Lost are days of Spring
You sighted and let me in
Keep the beast inside
Shackled within my hide
Screaming out too late
Losing to my hate
Grew together with your skin
And paced the trails of sin
Your gaze covered with virgin snow
Rigid features
It's the shallow deeds who is to blame
Deafening shrieks pierced the night
A step from oblivion
Moving into the dim lights
Hiding within a reverie
It was worth it for the wait alone
Your body is mine to avail
Such a tragic sight you are
Slave under my creed
Spurring me with those tears
07 Deliverance (13:00)
Floating on mist
Crept up the caverns of my brain
Receiving no warning
From nothing to a life code
Walk with me, you'll never leave
Wait to see your spirit free
Tell me how your heart's in need
As I drown you in the sea
Unwinding snares of distrust
Your wrist in my face grip
Look me in the eye, I'm clear
This is your time
Face down beneath the waterline
Gazing into the deep
From love to death
In a time span of seconds
Oblivious to regret
Pushed into belief
In liquid cellophane
Gasping for air
Mercy in my eyes
Is the shade of the night
The piercing sounds you make
Soaring higher, higher now
And once left in my wake
Your memory is nothing but the scars on me
All over now
Forgotten why I needed this
Standing down
Disappear into the obscure
Resting days
Waiting for new disease
Biding time
Looked inside insanity
It always burns within
The downward spiral never ends
When driven into sin
Your salvation's found in a sinner's deed
The devil guides the day
Tells me what to say
Pours himself inside
And snuffs the final light
Deliverance
Thrown back at me
Deliverance
Laughing at me
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