Opeth
The Roundhouse Tapes

THE REVIEW

Being a huge fan of Opeth for almost five years, I noticed the absence of the Swedish group's latest release, The Roundhouse Tapes, their first live album after only studio albums and the DVD Lamentations recorded at Stephen's Bush Empire on September 23, 2003, which unfortunately only included Opeth tracks under the record label Music for Nations (RIP), and especially from the band's prog rock album, Damnation, neglecting tracks from masterpiece albums for melodic death like Orchid and Morningrise. Fortunately, in 2007 Opeth filled this gap in their discography with The Roundhouse Tapes, recorded at the Roundhouse in London on November 9, 2006, during the Ghost Reveries Tour. The album's name harkens back to the 1979 demo by Iron Maiden, The Soundhouse Tapes. This album, besides being, as I've already mentioned, the band's first live album, is also the last album with guitarist Peter Lindgren and the first with Martin ''Axe'' Axenrot behind the drums, who is also the drummer for the death metal group Bloodbath. The album consists of two CDs, one with 6 songs and the other with 3 songs, bringing the total duration to approximately 96 minutes. Now, let’s move to the actual review.

The album opens with the short intro "Through Pains to Heaven" taken from the 1979 film by the German director Werner Herzog Nosferatu, Prince of the Night, a remake of the 1922 film by Murnau Nosferatu the Vampire. After this intro, the first song we find is "When", from My Arms, Your Hearse, a song that starts with a violent death metal section, with Akerfeldt's growl that's almost terrifying. Then, the song enters its reflective and progressive rock part with gentle arpeggios interrupted by Axe’s blast beats that take us straight to hell... the entire song is a succession of slow, mid-tempo, and ultra-fast tempos. The next piece is "Ghost of Perdition", from the group's latest album, Ghost Reveries, which also starts with a more violent section, and when Akerfeldt sings with a clean voice, the audience sings along with him, making the song much better than the album version. Then comes the beautiful song "Under the Weeping Moon" from their debut Orchid and then to "Bleak" from Blackwater Park, where Akerfeldt opens with the words ''absolutely black metal nonsense'' and the audience screaming...the song opens with evil riffs and the usual fantastically evil growl before leading us with sweet arpeggios to a very sweet and reflective music, interrupted by Axe's sharp rolls; the song, unlike the CD, has some slightly altered riffs. Then with "Face of Melinda" from Still Life (their most progressive album excluding Damnation), a progressive rock piece entirely sung in clean voice by Akerfeldt, creating a very melancholic atmosphere interrupted in the finale by Axe's drumming, which with sharp hits leads us to the last song, "The Night and the Silent Water" from the album Morningrise, considered by fans and critics the group's best. The song had never been performed live until the Ghost Reveries Tour as it is dedicated to Akerfeldt's father who passed away during the Morningrise recordings, making its presence on the album a real gem...the song starts with a mid-tempo interrupted by prog arpeggios that introduce the great Akerfeldt's growl, then arpeggios create a lot of pathos, reminding us of the Camel influences of the Swedish combo, then the growl returns and a violent mid-tempo takes us to the end of the CD.

The second CD opens with "Windowpane" from the group’s acoustic album Damnation, the song takes us to a '70s atmosphere where the progressive rock influences of Camel, Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis are easily discernible. The song is like a leap into the past and a tribute by the band to the groups that have influenced half of their sound. After thanking the audience, we arrive at the next song, "Blackwater Park", from the eponymous album. The song is a burst of killer violence, here the influences of Morbid Angel and Death are very strong in a song that for 12 minutes takes us into total destruction interrupted by some sweet arpeggios. After the presentation of the band members, we arrive at the last song of the CD and of the album, "Demon of the Fall" from My Arms, Your Hearse, where it starts immediately with Akerfeldt's growl with a mid-tempo, some arpeggios and then goes full throttle again bringing us violently to the end of the album.

My rating for the album is 4 because I believe Opeth are a band that technically I think is among the best in today's global metal scene along with the Canadians Cryptopsy and the Swedes Meshuggah. Furthermore, the album is very well produced and it almost feels like being at the concert, but unfortunately, I think what Opeth lacks is the inability to fully engage the audience, but I believe this flaw will be improved in the future.

LINEUP:

Mikael Akerfeldt - guitar / vocals
Peter Lindgren - guitar
Martin ''Axe'' Axenrot - drums
Martin Mendez - bass
Per Wiberg - keyboards