Pale Communion, Opeth’s first album in three years, confirms the fact that good things come to those who can wait.The album begins with ‘”Eternal Rains Will Come”, organ and drum settle into a little groove and vocals come in around three-minutes. There’s a killer guitar solo and a really interesting instrumental section that’s one of the best sounds that Opeth have done up to now.
If you don’t know who or what Opeth is, then I have no idea how you got here, but you are more than welcome and I’ll bring you into the band’s world. Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, Opeth is a heavy metal band that since their beginning in 1990 has consistently incorporated prog, folk, blues, classical, and jazz influences into their usually lengthy compositions. As well as strong influences from black metal and death metal. Pale Communion is the band’s 11th studio album that explores the heavy progressive rock elements covered in their releases Heritage and Damnation and injects brand new dynamics into Opeth’s vast sound library.
I was among the band’s fans who were waiting for this new record and I fell in love with it as soon as I listened to it. Pale Communion is more than a collection of tracks, it’s an intelligent headphone experience of lush atmospheres and classic prog-rock influenced environments blending from one to another, locking your mind into its hypnotic rhythms. I think that Orchid, Deliverance and Still Life are Opeth’s best albums, where they really developed their sound. However, Pale Communion is something different, and deserves to be mentioned among their best.
“Eternal Rains Will Come,” is definitely a masterpiece and my favorite track from Pale Communion. Giving the listener a comprehensive soundscape of what is about to come, but each of the eight movements that compose the album has its own character. Wherever you start experiencing this album, you’ll be rewarded. Many songs include acoustic guitar passages and strong dynamic shifts, as well as clean vocals. The guitar solo of “Moon Above, Sun Below” with its underlying, punctuated, stop-and-go riff is one of the best moments of the album and it’s absolutely brilliant. “Moon Above, Sun Below”, is the most stylistically complete and also the longest song of the album, but you won’t even realize that eleven minutes has passed because you’ll enjoying it so much. It will remain in your mind even when it’s finished. The following track “Elysian Woes” relies on acoustic guitars and its progression continues throughout the whole song. Passing through the fully instrumental “Goblin” and the elegant “River” comes “Voice Of Treason” through which the Swedish quintet delivers one of the heaviest moments of Pale Communion. In this track Opeth dances between guitars and keyboards and the execution is brilliant. The last two minutes are memorable and you’ll love the gorgeous intro of the album’s closing song “Faith in Others” lead by guitars and vocal. In it lies that Swedish melancholy that’s able to move you and sticks in your mind. The last two minutes of Pale Communion are just perfect and one of the best things I’ve ever heard.
Pale Communion is pretty unique and the marriage between prog and metal is really a work of art. It is less heavy, yet more progressive than the previous albums from the Opeth. Pale Communion is out now through Roadrunner Records.
Rating: 4/5