Opeth - Orchid

It's pretty rare to find a band that refuses to fit any mold that will hold interest for more than 5 minutes. Most aspirations are too high, resulting in a garbled amalgam of good intentions. Opeth manage to draw from a variety of musical sources to produce gothic death metal on an epic scale. I not only mean epic in length, but in scope, as you feel each note as it is released. Another impressive feat is that the bass can hold the rhythm, and just explode out at times, very tastefully, I may add. Both albums are very similar, Orchid seems a tad on the heavier side, while Morningrise may be more melodic. Very consistent drumming lays a solid foundation, allowing the guitars to explore without distracting attention from the melody. These immensely dark guitar lines are punctuated by Mikael ?kerfeldt's tortured vocals. The production, courtesy of Dan Swan?, is crystal clear, with just layer after layer of guitar there to swirl around. While each track is different, they do seem to blend into each other, separated by noticable interludes, including a fine piano piece by Anders Nordin. Orchid is a succesful blend of jazz, folk, classic rock, death metal and classical guitar which is at the top of my recommendation list, along with Morningrise. The interplay between the electric and acoustic guitars borders on genius, and both albums together comprise over 120 minutes of excellent music, what more could you ask for $30? Century Media is distributing these puppies, so they should be easy to pick up.