Post by KNOWTHIS on Apr 8, 2004 10:13:24 GMT -5
This link contains short clips of the album Damnation. I personally like "windowpane". It's strange to hear a normally heavy band doing acoustic, it's unique!
www.metalnutters.com/reviews-damnation.shtml
"Windowpane opens the album up nicely, setting the mood for the rest of the album. Simple accoustic guitars, interspersed with lightly overdriven electric solos and keyboards.
Mikael Akerfeldt's soft vocals are as good as they were on Deliverance, and this album really gives him a chance to show us what his voice is capable of outside the usual heavy contraints of other Opeth albums.
Martin Lopez's drumming is never intrusive, but still intricate.
In My Time Of Need starts off with a nice reverbed guitar effect, followed by some staccato style distant vocals (a Porcupine Tree trick), before the vocals melt into the foreground and reverb just like the guitars. Some really nice effects are used all through this track.
Death Whispered A Lullaby has a strong Bass element present from the start, and some of the guitar work is very similar to For Absent Friends, the short instrumental from the previous album.
Once again, some interesting guitar effects in this track.
Closure contains some of the most Porcupine Tree'esqe vocals on the whole album, and is also one of the most dynamic songs, and as for the ending, well it certainly lacks closure!
Hope Leaves is one of my favourite tracks, it contains a bit of everything really.
To Rid The Disease is my absolute favourite, it's slightly haunting, especially with it's use of piano.
Ending Credits is an instrumental, and it does exactly what the name suggests, but no, it isn't the last track, as there is an extra one!
Weakness is a weird, haunting end to the album. It uses Mellotrons a lot, and doesn't sound like anything else on the album.
I've quickly written this review on only my second listen to the album, so hopefully I'll be able to expand my comments later on.
This is an absolute stunning album, I really can't imagine that anyone will dislike this, apart from some of the die-hard Opeth fans who aren't happy that the band have done a "soft" album.
If you've never heard of the band, or you don't like heavy metal, you'll still appreciate this release, it really is an essential purchase."