- Pale Communion review
| Band: | Opeth |
| Album: | Pale Communion |
| Style: | Progressive rock |
| Release date: | August 2014 |
01. Eternal Rains Will Come
02. Cusp Of Eternity
03. Moon Above, Sun Below
04. Elysian Woes
05. Goblin
06. River
07. Voice Of Treason
08. Faith In Others
09. Solitude [Black Sabbath cover] [live] [special edition bonus]
10. Var Kommer Barnen In [Hansson De Wolfe United cover] [live] [special edition bonus]
11. Atonement [live] [Japanese bonus]
12. Demon Of The Fall [live] [Japanese bonus]
Opeth have softened their sound. This is old news, and this is also an old sound. Pale Communion is their sophomore in a retrograde and vintage style of progressive rock, yet it remains poised with their distinctive craftsmanship. The question arises as to whether this record builds upon the band's efforts in Heritage. It does.
Pale Communion has direction and frame. Less a collation of Opethian filtered prog homage, more a record with a sense of purpose and stylistic decision making of its own accord and character. In this respect the Swedes have found their comfort zone in their newly adopted style, something which focuses purely on the progressive rock, an element which has always permeated their sound within prior metal albums.
This effort is driven by percussion and acoustic, two aspects of the instrumentation which stand out clearly across the record in ways unprecedented for Opeth. Axe at the drums is noticeably busy for much of the album's duration, clearly steering its course in a style of progression that is typical for the band. Softer segments of keys intersperse the sound defined by rhythmic precision and progressive guitar noodling, also adding that golden glow to the atmospheric backdrop that is as much a part of their artistry as ever.
This is not to overlook Åkerfeldt, his vocal work receiving its usual pride of place at the fore of delivery in his purely clean style, offering an identifiable and comforting croon to the arrangements. Though emphasised, his delivery is never overstated, but finds a natural accommodating factor into providing much of the record's character. Otherwise, the new and assured direction in this album comes at a price; its vintage feel becomes hardened and less exciting as what was presented in Heritage in such an eager and somewhat heavy handed construction of a track list. This made the preceding sound more varied but largely aimless, whereas Pale Communion turns this notion on its head.
One can hear that this record has a place to be. It proceeds in progressions more neatly and astutely defined, yet the initially impacting waft of sounds from prog of yore that Heritage had seems to be lost. No heady projections of early era Deep Purple, for instance. What we're offered this time is a rather more bare bones approach, yet the bones solidify the direction the band has taken into their own renditions of progressive rock.
The production adds modern veneer to the old style of sound, and is especially suited to the enhancing of the percussive strengths, granting it a weight that is best afforded to recent progressive rock records that aim for stylistic heaviness where appropriate, such as The Void by Beardfish. Pale Communion is produced in such a way that easily acclimatises Opeth's sound into the modern progressive rock scene.
While Opeth have found their reason in rock, Pale Communion is progressive in two ways especially. One, it calls upon stylistic similarities to and compositional borrowings from the genre's founding fathers, and two, it marks a move further down the band's own path into their demetallized direction.
 | Written on 20.08.2014 by R'Vannith enjoys music, he's hoping you do too. |
Rating:
8.7
8.7
|
Rating: 8.7 |
My favorite band is Opeth; I was on the bandwagon around the days of My Arms, Your Hearse and have never jumped off. When it comes to an album like Pale Communion there is an important question I've had to ask myself: do I like Opeth because they're a metal band or do I like Opeth because of the way they play their music? Is it the heavy death metal growls that make them so great or the overall vibe they create with their experimentation? In the end, I find it is the latter that is true for me in both cases. Read more ›› |
Comments page 2 / 3
Comments: 61
Visited by: 703 users
| LascaillesShroud Posts: 164  |
Pale Communion is excellent to my ears, listened to it numerous times and can't wait for my pre-order to arrive. I really enjoyed Heritage and I enjoy this much more, a bit more modern but still with a lot of warmth and 'class' of the vintage prog it calls upon. Love it, in short 
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| TheMarkedOne Account deleted |
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| Erik M. Posts: 3104  |
Written by [user id=124808] on 20.08.2014 at 19:14 I don't think that word means what you think it means.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by Erik M. on 21.08.2014 at 21:13 vocals can sound organic, so I don't see any problem with him saying that they sound more organic than before.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| Erik M. Posts: 3104 |
What the hell does "organic vocals" mean? What's the definition of "organic" in this context?
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Erik M. on 21.08.2014 at 23:50 Same as organic sounding guitars, organic sounding ddrums, organic sound bass.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Karlabos Meat and Potatos Posts: 5658  |
Written by Erik M. on 21.08.2014 at 23:50 It means that it's not a software who's singing, like Hatsune Miku
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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| Erik M. Posts: 3104 |
Well, in that case I understand what it means in this context. I just never use words like "organic" and "plastic" when it comes to music.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Erik M. on 22.08.2014 at 00:08 So, it is clearly your problem then  You don't even use the word 'plastic' to describe the sound of a band such as Sabaton, for example?
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by [user id=4365] on 22.08.2014 at 00:17 
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Erik M. Posts: 3104 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 22.08.2014 at 00:13 Problem? I know the real definitions of those words, hence why I wouldn't easily use the words when I want to describe a certain band's sound.
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| Erik M. Posts: 3104 |
Written by [user id=4365] on 22.08.2014 at 00:17 On the contrary. As you know, I make a clear distinction between non-atmospheric and atmospheric music. 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Erik M. on 22.08.2014 at 00:24 Using organic the way we did is totally normal and is one of the maany real definitions of that word.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Alex F Slick Dick Rick Posts: 3503  |
Written by Erik M. on 22.08.2014 at 00:24 Is it possible that the reason is because English isn't your first language? No offense, but it could explain why you contradict so many well established norms in rhetoric (in English that is) Also sorry to bring this further off topic. Pale Communion is mediocrity at it's most mediocre. A bland, boring, stale album that has nothing interesting nor good to offer me. But then again I don't like Opeth....so that was to be expected
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| Fallen Ghost Craft Beer Geek Posts: 710  |
Hands down to one of, if not the most boring Opeth records I've listened to.. EDIT: At least the Japanese version doesn't look so bad.. It got Atonement and Demon Of The Fall on it
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| Desert Father Posts: 144  |
^ It's probably got the acoustic version of Demon... that they play nowadays.
---- "Truly, my child, if I were allowed to see my sins, three or four men would not be enough to weep for them." - Abba Dioscorus
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| TheMarkedOne Account deleted |
TheMarkedOne
Account deleted
It could have been much better if he sang well as it did in Damnation. I think Mikael simply fails when trying to reach high notes in a long vibrato. You can also hear an instrument which exaggerates in his presence, it sounds like a mellotron, possibly a collaboration of Steven Wilson. If better swinging the presence of that instrument and the 'good' Mikael vocals, the album would be different, no doubt. At least they did what they wanted to do. 
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| Opethian Posts: 1739  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 20.08.2014 at 23:27 lmao!
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| ♱ RaVeN ♱ Posts: 106  |
Written by seafood on 20.08.2014 at 13:12 His vocals aren't bad on every single song but if you listen to Elysian Woes for instance it's absolutely horrendous! I think his clean vocals on the other songs have been heavily edited to add effects so they sound half decent. But i would like to listen to him perform those songs live... now that would be challenging!
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| Erik M. Posts: 3104 |
Written by Alex F on 22.08.2014 at 01:15 It's more a matter of not using certain words in a certain context (like in case of "organic" and "plastic"). I also think my English writing skills are way above average (for a Dutchman, that is). I also speak English quite a lot at work due to the majority of my colleagues being from lots of different countries from all over the world. And to reply to your last sentence: this album and Heritage are very different from everything that came before them. Their whole discography is brilliant aside from these two albums, for me. They played a very unique style of progressive metal and really had their own sound, after all.
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| Erik M. Posts: 3104 |
Written by ♱ RaVeN ♱ on 23.08.2014 at 06:27 Yeah, his vocals can sound pretty bad sometimes. But the last part of Elysian Woes is one of the best parts of the whole album. Very Watershed-like, which was their last great record for me.
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| metal2head Posts: 3  |
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| copycat Posts: 33 |
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| Asunder Posts: 60 |
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| metalody Posts: 9 |
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| crucifiedjesus Posts: 122 |
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459  |
Written by crucifiedjesus on 26.09.2014 at 03:22 Agree with that entirely. Absolutely love Axe's drumming on this album. And the recorded sound is really good too. Whole album is really the surprise of the year for me, because I wasn't expecting much.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| theembryo Posts: 161  |
River seems to be the tune I favor most, I very much enjoy the guitar in "Cusp Of Eternity" as well. I agree with a couple of folks mentioning hearing a few tracks live should prove intriguing. "Folklore" live I thought proved to be absolutely great. The North American tour with co-headliners In Flames shoud also be quite good, seeing how "Siren Charms" came out.....
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