Opeth - Still Life review
| Band: | Opeth |
| Album: | Still Life |
| Style: | Extreme progressive metal |
| Release date: | October 1999 |
01. The Moor
02. Godhead's Lament
03. Benighted
04. Moonlapse Vertigo
05. Face Of Melinda
06. Serenity Painted Death
07. White Cluster
Thanks to Still Life, I have become an Opeth fan, simply because it has all I ask: at the same time violent and calm, heavy and melodic, metal and acoustic, the long songs, the wonderful singing, the perfect musicians, the sublime quality of the songwriting... I still wonder how can one not give the highest rating to an Opeth album, and especially to this one, which is for me their best.
Calmer than its predecessor My Arms, Your Hearse, on which some passages were nearly black metal, here appears the first completely acoustic song, 'Benighted', a wonderful doom ballad. The opening track, 'The Moor' [one of the best songs of Opeth], after a two minutes long repeating acoustic intro, launches the death fury that is nevertheless predominant on the album, before some acoustic breaks that prove Mikael Akerfeldt is one of the best singers [the best?] of all metal. 'Godhead's Lament', with tis terrific chorus, announces the excellent 'Bleak' of Blackwater Park. After 'Benighted', 'Moonlapse Vertigo' shows all the ability of the band as songwriters: the intro, melodic and melancholic, is really doom, the clear vocals are followed by an acoustic guitar that is then covered by Mikael Akerfeldt's screams. Another acoustic break breaks the mid-tempo rhythm before once more the death wave that ends up on clear vocals... A pure masterpiece. After that, we expect the next song to be disappointing, but no, 'Face Of Melinda' is as perfect. Acoustic in its first part, this track is one of the first on which there are no death vocals. A track made of feeling and touch. 'Serenity Painted Death', more standard for Opeth, brings out death vocals with modern intonations on the brink of nu-metal [I said on the brink]. The last track, 'White Cluster' ends the album as 'The Moor' had started: beautifully.
One last word about the lyrics, just to say that Mikael Akerfeldt is a poet. This album tells one only story of love and death, but the writing is very litterary and lyrical [listen to 'Face Of Melinda']. These guys are romantics.
The only words that come to my mind to describe Still Life are perfection, beauty and excellence. Opeth is really an incomparable band. The other bands do what they can, Opeth do what they want.
Highlights: The Moor, Moonlapse Vertigo, Face Of Melinda
Rating:
9.0
9.0
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Rating: 9.0 |
Technicality, Progression, Complexity, a lot of solos, and some other good things describe Opeth's music, Still Life is one of those albums that everyone loves, that everyone talks about, so I decided to buy it, actually I have this album since 2000 but anyway that does not matter. This album is generally good, of course for those persons that consider Opeth's music as Death Metal this album will be hideously boring and dull, but dudes Opeth is not only death metal, in fact the best thing in Opeth is their versatility and flexibility in the music they create, of course also the complexity and everything else is brilliant, but the main thing is their adaptability. Read more ›› |
Rating:
10
10
|
Rating: 10 |
I don't know a lot of bands who, like Opeth, progress so much after each album and stay so good. Alongside the brutality of death metal, which is the fuel of Opeth, there is a very strong progressive side which are of past generations, old and even obscure rock and metal bands from he '70s. Their progression was short lived, but thanks to Mike Akerfeldt, their soul lives on in Opeth. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 30
Visited by: 264 users
| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 From: Sweden  |
Opeth is not metal, nor music. It's poetry, and art.
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Posts: 9718 From: Canada  |
Written by Spyroid on 25.12.2006 at 03:18 Is that an insult or a compliment? How is it not metal?
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| lazarus Posts: 352 From: El Salvador  |
Cradka is just using a metaphor, and of course Opeth is art and poetry, but those cultural expressions are joined in what we know as metal music.
---- And sometimes I despair At who I've become I have to come to terms With what I've done
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| Bitch Boy Posts: 1353 From: Mexico  |
Excellent review, the most notable of this album, as you said, is actually the lyrics. With this, I'm not subestimating the music, it is also perfect and virtous.
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| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695 From: Sweden  |
Their third best album IMO. It's breathtaking sometimes.  Good review.
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Posts: 11835 From: Portugal  |
I have already commented on this album several times, its still one of my favourites until this day but I just came here to say that this review is great. I think you really saw this album as it is and describe it pretty well. One of the best reviews I read here. And I read a lot, very accurate.
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Posts: 18274 From: Sweden  |
Fucking masterpice... This album is almost flawless. But I don't agree in some points... You say that "Benighted" is the first completely acostic song by Opeth.... WRONG... it's Credence [on My Arms Your Hearse] But what the hell.. I can't be mad... the reviwe has every though that I have to this album [I don't get the nu-metal thing hat you said about Serenity paited death] My favorite tracks are: The Moor Face Of Melinda Serenity Painted Death
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Eleazar Posts: 8 From: Mexico  |
This album is a masterpiece. Musically, lyrically and performance are amazing. I believe that here was the consecration of Opeth as one of the best bands ever. Listen to The Moor, Godhead's Lament will is sublime, strong, wrenching screams, guitars impeccable, what about the drums, a real lesson in how to play this instrument in the technical metal, the bass, making a seamless basis. To me, Opeth is the best band ever, I have heard all their albums (I have obviously) and really in love, Blackwater Park, Deliverance, Orchid, My Arms, Morningrise, Damnation and Watershed is a masterpiece, but Still Life is composed of larger Opeth. Encloses all the quality of the band. True Death Metal with jazz performances, impeccable ballads, and so on. Opeth thanks for this masterpiece. Thank you for a gift one of the best records ever. P.D. The lineup I liked most of the Opeth is this, Mike, Peter, Mendez and Lopez.
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| Mad Mike Posts: 163 From: Canada  |
I've always considered Opeth to be Death Metal's equivalent of Pink Floyd. If that's the case, than this album is Opeth's equivalent of The Wall.
---- Did you ever notice that the people who tell you to get a life are normally people who should be dead in the first place?
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| ErnilEnNaur Account deleted |
ErnilEnNaur
Account deleted Written by Guest on 15.12.2008 at 20:41 I disagree with "quite possibly". 
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| K✞ulu Seeker of Truth Posts: 2570 From: Czech Republic  |
Written by Guest on 31.01.2011 at 19:55 Well, there is always the "quite possibly" option. 
---- Savor what you feel and what you see Things that may not seem important now But may be tomorrow R.I.P. Chuck Schuldiner Satan was a Backstreet Boy
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| BlankFile Posts: 686 From: Portugal |
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| Daniell _爱情_ Posts: 6060 From: Poland  |
Written by Guest on 13.07.2011 at 00:23 Except that Tolkien wasn't a good writer at all. He had amazing imagination that let him create a world, it's history, languages, races, wildlife etc. In this department he is a master. But when it comes to writing a book with characters, he sucks donkey scrotum. His characters are as thin as the paper they exist on. One-dimensional, completely boring and predictable. The only protagonist that isn't hopelessly flat is Gollum. Other than that - there are no shades of grey in the world of Tolkien, only black and white, good and bad, boring as a fucking fairy tale for 4 year olds. Don't get me wrong - I liked The Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Silmarillion. But I didn't like them for characters (which are THE most important thing in any prose that attempts to tell a story), but for imagery, scope and world-creation.
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| Thryce Retired Staff Posts: 4346 From: Belgium  |
Written by Daniell on 13.07.2011 at 16:18 Except that is Metal Storm, where any logic regarding Opeth goes out the window from the start, and where some people would miss mortgage payments in exchange for smelling Mikael Åkerfeldt's farts.
---- Your favorite band sucks.
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| mz Posts: 4773  |
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| Jaeryd Nihil's Maw Posts: 1062 From: USA  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 27.03.2008 at 18:23 Actually what he said was this: "After that, we expect the next song to be disappointing, but no, 'Face Of Melinda' is as perfect. Acoustic in its first part, this track is one of the first on which there are no death vocals." First of all, you got the wrong song, and secondly he didn't say completely acoustic; he said there were no death vocals. To the reviewer, while I realize you said "one of the first" there is actually a couple before that. There is Credence, Benighted, and then Face of Melinda. Instead of saying "the first" you could just say "the third" if you were going to mention it at all. Also, I think when he said "bordering on nu-metal" he was referring to the flow of the lyrics, I'm assuming. For instance, if you listen to the song he was referring to (Serenity Painted Death), listen to these lines: "White face, haggard grin this serenity painted death with a halo of bitter disease black paragon in lingering breath" I don't know how "nu-metal" that could possibly make it, I'm just assuming that those lines were what he was referring to. Last thing I have to say, I fucking love this album, like I do every album. For someone who's looking for death metal, Opeth would be boring as hell. If you're looking less for death metal and more for extreme music that is interesting (extremely so) in the complexity of songwriting, variety of sound, and sheer brilliance of musicality, then Opeth is exactly the kind of thing you want. I love every track, but my favorite are: -Godhead's Lament -Moonlapse Vertigo -Face of Melinda -Serenity Painted Death
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Posts: 18274 From: Sweden |
Written by Jaeryd on 13.09.2012 at 02:09 *yawn* nothing like quoting shit back from 2008.  Man, was my english and my understanding of it bad.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Jaeryd Nihil's Maw Posts: 1062 From: USA |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 13.09.2012 at 08:53 It's all good. I agree, it was more my fault for quoting something so dead. I wasn't paying attention. I'm a super-noob. You can blame it on me.
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| John Shock Posts: 500 From: Portugal |
And of course no one cares about White Cluster....fuck...how is that even possible..that song is perfect...for me, my favorite from the album! Well, White Cluster and Godhead's Lament both ... They're masterpieces! \m/
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| Jaeryd Nihil's Maw Posts: 1062 From: USA |
Written by John Shock on 27.11.2012 at 00:08 Are you kidding? White Cluster is magnificent. The most chilling part comes in at about 3:42, right after the second time where he repeats "They wear white for me, seemingly jaded and lost, I forge myself into your dreams, and here I am your life." That particular section draws out some painful emotions.
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| Regolith Posts: 92 From: USA  |
Written by Mad Mike on 26.09.2010 at 22:01 Well put. I concur.
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| Regolith Posts: 92 From: USA |
"The only words that come to my mind to describe Still Life are perfection, beauty and excellence." My thoughts exactly. Great review. When I first got this album I sat and listened to the whole thing while reading the lyrics with it (as is my custom), and it was quite a ride! This is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music - period. Every riff, every drum beat and fill, every word - all parts come together as one perfect whole. But the beauty of Opeth is that you could listen to one song by itself and it is still good.
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| BlankFile Posts: 686 From: Portugal |
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