Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Opeth
Opeth tabs Opeth discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Opeth guitar tabs

CD reviews

Orchid

Opeth - Orchid Audio CD

A fair review of the Opeth "Orchid" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Opeth reviews here, or go back to the Opeth tabs.

Band: Opeth
Title: Orchid
Rating:

Release Date: 1997-06-24
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: In Mist She Was Standing 2: Under the Weeping Moon 3: Silhouette 4: Forest of October 5: Twilight Is My Robe 6: Requiem 7: Apostle in Triumph

Slightly Poor Production
" The music on this is absolutely spectacular. Yet on par with other bands at the same time, such as Dark Tranquillity's "The Gallery. . . I just wish it could have been done with the same quality as Hearse and everything thereafter. (I'm an audio engineer, that = audio snob. ) In that light, since no one else has tackled production at length. . . *rolls up sleeves. *

I think the few negative reviews you will find will be primarily tied into the recording quality, specifically the simple fact that in Sweden they were apparently unable to record a guitar sound that doesn't sound like its coming out of a shoebox from the time of oh, say about 1988 to 1995. At the Gates and Carcass were the only bands that were somehow finally able to get guitar tones that didn't sound woefully weak.

One production issue I have with this (and Advent. . . same exact setup. ) is the decision to hard pan guitar parts to extreme right and extreme left. If the user is say, using headphones, you get an extremely unnatural sound because normally there is a great deal of "air bleed" when listened to on speakers. When the speakers are isolated as they are when wearing head/earphones, there is no bleed so you just get raw track data streaming in. Some of you might say, "Well Mr. Seil, that's not a problem for me, in fact, I kind of like that. " That's because I have a corn cob where it shouldn't be. This recording decision sets up a problem because the theory behind recording a band is to try to capture an essence of the live event. When have you ever been at a concert and only able to hear the guitars hard right and hard left? You don't. You get "a bit of right" and a "a bit of left" and a whole lot of crap right in the middle. Usually just a whole lot of crap right in the middle because who really can distinguish stereo live? The correct solution would have been to bleed the guitars a bit in the middle, it would have thickened them up and provided some much needed meat. (Y'know, that beefy thing that metal guitars are supposed to be? See "Slaughter of the Soul. ")

Now the benefits of hard panning: namely dedicating discrete parts to discrete channels sounds AMAZING when done with a properly matched and placed pair of speakers. But how many of you guys know proper speaker placement, and things like a 45 degree listening angle? Well if you didn't, you know now. Speakers should be at ear-level and each one angled 45 degrees to the exact point your head is supposed to be. You'll get the bleed effect, and though it won't thicken things up too much, you'll get the best enjoyment out of the first two Opeth albums. The theory behind hard panning is that when you play live, you have one amp per guitar and they'll just play into the room. Again this fails in recording for anyone who listens in headphones. (Like me. )

Aside from that hiccup the first two albums are spectacular. They'd rate a 5 from me, but I care about production. No matter who you are. Metal will never proceed as an art form if it uses outmoded concepts (and wimpy guitars. ) .

Impressive, technically
Twilight is My Robe and The Apostle in Triumph are the only songs that are consistently good. I think a lot of people are exaggerating the greatness of this cd. In Forest of October, I really only like the guitar solo and maybe one other climactic moment. I feel like some fat could be trimmed off the song. The acoustic breaks in the first track are also a bit awkward. They cut off the energy of the piece, so that I don't care very much about what happens next. If you concentrate on the music note-by-note, Opeth seems really clever, but if I wanted a cerebral musical experience, I'd listen to Magnus Lindberg.

A wonderful tapestry of differing moods and textures.
I'd been hunting for black metal bands and pretty much anything violent and dark at the time. Opeth took me completely by surprise back in 1995. I therefore purchased a Candlelight compilation CD and two of the tracks on there were by a band called Opeth whom I'd never heard of. They didn't fit the description of what I'd been searching for and yet a couple of spins later and I would be thoroughly convinced that these Swedes were something very special indeed.

The first word that comes to mind on listening to their music is class. Whereas so many bands around are trying to be as fast as they can, or as desolate as they can, or as evil as they can, Opeth just try to write damn good music. As far as I'm concerned they've never failed to do that in the 12 plus years of their existence. It helps that each member of the band is extremely talented, but talent doesn't always equal quality music, which is abundantly present in everything they touch, including this debut album.

Not many metal bands would run with the idea of calling their debut album "Orchid" and displaying a pink flower on the cover. But that's a sign of the intellectual qualities of the band. They don't get caught up in all the seemingly necessary nasty image portrayals that so many other bands use to catch your attention. The cover is perfect in that it presents a depiction of the beauty held within its content and it's memorable in its uniqueness.

There are five epic tracks here with a length of 10 or more minutes each and two short instrumentals to keep the listener occupied. Normally when albums contain tracks of such extended lengths, you can assume each one contains a certain degree of repetition. But that's not the case here. Each track contains a wealth of variety, generally not holding to constant themes and instead, branching out in many directions of differing moods and texture. Which is one of the things that differentiates the first two Opeth albums to the rest of their work. While later releases do contain songs that are easily recognisable due to constant themes running through the underbelly of experimentation and musical adventure, both "Orchid" and "Morningrise" tend to move from one gripping section to another, never really inhabiting the one place for too long. One minute it's beautiful acoustic, next it's crushing death metal, then doom-filled harmonies and so on. I see this as both a positive (each section is both fresh and captivating) and a negative (it's difficult to hear part of a song and actually know which one it belongs to due to this lack of focus).

This is not Opeth's best album, but it's excellent nonetheless. If you're into extreme metal (melodic and progressive death metal in particular), then this band are the holy grail. "Orchid" is the first of many masterpieces and an album I can go back to over and over again and still be filled with admiration and wonder.

MAYBE TO GOOD!!!!
OPETH's best!!!!!!! if only I knew what they did on this album. they didnt do anything but be them selve's I guess!!

THIS IS EXTREME MUSIC THAT ANY ONE COULD LISTEN TO!!!!

BUY IT!!!!!! DO NOT BUY EMO CRAP THAT RIPPED THIS ALBUM OFF!!!!!!! THIS ALBUM HAS BEEN RIPPED OFF A BILLION TIME's!!!!!!! BUY THE ONE AND ONLY!!!!!! ONE OF THE ORIGINAL MELODIC DEATH/BLACK METAL BAND'S!!!

HAPPY SAMHAIN!!!!.

Opeth's debut exudes atmosphere
Orchid carries not only some of the most interesting guitar riffs of Opeth, but some of the best guitar riffs I've ever heard period. Opeth's debut album Orchid marked the beginning of this band's impressive journey into becoming one of the most promising metal bands of the 1990's! Their unique spin of progressive melodic death metal has earned them praise everywhere for good reasons!!! Like all other Opeth albums, one of the most important aspects is the unique blend of acoustic/electric guitars by guitarists Mikael Akerfeldt and Peter Lindgren. I cant see how one can deny the first few amazing riffs of In Mist She Was Standing or the beyond beautiful intro of Forest of October unless they are insistent on excessive palm muting and tremolo with more concerns of guitar speed than composition. What I appreciate most is that Opeth have their standard very heavy riffs and many outstanding progressive interlude riffs, which create an excellent atmosphere. Atmosphere is definitely something lacking in the music scene today. This album takes you through an epic journey that no other band could possibly replicate.

The acoustics tend to be a bit slower than later albums but I find it makes this album easily as good musically if not better. It sets an even more atmospheric setting that is enough to almost put one in completely tranquil state. As someone suggested earlier, this atmosphere can create quite a calm yet eerie setting. One other thing that I've noticed about the musicianship is that Orchid easily boasted one of their best rhythm line-ups with Anders Nordin on Drums and Johan de Farfalla on bass. The production isn't that great, but on a first album that is expected. The vast majority of vocals on this album are screamed/growled and Mikael's clean voice is great at this point but still developing. They would go on to expand his clean vocals on later albums. Despite the lack of clean vocals, the setting has made this one of their more beautifully dark albums.

The album starts with In Mist She Was Standing, which starts off with a couple of classic heavy, progressive Opeth guitar riffs and further develops with Mikael's aggressive vocals and acoustic atmosphere. Continues with more aggression, melodic beautiful guitar passages and acoustic beauty. In Mist She Was Standing is certainly one of Orchid's better tracks. Next is Under The Weeping Moon, not quite at the level of In Mist She Was Standing but a great song nonetheless. After the bass intro it has a great opening solo, follows with Opeth's usual brand of intensity and acoustic beauty. Give the long acoustic passages a chance to develop. You wont regret it! This brings us to Silhouette, an excellent piano interlude. Not too long, not repetitive and definitely performed by a skilled piano player and not worth skipping at all! That brings us to one of the most memorable Opeth openings in Forest of October! Its beyond me how people cannot appreciate the beautiful guitar introduction!!! Forest of October flows great after Silhouette. Forest of October is one of the best tracks on this album without a doubt.

Twilight Is My Robe is different because this song starts of with some hellacious growls and kick-your ass guitar riffs from the get go. Somewhat different in structure than some songs, still contains some really good melodic guitar harmonies and some of Mikael's more memorable acoustic passages and clean vocals. And the some decent bass work in the middle! : O Full marks! Requiem is their first acoustic interlude and although rather short, it's still a superb piece of acoustic material. Set the standard for future acoustic Opeth songs and is a great song to set up The Apostle in Triumph. The softest intro to any of their full songs on this album, two minutes of great acoustic patterns followed by a beautiful lead guitar melody that assures that the skip button is not needed! Opeth's least intense, most epic full song on this album and easily a standout. Many of their best melodic (distorted) guitar harmonies are found on this track. Recommendations include In Mist She Was Standing, Forest of October, The Apostle in Triumph and the impressive piano melody Silhouette. For an opening album, this is outstanding work and definitely worthy of being an Opeth masterpiece. Couldn't ask for more but Opeth seemed insistent on giving us even more! Couldn't be happier!.

You can see a complete list of all Opeth discography, or go back to the Opeth tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.