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Still Life

Opeth - Still Life Audio CD

A fair review of the Opeth "Still Life" 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: Still Life
Rating:

Release Date: 2003-04-29
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Moor 2: Godhead's Lament 3: Benighted 4: Moonlapse Vertigo 5: Face of Melinda 6: Serenity Painted Death 7: White Cluster

The Best "Old, Old" Opeth
This is one of the most interesting and complex albums ever created for 4 pieces. I have owned this CD for over 2 years. This CD is also one of the cleanest and clearest you will ever hear, as well. This is 4 very talented musicians at, perhaps the top of their game. If you like Dream Theater, Queensryche, Tony MacAlpine, Yngwie Malmsteen or Rush you need to listen to this band. What really amazes everyone is not just their ability to go from brutally heavy to acoustic folk with a large amount of prog and jazz tossed in, but the intricacy of the songs and the dexterity of the guys. This CD rivals anything from King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra or Yes, as well as the other bands mentioned above. Just to put the icing on the cake there is also tragic love story here. Have a seat and try to keep up with what they are doing here. This is one of the best Progressive Metal bands in the history of the genre. .

Opeth's best, period.
Don't believe them; they get off on listening to music that was recorded in forests and other such nonsense. A lot of Opeth grognards will tell you that "My Arms, Your Hearse" is their greatest album. "Still Life" is Opeth's masterpiece, their best album from top to bottom.

The overall sound of "Still Life" is undeniably classic Opeth, but also unique among their albums. Nothing else they've made fits so perfectly with its underlying concept (except maybe "Watershed", but that album is the orange in Opeth's apple cart). The album is unabashedly brutal, and often discordant to the point of being unpleasant. Revenge is the album's state of mind. The message is clear: this is not a nice story, and it's not supposed to be fun. But it is fun, as long as you immerse yourself in the art.

One thing that makes "Still Life" better than "My Arms, Your Hearse" is the variety. The latter contains very few accoustic breaks, and although "Credence" is soft compared to the rest of the album, it doesn't break the pattern enough to really stand out. "Still Life" goes all the way with its two soft tracks, "Benighted" and "Face of Melinda", which is what makes them work so well. It's weird, but these two tracks fit "Still Life" better than "Credence" fits "My Arms, Your Hearse" because of the greater difference between them and their context.

I believe that "The Moor" is Opeth's heaviest song, "Wreath" be damned. No other Opeth track (not even the overhyped "The Baying of the Hounds") can project the same sense of inevitable and thoroughly unpleasant doom. From the moment the heavily-distorted electric guitars smash through the pretty accoustic introduction like a blunt axe through the side of your neck, the mood of the album is clear.

The remainder of the tracks on the album are some of my favorite Opeth songs to date. They perfectly mix the soft with the heavy, with the best transitions Opeth has yet written. "Godhead's Lament" might be my personal choice as Opeth's greatest song. The transitions between melody and discord are amazing, and the melodic sections absolutely soar. "White Cluster" feels like an execution. Which is good, because it actually is an execution. It's dreadful, but in a fun way.

Overall, "Still Life" is Opeth's masterpiece. The usual Opeth-ian emotions such as sorrow, pain, and regret are present, but saturated with an underlying sense of pure rage that exists nowhere else in their catalogue. This is a mean album, a concept executed (no pun intended) to perfection.

Opeth's most unearthly album
All of Opeth's trademark elements are definitely here in abundance- the beautiful leads, the harmonically expanded riffing, the flowing yet progressive songwriting, the breathtaking build ups from acoustic passages to violent explosions of dissonance. This is not Opeth's catchiest or most immediately memorable collection of songs, but it is possibly their most successfully thematic, along with the masterpiece "My Arms, Your Hearse", another concept album. . . but most of what makes this album truly special is the hardest thing about it to describe- the emotion of the music.

"Still Life" is, on the surface, stylistically very similar to its follow-up "Blackwater Park" and, to a lesser extent, its predecessor, the aforementioned "My Arms, Your Hearse". However, there is one aspect that distinguishes "Still Life" from all of this band's other great records: its ghostly, lonely, forelorn, truly twisted atmosphere. It feels just like its red, blood-toned artwork and the mysterious, dark concept (as described in other reviews) that drives the album only serves to plunge it further into strangeness. It's one of those rare albums that feels almost divinely inspired, like its creators were possessed by some force to create it. It has all the macabre appeal of one of those morbid folk tales, and fittingly, it's also Opeth's most 'folky' album, containing the most real acoustic guitars and finger picked segments out of any Opeth release except possibly "Morningrise". It is a rainy day album, and it does not have a happy ending.

What I said early about the album's lack of catchiness does not apply to the first two tracks, haunting opener "The Moor", which contains one of my favorite dramatic shifts in any song (the way it becomes so nostalgic and wistful right after the line "Melinda is the reason why I have come", as if the protagonist is remembering their past together), and "Godhead's Lament", simultaneous one of the heaviest tracks on the album and home of the most hummable folk melody on the CD. Each of these would be great tracks to introduce someone to this band with.

As far as the other songs go, "Serenity Painted Death" is probably one of the band's most moshable songs, and it really does rock. If you loved "Demon of the Fall", this is for you. "White Cluster" is a bizarre and absolutely crushing conclusion to the album, containing one of the final, apocalyptic riffs I've ever heard and generally containing an atmosphere of dread so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Face of Melinda" and "Benighted" are a different kind of ballad than Opeth typically does, again showing more of the folk direction on the album. Both are soothing and feel like the light of a campfire barely holding back the pitch darkness of the surrounding woods.

Occasionally there are lyrical elements (bad rhymes) that take you out of the mood somewhat, but that's the only complaint I could possibly make about an otherwise flawless album. "Still Life" is on par with Opeth's usual ridiculously high standard. Newcomers should maybe start with "Blackwater Park", but this album is very highly recommended as well. 5 stars.

One of those "special" albums.
I only had Ghost Reveries up to this point and for whatever reason it just didn't do too much for me (at the time that is). Well I actually picked up Still Life on a limb. Now I really appreciate the album. I popped in Still Life and my ears were open to an extremely haunting, yet soothing guitar melody. I gotta say that this album completely floored me with it's brilliance. It's one of those special albums to me that you just don't really expect that much out of and it completely excedes your expectations and it really opened my musical senses up to something I have never experienced before. After listening to this album, I finally saw all the hype and praise that Opeth get. They are truly modern day innovators and I have never heard anything remotely close to what these guys are doing. They can go from the most brutal, insane black/death metal esque sound to a beautiful, haunting, folky, jazzy acoustic melody. And believe me if you haven't heard these guys before, they are definitely one of the most talented and complex bands I have yet to experience. Mikael Akerfeldt truly is a musical genius and in my book he has yet to fail in the least bit. Still Life is my favorite Opeth album, closely followed by Blackwater Park and that's saying something because everything these guys have put out is instant gold. It really is hard to exactly put in words just how diverse and excellent these guys are. As for this album, it is their most "balanced" I would say. They have all of their signature sounds and elements in here and they have plenty of acoustic portions in every song. The passion and melody in Mikael's voice found here is superb and he is definitely one of the most distinguishable, best sounding singers in this day and age. It's hard to believe that it's the same guy on this record singing over delicate acoustic harmonies and then the next second he sounds like he's gonna rip somebody's throat out. It makes a great mixture of sounds and textures and just overall variety though.

It really is hard to pick out a favorite song on this album. The two tracks that stand out the most though and that caught my attention would be the acoustic tracks- Benighted and Face of Melinda. Both contain folky, intricate acoustic guitar harmonies that even the most accomplished guitar players would have to work at to perfect. Benighted contains somne of Mikael's most breathtaking/ stunning vocals to date and he can nail that high note. It's a very ambiant tune and definitely one of Opeth's finest acoustic tracks ever. Face of Melinda is a classic live staple of theirs and for good reason. It has alot of jazz in it, put don't fret. I'm not a lover of jazz and I never listen to it as I'm sure many of you don't. But it's something about the way Opeth does it that makes it their own and shows off their amazing talent. This is another very ambiant sounding song. Now for the others. The Moor starts off the album with a very dark/ haunting melody which eventually breaks in to a brutal attack with some very harsh vocals. It kind of drops back down to mid-tempo and goes back and forth between electric and acoustic guitars with clean and muffled vocals. One of the best for sure. Godhead's Lament has one of the best choruses on here, although they never really have a true chorus on any of their songs parsay (take some give some). Moonlapse Vertigo and Serenity Painted Death both continue in the same vein as Godhead's as they both go back and forth from heavy to light to slow/ fast guitar over different vocal techniques. And finally the album is ended off with White Cluster which starts off probably heavier than any other track on the album and ends with beautiful acoustic guitars with a crackling sound in the background.

This is a must have album for any metal fans. It is so much different than anything out there and it is so beautiful, yet so brutal and haunting. This is Opeth's best and as usual every song is an epic, except for Benighted that is. It's truly a different experience in the metal realm and it shows a innovative, technical band at the top of their career. If possible, I would definitely get the new remastered version which has a hard case almost like a book cover and has a real nice fold booklet and a second disc with Dolby 5. 1 Surround Sound for DVD players and a live performance of Face of Melinda, which is amazing. I have not heard the older versions of this album, seeing that I'm still fairly new to these guys, but I can say that the production is supberb and for $15 or cheaper this is probly the way to go. Still Life is a modern day classic to say the least and is truly a musical journey.

Unearthly experience
Go home and lock yourself away in the basement and meditate to this for a week or so. You need to just buy this CD right now. Totally impressive.

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.