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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: 2003-06-17
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 8: Into the Frost of Winter [*]

Broken, but returned with little problem
After a few false starts, we were able to return it for a full refund. The CD case arrived with a crack in it. They were helpful with the return process. I ordered three cds from 3 different sellers - 2 of the 3 cases arrived broken. It will be along time before I order from Amazon again. But, the seller stood up for his product and provided a refund. It still wasn't an experience I want to repeat .

Death metal for the rest of us. . .
I detest most "hard rock" bands. I am in no way or shape a metalhead. I got tired of Led Zeppelin at age 17. My favorite rock band are Sleater Kinney (feminist indie-pop) and The Shins.

I also listen to "early" music (meaning medieval and Renaissance classical). I think that is why this band is so appealing. This is a truly fantastic album. It is not rock 'n' roll except in the most superficial way. It is orchestral, classical, symphonic, Wagnerian music played on electric guitars. I have four or five Opeth albums. Weirdly, despite others' opinions that they got better with each new release, I find myself listening to this one again and again. Folks more familiar with this genre can give you a better technical description of the tracks.

For the non-metal heads willing to try something totally different and out of your comfort zone, give this a shot with an open mind. Once you get past the comically bad cookie-monster vocals, the sheer musicality of this band will become apparent. By the third listen, the vocals will seem entirely natural and appropriate.

.

The beginning of an astounding, metal legacy
They're also one of my favorites, and certainly one of the most interesting, deep, complex, brutal and yet beautiful bands you can find. Opeth is by far one of the best metal bands today, and of all time. All of those adjectives describing their sound are presnted here on "Orchid". This is the album that started them off. "Orchid", their debut album, began a dynasty of one of metal's best bands.

Opeth is a band that may take some time to fully appreciate their songs. The songs are long, complex and may have hidden meanings in them that takes time to ponder. There also may be some passages that it may take several listenings to fully remember. Also, most Opeth material is best suited for listening to at night. There's something about listening to it then that just makes it even more amazing.

All right, well that describes the band as a whole, but let me begin to describe "Orchid". Well, quite often the sound tends to vary on each Opeth album, and their first is no exception. Whereas they created a more death-metal sound on albums like "My Arms, Your Hearse" or "Still Life", "Orchid" is probably their most black-metal sounding album, if not tied with "Morningrise". As with all Opeth albums, there are still gentle acoustic passages and beautiful, cleaning singing, but "Orchid" has the buzzing, razorblade guitar sound of black metal, the atmosphere of it, and Mikael uses more of a black metal howl than a death metal growl.

"In Mist She Was Standing": A fourteen-minute opener in C minor, this song kicks off with victorious-sounding, galloping riffs that are reminiscent of a heavier Iron Maiden. The songs flows into Mikael's aggressive howling about venturing to find his true love and thick, melodic riffs. Ending with sadder, slower but still beautiful riffs, this song is quite the metal epic.
"Under A Weeping Moon": The only non-interlude song that's under 10 minutes, this song is less mournful-sounding than "In Mist She Was Standing", but just as intense and epic. A great follow-up song.
"Silhouette": A three-minute, piano masterpiece played entirely by drummer Anders Nordin, this shows what an astounding, classical pianist he is. A riveting and intense interlude.
"Forest of October": My favorite song on the album, if not tied with the next song, and just over 13 minutes. This song starts off with slow, melodic, heavy riffs similar to Black Sabbath. A sudden stop, then we go into black metal tremolo picking guitar riffs and incredibly fast, double-bass drumming. At around 2:40, a simplistic but amazingly beautiful, acoustic guitar comes in with more incredibly fast double-kick drums. Harmonized, minor-key riffs follow with two blazing, riveting guitar solos over the course of the song. In this one, Mikael speaks of being in a forest in darkness, being very introspective and wishing to be set free of whatever holds him back in that place. A masterpiece of a song.
"The Twilight Is My Robe": This song is tied with "Forest of October" as my favorite song on the album. Eleven minutes long and the least mournful of all the songs, this song just sounds the most straight-up vicious as opposed to sad. Written with a lot of progressive music influences, this is an early Opeth classic.
"Requiem": A beautiful piece with harmonized bass guitar and acoustic guitar lines.
"The Apostle In Triumph": The first minute-and-a-half of this song are actually where "Requiem" left off but was accidentally put onto this song, apparently, which is why there's a pause of about five seconds. This song does have more heavy, death-metal riffs but is also quite progressive. However, the acoustic passages here seem to be most noticeable. There's something about this song that seems a little odder than any of the other songs, but it's still a great track.
Bonus Track:
"Into The Frost of Winter": A six-and-a-half minute extra song, this one is by far the most black-metal out of all the songs. The howling, the guitar riffs, even the recording is like other black metal bands of the time. An interesting and enjoyable extra song.

Having just gone through the entire album in written details, I hope I was informative and gave you a better idea about the sound of this album. For Opeth fans who don't have this yet, this is a highly recommended album. If you are a newcomer to Opeth, this is indeed a great album, but a better starting place would be "Blackwater Park" or "Still Life". However, no matter what you start with, I am of firm belief that this is one of the greatest and most unique metal albums of all time. Be sure to treasure this heavy, then soft, then heavy again, masterpiece! Thanks for the time, and peace.

Simply flawless
It's all there: killer guitar riffs, awesome lyrics, great death vocals, beautiful clean vocals, untouchable acoustic work, and even a beautiful piano solo piece. This album is perfect.

My favorites are 'In Mist She Was Standing', 'The Twilight is my Robe', and 'Forest of October'.

The only Opeth album that I've truly been able to call anything less than spectacular is 'Ghost Reveries,' even though it's a very enjoyable album. This is the best band on the planet.

I'm rating this album 5 stars

Orchid, Opeth's debut album, is not just "historically" relevant. For two reasons: 1) The album is damn good, and 2) The criticism it has been receiving is not its fault. Some of the songs in there are as good as any they have released. "Under the Weeping Moon" and "In The Mist She Was Standing" are as epic as any of Opeth's later releases. The twin guitars, acoustic intros and interludes, etc. in Orchid are still unquestionably Opeth. The "historical" relevance may apply in another sense: in Orchid, Opeth had many of the features that define "melodic death metal" (twin guitars melodies), and by releasing this in 1994, they were ahead of the the Gothenburg three (In Flames, Dark Tranq, At The Gates) considered as pioneers of the subgenre. All this, is however, irrelevant.

As with Opeth's albums, there is no filler song, but I like the two aforementioned songs, as well as Forest of October, The Twilight Is My Robe, and The Apostle In Triumph (Akerfeldt sure comes up with the most kickass song and album names!). Orchid, though not a concept album like MAYH or Still Life, still feature many 'Opethian' themes: Death/Depression (Forest of October), Satan (Apostle in Triumph, at least as far as I can understand).

The album does suffer from less-than-optimal production, and as other reviewers have noted, the bass and guitars could use a little more processing. However, in no way does that affect the quality of the music. I disagree with the comment that Peter Lindgren's guitar needs work. . . show me one riff or solo to support that statement!

Please don't go by the ratings; this is as good an Opeth album as any. Get it!.

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.