Opeth: Ghosts of Perdition

Opeth
Ghosts of Perdition
Roadrunner

  Swedish dark-metal band Opeth have been constructing elaborate fairy-tale theater for a good 15 years. Their complex narratives tap into a sliver of primitive pagan-brain, the part that might lead one to sleep with a rope of garlic and a silver cross. You know, just in case. In addition to the non-trendiness of the band's subject matter, there's an old-fashioned, almost reactionary quality in their craft. They're cathedral builders in a world of cut-rate contractors. A controlled austerity in their presentation and arrangements makes problematic musical forms and tools (multipart epics, fantasy subject matter, and nearly belched black-metal vocals), more palatable to folks who wash their kids' mouths out with soap for uttering the word "Mellotron."

On their last two releases, Opeth, with Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson assisting, forcibly bifurcated the gentle and folky and gratingly dissonant sides of their personality into two discs, 2002's (gratingly dissonant) Deliverance and 2003's (gentle and folky) Damnation. So it's a pleasant surprise to hear that the halves rejoined, largely without seams.

Ghost Reveries details the travails of a thoughtful wraith in an uncomfortable position between terra firma, hell, and heaven. But its pleasures are purely corporeal. When Mikael Åkerfeldt growls, "I hear the baying of the hounds" amid a swirl of guitar and a driving Jon Lord-style riff from new keyboardist Per Wiberg, you can just smell the demonic dog breath. "The Grand Conjuration," perhaps more skillfully than any other Opeth epic, strings together guttural lamentations, dirge-y keyboard pomp, and choirboy vocals with an addictive 12-note riff. And then there's the soulful ballad "Hours of Wealth," where Åkerfeldt sings in a plaintive voice accompanied by spare electric piano. The words "I'm alone and far from home" might be coming from the mouth of a ghost weary of this whole crazy haunting business, but it hits an emotional chord universal enough to appeal to the homesick on every plane of existence.