Album of the Day

Ghost Reveries, by Opeth (2005): Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band that found its way into my collection because of its connection to Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree fame. He produced a couple of their albums (not this one) that were very well received in the prog world and, thus, put them on my radar. I found this album on a Half Price Books expedition with the girlfriend and decided it was worth a few bucks. Musically, it's some very deft, well worked heavy metal. There's some nice dynamic contrasts and some excellent playing. There's a nice use of keys (Mellotron, in particular) to set off the heavy guitar riffs.

Unfortunately, there are the vocals, with a large helping of the death metal growl (i.e. "Cookie Monster" vocals). I know it's supposed to be intense, heavy, and dark, but that techniques just makes me giggle. It sounds too forced and makes actually understanding the lyrics damn near impossible. They don't ruin the album for me, but they do keep me from really enjoying it. If these guys ever do an all instrumental album, I'm all over it.