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The first time I heard about Opeth was from a former roommate who had a mild lisp.

Flash forward a few years, and I get into a prog band called Porcupine Tree.  I had pretty much sworn off prog, as I was seriously getting sick of most of the prog bands with their singers who wear too tight of pants… anyway, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree turns out to be a fantastic singer, guitarist, writer, producer, et cetera.  He does solo stuff, has side bands (Blackfield, No-Man), produces other bands, et cetera…  I quickly gobbled up his stuff, and then I heard that he produced this Swedish metal band Opeth.

Opus?


No, Opeth.

Anyway, Steven Wilson produced three of my favorite records of theirs: Blackwater Park, Deliverance, and Damnation:

Damnation was the oddity, though… it was primarily mellow.  The other albums (even those not included above) always had mellow “interludes,” but the primary songs on the records were full-on Swedish progressive death metal, complete with “cookie monster” vocals and kick drum blasts that could knock the Pope right off his bejeweled seat.  (I would have stated that the Pope was sitting on his bejeweled seat at a truck rally, but I know that that’s a given.  So, I didn’t mention it.  Obviously.)

Anyway, Damnation was a primarily non-metal, metal album.  It was released simultaneously with Deliverance (which was the muy-metal, metal album to “relieve the haters,” perhaps).

Anyway, Opeth‘s next album, Watershed (not produced by Steven Wilson but likely still damn good), comes out on June 3rd.  Here’s a video for the edit of the song “Porcelain Heart.”  It dances on the cusp of what’s good about Damnation, but hints about what the non-edit sounds like:

Porcelain Heart

I’m looking forward to the album.
~Dan

Oh, for an example of the cookie monster Opeth, here’s “The Grand Conjuration” (1:06 for cookie monster):

I love it, too!