My Arms, Your Hearse

What diversity in metal, these guys used to play some great progressive music in this genre. A shame that they are no longer considered to be within the "metal" community, they've retired from it. Only 3 musicians on this one with a guest organist. Dark, decayed aura, but such beautiful reverence in the metal world. Songs on here just are so magnificently played without any noticeable flaws and such diversity in the musical and creative aspects. Maybe just 3 members here, but they sure do deliver great epic tracks. All of the songs show such great musicianship.

The riffs are all over the place as are the tempos. Thick, heavy, brutal guitar then you get a break and there's an acoustic piece that delivers, lightening up the song overtures. Wow, I still am amazed on how well metal can be played with such melody. Guitars that are plain destructive in tone followed by throat that's low and bellowed. Then again, after this, there are clean vocals. The majority of the time Mikael sings in a death metal tonality, but he still can sing in a clean tone as well. Magnificent overtures and memorable songs that are quite innovative plus they're quite unique.

Acoustic guitars fluctuate on and off and some of the tracks have an overflow of this kind of guitar work, but most of the time it's distorted guitar work. The music contains melodies that stick in your mind gathering such an immense orchestra of metal. If you're a melodic death freak like I am, you'll love this one. Such great compositions that are totally original and can never be overplayed. Tempos are slow for the most part, especially during songs that are filled with acoustic guitars. They mix the tempos quite rapidly. Extreme progressive metal fits the genre quite beautifully.

YouTube some songs such as "Credence" and "Demon of the Fall" and you'll hear what I'm talking about when I say extreme progressive metal. The topics that the band sings about include love, loss, sorrow, nature, death and occultism. As you can see, the diversity is not only with the music, but the lyrics as well. It's hard to decipher what Mikael is saying on each song. However, that doesn't mean that his efforts aren't without esteem. Songs are so much magnificently orchestrated. You won't find a better extreme progressive metal album like "My Arms, Your Hearse."

The production sound for this time when technology wasn't making instruments and voice sound too "perfect". These guys actually have talent and the music is what fuels the soul of this album. All instruments are all in the proper mixing with nothing left out, not even the bass guitar. The metal just flowed on this release and it remains to be my favorite out of their entire discography. It's too bad that they are now no longer a metal band, they're progressive rock. There's 2 bonus tracks on here one cover song and an additional track entitled "Remember Tomorrow."

There is no other album like this in Opeth's discography. That is my opinion though, others can argue it and I come to the same conclusion: their best metal effort ever. No boredom, no lack of innovation, no melodic guitar that is unimpressive. This album is just something that you can easily get into if you like this genre of music. Don't expect anything but pure melodies some heavy some acoustic like I've described. A monumental masterpiece, "My Arms, Your Hearse" is just too perfect and never played out. If you don't own this one, pick it up and form your own opinion of it. If you're expecting utter brutality, there's shades of it, but not entirely.

With My Arms, Your Hearse, Opeth went for a notable change in sound from the Orchid and Morningrise records. This could be best described as a sort of middle ground between the early works and the sound that Opeth would be later known for, mixing in the ethereal atmosphere from those two records with the vintage, jazz-oriented progressive death metal sound.

This is also Opeth’s first concept record. The story is about a deceased man who becomes a ghost and tries to confront his lover. Unfortunately, she doesn’t return her love back to him and further attempts to confront her results in her fearing and despising him. Accordingly, Akerfeldt mapped the story out before writing the music; a very good move when writing a full-length record, especially a concept album. As the album progresses, so does the story, slowly building up from a sorrowful start in ‘April Ethereal’ to the climatic and dissonant ‘Demon of the Fall’ and ending in the same sorrowful tone in ‘Epilogue’.

As a result of the change in sound, as well as the recent lineup change that Opeth went through, My Arms, Your Hearse is disturbingly heavier than its predecessors. And I say ‘disturbing’ because the aggressive nature of a lot of these tracks adds to the atmosphere of the content. Drummer, Martin Lopez, pulls off a very consistent and very aggressive performance while still controlling himself from overpowering the band. The bass guitar is very audible in the mix and does a good job at thickening the sound. In Mikael Akerfeldt and Peter Lindgren’s guitar work, the two shifted from using harmonic riffs in the last two to a jazzy, yet very heavy riff-based approach that is often dissonant and sets the dark tone of this album. The softer sections on My Arms, Your Hearse blend in very well, giving the listener a more of a breather from the crushing death metal. However, I do feel that some of the transitions feel rather contrived; often times, they will use a short acoustic guitar interlude to transition to another heavy riff. This is a minor annoyance, but it’s rather prevalent throughout the record.

Mikael’s vocals have become much more varied in My Arms, Your Hearse than in previous efforts. His vocals had become much deeper; almost to the point where they resemble gutturals, whereas the first two records had a mid-pitched black metal sound. This is the first time in their discography that his harrowing, sorrowful, and even at one point in the aforementioned song, ‘Demon of the Fall’; demonic growls actually add to the music. His jazzy cleans are stronger than in previous efforts and sound convincingly as remorseful as his growls.

Although it would be later topped by Still Life, My Arms, Your Hearse has a very unique atmosphere and serves as a great middle ground between the atmosphere of the early records to their signature sound. Their musicianship has progressed considerably, showing what was to later come in Opeth's career.

"My Arms, Your Hearse" simply has to be called one of Opeth's best albums to date. It may be one of their oldest, but that doesn't stop it from entrancing you with fantastic guitar riffs and the signature death metal and clean vocals that Mikael performs flawlessly.

The album gets off to a brilliant start with the songs Prologue, April Ethereal and When, all three linking together perfectly. Any avid listener of Opeth will not be disappointed with these songs. Prologue leads the listener into the epic riff factory that is April Ethereal and that gives a fantastic performance which then carries onto When in which there are even more great riffs and some acoustic guitar work that mesmerise the listener with their tranquillity amongst to usual loudness of death metal.

When then links into Madrigal which basically begins the guitar riff for the next song: The Amen Corner. Along with April Ethereal and When, this song captivates its audience, especially with the acoustic breakdown in the middle of the song. It comes as an unexpected, but nice surprise, and sets the songs tone perfectly. This then leads into the next song worthy of note: Demon Of The Fall. This song is considered by many to be the best song on the album and has been played as an encore at many Opeth concerts. It is well deserved of its title as best song on the album for a variety of reasons, one being that it has one of the greatest riffs of death metal history and that it’s catchy as hell.

The next song does seem a bit pointless, but it relaxes the listener after some great songs before it. It also sets up the next song, called Karma which is the final song worthy of a high mention. It is consistent and it has a great riff near the beginning of the song which sets the stage for the rest of the song. It is a great song to start an end to an album, its smooth riffs and acoustics make it a great song to play and listen to. Epilogue finishes off the album with an old heavy metal sounding riff and brings what could be a perfect ending to a perfect album.

The first listen to this record, get ready to be confused as to what to hate more, the production quality or the obsessive echoing of bass in the background. "Prologue" starts of in a beautifully misleading way only to explode into "April Ethereal". Initially the record does sound different but scratch off the surface and it is the same old Opeth terrain decked with brilliant death growls, acoustic guitars, melancholy passages, Iron Maiden inspired riffs, clean and whispering vocals. Needless to say all the songs are different permutations and combination of the above attributes.

With this record its more than evident that the black metal influence has completely faded to oblivion and its a dominating death metal sound which is most prominent in the vocals of Åkerfeldt. Unlike Morningrise this is not the obvious staring into face melody, its more subdued and there is a strange echo which adds to the ambiance of the whole experience.

The riffs on this record are faster but blunted by the booming background bass which somehow deviates the attention of the listener. I do not know whether this was intentional but at a superficial level you can call this a "versatile" record, a dozens listens down the line you realize there is nothing new here other than a record producer obsessed with bass sound which literally drown everything other than the vocals. I have to say that I have never heard bass stand out so much on any band's sound other than of course Iron Maiden, which definitely is intentional there, thanks to Steve Harris.

As always Åkerfeldt stands out with his unusual ability to shift between a multitude of vocal styles. Around one minute to "The Amen Corner" you can notice how perceptibly deeper the growling gets, the trend continues into "Demon of the Fall" which starts off with vocals which is exploding from an endless abyss. Even the omnipresent bass seems to get crushed with the Åkerfeldt sound which comes full cycle when it ends with strong clean vocals. To me "Demon of the Fall" is that quintessential song which defines the whole album.

My Arms , Your Hearse has mediocre compositions and is a half baked record if you are a progressive death fan. You get an impression that Opeth was truly at crossroads, there were less musical passages compared to Morningrise and even more lesser clean vocals and shorter songs, from this point on their sound could have gone in any direction. On hindsight the first step towards getting a more 'civilized' sound was taken with this record, remove the omnipresent echo and the mindless bass, you get "Still Life", interestingly both are concept works revolving around a woman pursued by ghost in the former and by a outcast in the latter.

There are two bizarre covers of Celtic Frost and Iron Maiden in the re-released version, I am no fan of Celtic Frost but they definitely crucified the Iron Maiden classic, Opeth definitely achieved the impossible when they managed to make a Iron Maiden song sound like the way it did.

It is very typical of metal fans to be cynical and call a band pretentious when there is an effort to make the lyrics tad poetic than just created for mindless growling which fills the gaps when virtuoso musicians shift gears. I have immense respect for Åkerfeldt for the lyrics in this record, the Opeth sound he formulated over the years and even more for the ethereal vocals which makes emulation of Opeth a near impossible.

Alright, people. I have a bone to pick with a certain band that has garnered an obscene amount of praise since day one, and I have had it up to here! This is a band that many people will toss around as being emotional and intellectual, a band that many claim are the one savior of what they smugly deem ‘thinking man’s metal.’ This is a band that many have come to call…Opeth. The title of the album is My Arms, Your Hearse; long hailed as their best album by legions of frothing-mouthed fans who I wouldn’t trust as far as I could throw. And let me tell you something, faithful readers. Let me tell you that I think this much-loved album is…okay.

Just…okay. It’s not great, it’s not terrible…it’s just inoffensively, incredibly okay. It’s pretty wishy-washy and there are parts of this I really don’t like at all, but I’m not going to pretend I hate this or anything.

Most of you probably know this band’s deal. Mikael Akerfeldt plays long, drawn out songs with lazily epic melodies, doom riffs and several acoustic bits. His voice alternates between a throaty growl and a sort of subdued, distorted clean drone that sounds like something I’d expect out of a 90s rock band rather than any kind of metal – pretty good though. The songs are played at a slow tempo, with the rhythm section generally sticking to that kind of fuzzy mid pace stomp the whole time. “April Ethereal” is okay, and along with songs like “When” and “The Amen Corner,” it packs some pretty decently written dark melody lines and riffs. But it gets old, and even though the latter songs have their moments, too, it’s just tiring. The band piles the same overly emotional hooks into every seven-minute-plus song (and pretty much everything on here is), and it gets really one dimensional after a while.

I just don’t really get it. What exactly is so complex and intelligent about this music, anyway? It has a rather obtuse atmosphere about it, but in and of itself, there is not really any subtlety to this, no hidden gems to be discovered. Right from the start, you get all the wistful melody, elongated songs and time changes you expected, and there’s not really much room for it to surprise you. Akerfeldt and his gang of metal poets can really play, but there’s nothing all that shocking or revelation-inducing about it. They’re doing what you expected them to do when you pressed Play. Look at the pretentiously dark album artwork, look at the album title with the comma spliced in between words, and what do you expect? Something…not pretentious, proggy or drawn out? It’s as easy as one, two, three. Are people really that enamored to find out that what they thought was going to be mellow prog with death growls is, in reality, mellow prog with death growls? Eureka!

I am talking about compositional depth. Opeth’s music is pretty well written for what it is, but honestly, what else is there to it? Competent musicianship can only take this so far. The songs on here are played with a certain foreboding something, except the band hasn’t exactly decided what it is the listener should really feel about their music – it’s all so middle of the road in terms of atmosphere and mood that it’s hard to tell. A lot of the time it sounds like they’d rather be playing soft acoustic rock instead of metal, because most of the heavy parts here just sound forced and contrived, like they were just doing it to please people.

Opeth’s My Arms, Your Hearse is an album that tries to be meaningful, consciously attempting to sound profound and scholarly, and the music suffers for it. It most likely was meaningful to the people who created it, but the same sentiment is not universal to the listener, nor really relevant. This music is actually relatively tame. The songwriting just isn’t up to par, and while they cover this fact up with a lot of prog riffs and death growls and acoustic doodling, Opeth never really reach any kind of emotional high point – certainly not the one they intended to reach – merely settling for ‘decent.’ Or perhaps ‘long.’

This is not bad, but just because it has atmosphere doesn’t mean it’s good. Maybe some people will think it is. Me, I would rather listen to something else. There is one good song on here in the acoustic ballad “Credence,” though, which actually sounds pretty genuine and not like they’re obscuring their talent beneath superficial heaviness and morbidity, like a lot of the other stuff on here.

The instrumentations are good, but the music does nothing for me. Opeth are certainly not bad though; this isn’t nearly as annoying as their latest mis-step Watershed. This album is pretty OK, but it gets tiresome after about the halfway point, and you wish the band would get off their laurels and actually write music that is as intelligent and driving and complex as what their fanbase would have you believe it is. They clearly have the musical chops for that, so what are they waiting for?

I'm not the world's biggest Opeth fan, but I like their first three albums a lot. I honestly don't think their the greatest thing since sliced bread, but they are certainly not completely void of redeeming qualities.

This one feels more song oriented, and overall a lot heavier than the other two. No doubt this is due to Martin Lopez' very aggressive drumming, which is instantly distinguishable from his predecessor, Anders Nordin's more jazzy approach. Martin is more metal; direct, precise, and concise. Michael Akerfeldt plays the bass on here, and he really adds nothing more than competent bass lines. That of course takes away another technical aspect which was the fretless bass lines from the previous albums. Once again, more streamlined, more coherent, and more metal.

There are more songs on here, and overall, they're shorter than anything Opeth had done previously. They're also a lot faster and the riffs generally feel nastier, both in terms of presentation and design. Sadly, the structures can be more jarring, as well. Regardless, My Arms, Your Hearse doesn't linger like its rather ghostly predecessors, but rears its ugly head, causing some slight mayhem, then leaving.

Amazingly, my favourite piece on here has to be the closing "Epilogue," which feels watery, distant, and extremely mournful. The guitar harmony in there is phenomenal, as well. It sounds like it crawled right out of the 1970's.

Good album, and I think that straight up metal fans would be much more receptive towards this album than anything else in Opeth's discography, due to the more agressive nature and concise songs, but it's still an Opeth album, meant to be enjoyed as a whole.

Opeth are an oddity in the metal scene. Shifting between what some people call "pretension" in their acoustics, to a rather sophisticated brutality.

In this sense, My Arms, Your Hearse is the pinnacle of Opeth's career as we know it. The previous albums (Orchid and Morningrise) had an apparent influence from the black and melodic death metal genres, but this album took on the styles of late 60's and early 70's progressive rock influence that they would be later known for.

Most of the metal riffs on this album consist of intense double bass and distorted chord progression strumming. Many of the songs have clean/acoustic interludes in spurts throughout the song, and some songs on this album are acoustic instrumentals.

The production on this album is rather atmospheric; but not in the common method you'd think. When someone says atmospheric, black metal is the first thing to come to mind, but not so for this album. The album has a moody atmosphere, like the sounds you'd hear if you were walking down a leaf strewn path on a cold, misty morning.

Yes, that aside, it is a fantastic album. Combining the aspects of the first two albums and what the band were to become, it creates a sound only rivalled by one other Opeth release (Morningrise). The band were in top form as well, performing several shedding/metal solos, and many soft bluesy solos.

Now, the most important aspect of this album seems to be the first inclusion of Martin Lopez. Coming from melodic death metallers Amon Amarth, Lopez was accustomed to the drilling double bass patterns common in their music. Another inclusion is the bass intracicies of Martin Mendez...

Wait...

Mikael played bass on this album, so that doesn't even matter, does it? Well, on the next album, Still Life, it will but for here it doesn't. Speaking of Mikael, his harsh vocals are in top form. After the gravelly power on Morningrise it was only expected for their to be an air of evil power to his next performance.

That's what we got. He shifts between heavily layered growls (layered to form power, not screech/rawr combos, so famous by Deicide) and raspy, yet powerful, screams very frequently (and smoothly) on this album.

His clean vocals are another feat on this album, having even more layering than the first two albums and the inclusion of heavy harmonies. Such a suitable vocalist.

Now, the music. Most of the songs have a grungy, dark tone with only enough distortion to give a tiny bit of heavy chug. The lead tone is remarkably different, very much in the "soaring" power metal vein, chorus-ized and reverberized to hell. The bass guitar is prominent and thick, with a tone I rather like. The acoustics, more prominent here than the previous, shine with an obvious nylon sound and with a hint of reverb to add realism.

The drums, as I said before are really powerful and probably Lopez's most "metal" drumming moment in the history of the band, including loads of double bass and excellent advanced beat after excellent advanced beat.

Well, there you have it, an overall look into the world of MAYH. Recommended to fans of Dream Theater, Mefisto, and several others.

I “used to like” Opeth, and you know what that means – I bought their albums and liked them, but then people on the internet made fun of me and now I pretend to hate them. Kidding! Enjoying their old stuff kind of hinges on how impressed you are by their aesthetic, and nowadays they're... noted for their profundity and innovation by Lamb of God's fanbase. But this was my first Opeth album, the one that really impressed me, and in the interest of proving that I'm not a poseur at the expense of admitting that my taste in music kind of sucks, I'll admit to still liking it.

The airiness and repetition of their first two albums and the directness of their later work hits head-on here, and they cancel one another out. It is, incidentally, the heaviest, most death metal-like Opeth album – that I've heard, anyway (I would bet that hearing their newest work wouldn't change my opinion). I wouldn't single that out as the reason as to why it's the best, but it probably doesn't hurt, either. The fact that Åkerfeldt rarely sings clean is beneficial, and I speak as a fan of his voice (!) - there aren't any catchy choruses here, just rather weird, free-floating melodies.

One could criticize the album for being somewhat amorphous in structure, like their older music, but at least you won't ever roll your eyes and check your watch, thinking “oh dear, another bridge is starting.” A bit of chaos is intrinsic to death metal.

The chaos died down quite a bit on Still Life, and by Blackwater Park it was long gone. But if you're not a closed-minded elitist who hates progress and is bored by songs over three minutes long, you may be able to get something out of this album.

Opeth are generally pretty bad, I know this because I've paid for, and felt ripped off by, almost all of their albums. However this one I have other views on, this a very good progressive death metal album, and easily their best. Hell, My Arms Your Hearse is so good that Opeth have made another six disappointing albums worth of profit off me since I heard it.

What Opeth did to make this album so good is that they took an original view on their earlier works, and made something truly new. The vocals are low and guttural, like they are today, changing from the slightly blacker ones on the first two records. The instrumental passages are shortened significantly (in comparison to Orchid and Morningrise). If you've noticed, this is very similar to everything they've done since. That's because they haven't changed at all since 1998, which wasn't a huge surprise, since Morningrise was just Orchid again, with less riffs and longer songs. They've always been fond of sticking to their own style, even if it does get old. Since My Arms Your Hearse they've really just kept making the same album over and over, without the good lyrics, and stale. The only thing different from their newest works is that they knew when to end a song. Yes, this is before Mikael got overboard with his "We still have long songs, so we're still truly against the mainstream". This leads to the songs feeling like natural, seven minute songs, rather than forced 7 minute songs with 5 minutes tacked on throughout.

The songs are hardly short though, and they do get out to nine minutes, but they are limited due to the lyrics. One interesting aspect of the album is that Akerfeldt wrote the lyrics before he wrote the music. Not only is the concept, about a guy who dies, and then tries to remain in contact with his wife (or similar, that's what I got), really very good, it means that once the lyrics for a part were used up, the song has to end. This forced limitation is something that the band should really try to get going with again. Unfortunately, some segments of the lyrics, actually 3 of them, are used up on instrumentals, meaning that story presented is missing a lot of content, and does seems little disjointed. Prologue in particular really did need it's lyrics used to make... well, the whole album make sense.

My Arms Your Hearse is one Opeth's heavier efforts, which if you've heard Deliverance should set of warning bells, but I assure you, this works much better. Due the more aggressive nature of the songs, they are shorter, and played with some actual conviction, which is so direly needed from them now. The softer sections don't just fade in, they smoothly transition in, and maintain a solid bond with the song, generally not going off into random places. Everything is written with a purpose, and for that reason doesn't sound so randomly cut and paste. Not to mention the music played is actually good, with some emphasis on writing catchy grooves and rhythms along with the atmosphere they constantly strive for.

The band still isn't a riff based monster though; the guitars still rely on making notes that create an atmosphere to fill up time rather than rock you senseless. So well, if you're a fan of short direct headbanging riffs, you won't find much to enjoy here. Even the quite powerful Demon of the Fall still relies on the proggy Opeth style rather than standard Death metal riffs. The drumming of Martin Lopez is really at his best, still sitting the background, but playing really very technical and intelligent stuff. Really, as overrated as most of this band is as musicians, he is a very good prog drummer.

Mikael delivers the lyrics in a much more fitting way than he used to, his low growls are a little easier on the ears than before, and they suit the bands style more. This album is really the first time he showed himself off as a good clean vocalist, with a good enough range for the doomy style of prog rock they play. Credence is without a doubt the bands best ballad track, which creates a truly depressive feel through it's simplicity and Akerfeldt's vocals. It almost seems as if the fact that he had a cold during the recording helped him sound more sombre.

I really don't like Opeth, honestly, it's not because they're not death metal (Which they're not), and it's not because I don't like progressive rock. It's that they generally don't have anything like enough ideas to fill up 20 minute songs, but they do here. This is fantastic, I can understand why standard DM fans would dislike them, but Opeth fans must be idiots or something, because this is their pinnacle. But then again, they tend to like Morningrise, the low quality version of Orchid, and Still Life, the low quality version of this.

Honestly, get this, and Orchid, and you've got all their worthwhile content. Everything else is taken off one of these two albums, and stretched out until it is a lifeless mess of a sleeping pill.

I’ve been a long-time Opeth fan. I first dipped into this underground phenomenon with “Deliverance” and I didn’t hear their earlier releases until much later. I’d have to say that this is probably one of my more favored amongst their entire collection of releases, but it’s still cutting it close quite a bit.

The album is much more death metal oriented that many of their later releases. There are a few acoustic bridges and interludes strewn about, but they don’t populate this album nearly as much. They still manage to, however, keep the album itself together as one cohesive idea. The transition between tracks isn’t the usual stop-gap that you get with much more thrash oriented death metal acts, but is actually all interconnected. Thus there seems to be a typical “rising action, climax, falling action” sense that one (at least me) gets with the album. The Amen Corner and Demon of the Fall are probably my favorite tracks amongst the release, with Madrigal a slight disappointment due to it’s brevity.

Mikael’s vocals seem a bit distorted with Demon of the Fall, giving him a, you guessed it, “demonic” feel. His guttural screams are still as primal as they always have been. Drumming is at it’s peak, and the guitars still seamlessly flow between soft the soft and harsh style of play that took them a little bit of experimentation throughout the years to achieve (Morningrise is argued as their opus, but it often times seems like a bunch of small songs within one). Distortion is at an all time high (as any metal album should be) but this doesn't prevent beautiful melodies and catchy riffs from getting stuck in your head. There aren't that many guitar solos, however, which is a little bit of a bummer, but what they lack in this they make up through other aspects.

Lyrics are a great read when you’re actually willing to sit down and take a look at them. I’ll say right now that Opeth has some of the most beautifully written lyrics of all the bands I listen to and they manage to paint a portrait of some of the darkest and most melancholy landscapes with their music. Imagery of somber autumn mornings and bitter winter nights send chills down one’s spine when they really sit down and give the album a listen.

That being said, the death metal parts have a tendency to drag on. Only a little bit though.

A great start for the generation of new listeners probably just getting into them with the release of “Ghost Reveries” on Roadrunner. Nostalgia is a bitch, but every band must evolve.

(Note: Originally written by me for Amazon.com on January 14, 2006.)

On their first two albums, Opeth showed the world their take on metal, complete with mellow acoustic guitars, long progressive breaks, song structures that definitely weren't fit for sufferers of ADD, and poetic lyrics to top it all off. Opeth were staunch opposites of what death metal "should" sound like. Rather than hammering away with ridiculous brutality, Opeth's sound was painstakingly crafted to lull the listener in and out of certain moods, much like classical music or a movie soundtrack. This is what led Opeth to be loved by many, and despised by some. Their baroque take on metal infused melancholic prog-rock and Scandinavian folk with the ever-changing textures of their classic duel guitar harmonies. Opeth hit their progressive peak with Morningrise, and after recruiting a new drummer, the band decided to switch gears. The resulting change would shape Opeth into what they are today, and "My Arms, Your Hearse" are the earliest sketchings of Opeth's new sound.

Whereas "Orchid" and "Morningrse" were more prog-oriented, and many of the song structures meandered over the ten-minute mark, "My Arms, Your Hearse" drops some of the more mellow experimentations and heads straight for the jugular. The song structures are more groove-oriented and less disjointed, but the boys of Opeth still keep the acoustics and prog rock going. However, rather than abruptly stopping a metal onslaught and letting acoustic guitars waltz in, Opeth layer and weave the two together, all while serving up a dose of atmospheric, melancholic death metal. Acoustic guitars are lessened here to interludes while the metal builds up to its climax. Overall, the sound here is heavier, more straightforward, but not forsaking Opeth's roots.

Mikael's vocals evolved very much from "Morningrise" to MAYH, this time opting for a more gutteral, deeper growl, though it wasn't as polished or deep as it is now. His clean vocals improved dramatically, and are used more widely on songs like "When" and one of the only softer songs on the album, "Credence". One of the interesting things about this album is how everything flows together. For instance, the last word of each song's lyrics is the title for the next song, and the lyrics flow together as a story of sorts. (Though I have yet to figure out what it's about.)

Another noticeable change is the production. Some may have been put off by the dry, crisp, hollow production of the first two records, but MAYH boasts a thick, full production job. The drums are more punchy and contribute to the faster songs thanks to newly recruited Martin Lopez. Guitars are much thicker and more bottom-heavy, and some new elements have been borught into the mix such as the organs on "Epilogue" or the piano tidbits spread throughout the album.

I would have to say that this is my personal favorite Opeth album, due to the atmosphere, the wholeness, and the display of how the band matured. Highly recommended.

Personal favorites: When, The Amen Corner, Demon of the Fall, Epilogue

Prior to this album, Mikael spent time with the boys of Katatonia to record Brave Murder Day. Mikael digged the production so much that he brought along Martin and Pete to the same studio, thus recording My Arms, Your Hearse. The production is somewhat similar to Katatonia's Brave Murder Day, except that the songs aren't repetitive and don’t sound the same.

This was also the first album where Opeth's sound pitched a different direction. Instead of the dreamy, strung-out tracks on Orchid and Morningrise, Opeth grew comfortable as a three-piece (During the recording) and became bent on creating standout tracks. By this I mean that the tracks became familiar to the listener, most notably ones like "When" and "Demon Of The Fall", both of which devotees can easily call back on and cite. This album is also noteworthy because of Martin Lopez's entrance, which he doesn't take easily. Martin uses a unique style South American influenced if I am correct, which isn’t so implemented on this record, but shows itself later on.

The tone of the album really kicks the entire ordeal into gear, being one of my favorites from Opeth. Whenever I listen to My Arms, Your Hearse, I feel things around me becoming cold and the atmosphere turns grim, dark, and haunting; the cover art portrays this pretty well. Mikael's vocals actually become even better here, as he finally utilizes it in a way where he can perform romantic clean singing to full-out demonic roars.
Mikael ended up providing both guitar and bass guitar, both which standout clear in all the riffs and solos he plays. This goes to also say that the riffs, as well as the open production, are the backbone, creating the albums gloom mood and heaviness. A track that represents this feeling extremely well is "April Ethereal", one of my personal favorites. To gain the overall feeling, it’s best if you heard the album at night, during autumn, or when you are sleeping. Believe me, it brings out the best in the album this way.

If any of this doesn't captivate you, then Peter Lindgren's solos definitely will. He may not be the fastest player in the universe this side of the millennium, but that isn't the style he plays anyways. His solos are melodic and crafty, like being able to hit a note and holding it because it is so damn good. Anyways you'll be possessed by his work. There, I've explained in a few paragraphs why this should be in your library. To put it in short if you didn't read any of that...Buy this album.

Lets get something out into the clear right off the bat. This band is NOT technical, whoever came up with that notion was unable to hold their attention for a couple of minutes and adjust the intrinsic melody latent in their head with the changing tempo's, rhythyms, and song structures of opeth - hence in their inability to keep up with the everchanging and overused musical interludes within an opeth song, they found an scapegoat that is the term "technical."

People love and hate opeth for all the wrong reasons, and as for the anti-opeth league, i can symphatize with your argument that the band can get obtrusely boring which brings me to why i consider My Arms, Your Hearse to be the most musically adept, easy flowing, distinctive and memorable album.

Why?

The songs are not overtly long, as compared to the atrocious Deliverance, the clean vocals are used sparingly and the guitars sound thicker and more fuller. Unlike, say Still Life, where Opeth hammers you with the atmospheric materpiece that is The Moor, then slowly fading into an confusing frenzy of acoustic poetry mangled with deranged strong structures, eg, Face of Melinda, White Cluster.

MAYH, fortunately does not suffer from losing its conceptual design with the chasms of atrociously layered music as the arrangements have a precdictable tempo and resonance while keeping in lieu with the story line - (which by the way is pretty interesting in its own right)

Oh, and it is short, by Opeth standards, and i am sure that is fine by anyone familiar with opeth.

For the fanboys, the biggest blunder that you committed was to judge opeth as technical, and while i am mostly a fan, i just cannot see how that idea was born. Any well rounded metal head, especially ones into Death Metal can easily rip apart that argument into shreds, and rightly so.

What i am indebtted to opeth for and this album in particular, is the fact that listening to the band made me appreciate harsh vocals, that got me profoundly into the death metal scene, so kudos in that regard.

Opeth are a band droning their musical abilities, exxagerating them far beyond the limits of our brains capacity to appreciate, filter and resonate the music they play, because their sound complicates, disarrays, overuses and changes melody so frequently they shoot themsels in their own foot by not giving us a chance to listen to the simplistic beauty of the music they are capable of creating.

They cannot dig themselves out of this hole, by either the fans or the band using an excuse such a "Technical."

MAYH sees Opeth finding their true sound that has developed all the way to now with their latest prog masterpiece, Ghost Reveries. After their wonderfully atmospheric and overall excellent debut, Orchid, the band went on to do Morningrise, which is still considered their best by some. This is a huge change from Morningrise. Pure growls now from Akerfeldt, and quite a bit more of straight singing than Orchid. Maybe a little more than Morningrise. The sound is really full and is just a behemoth to be reckoned with. This is not my favorite Opeth album, and it's a little repetitive and can even get boring, but is absolutely essential to any prog metal lover's collection and would be fine among a classic prog rock fan's collection too. It's also worthwhile to note that this is probably the most brutal Opeth album of any. Just listen to When, April Ethereal, Demon of the Fall...this stuff is evil as hell.

The album opens with Prologue, which, as the name suggests, builds up some nice atmosphere with rain and some piano. This track is rendered completely useless by the entry of the second song, April Ethereal, which has a such a brutal opening riff that you wonder why they even bothered doing the Prologue if they were going to destroy it so quickly. Akerfeldt's vocals are actually really brutal here. The song blasts along for about four minutes and then starts cooling down. Some great fading clean vocals throughout after that four minute mark, and a great section at around 5:40. The song starts exiting out with a simple riff Then the song decides to kick your ass one more time, then fade out with a wonderful riff that almost seems anxious. When is next, and after the brief acoustic entry, in comes probably the most crushingly heavy riff and growl Opeth has ever done. It blasts along like April Ethereal, has some nice acoustic interludes, then eventually returns to that sorta questioning, anxious and melodic riff at around 5:20. After it cools down, and Akerfeldt does some clean singing. Akerfeldt actually sounds kinda sick here, like he has a cold...but whatever. At around 7:48, one of the best parts of the album comes in, with some great singing and overall a great desperate and barren feel to the section. Good stuff.

Madrigal...instrumental filler, but nice. Whatever. The Amen Corner isn't quite up to par with the other two big songs so far, but it does have a crazy cool opening section that is catchy as hell. Otherwise, it kind trudges along with some uninspiring riffs. The predictable acoustic and clean vocal part at the end really does sound predictable and strangely lame.

The big standout of the album, and easily one of Opeth's best songs though, is the next song, which is Demon of the Fall. This...is awesome. It's ridiculously heavy, even with some layered growls to add to the vocals. The acoustics interludes are awesome, and the end is extremely well-done. This song has EVERYTHING you could possibly want in metal. Beautiful stuff, this song alone is worth the price of the album. It flows seamlessly into Credence, which resembles To Bid You Farewell. Completely quiet. Too bad it's not nearly as good as To Bid You Farewell. It gets a bit boring.

Karma brings back the quality, with some bone crushing heaviness complimented by a very long acoustic sections. Luckily, this is one of the best acoustic sections in the album. This is basically the closer, and it ends wit ha brutally long growl and some great riffage, then an acoustic twang...we're done. What a ride. No. Wait. We got one more. But no one cares. Scratch it off. It's worth nothing. Opeth tries a semi- Pink Floyd metal song, and it doesn't work.

The songs by themselves are not bad, but put together into an album, it's repetitive as all hell. Or maybe it's that my interest in Opeth has greatly waned of late due to the lack of variety throughout their albums. That's why Ghost Reveries is still my favorite Opeth album, because it changed things up. That and Damnation. Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries and Damnation is all you actually need by Opeth.

This album was a slightly different direction for the band. The production is much better. The bass is not a big part of the music anymore, or at least for this album. The clean vocals are much better and trained and have finally become what they are known for. The distorition on the guitars are much heavier. One of the big things here is the length of the songs. There's 9 songs with the longest being 9:16. Most are in the 6-7 minute mark on average. (That's short compared to most other Opeth songs. But this album is still good nonetheless. There are lesser amounts of standout songs here, for this is a more consistent album.

The prologue is ok, with some rain heard, then a piano bit.

Clean vocals build up in April Eathereal, one of their more popular songs. This is one of the heavier songs here. It's mind blowing.

When is an intense song. The clean vocals are one of the best parts here. This has nice chords and progressions. This is probably the lighter song on the album, although there is much intensity to be found here. Good riff at 4:16. It'd be nice if that riff lasted longer, maybe with some leads mixed in. Could've been some real headbanging stuff. All in all, great song. A little overlooked.

Madrigal is a short 'intermission' in the album and builds up into the next song.

The Amen Corner is a highly melodic song. This song really showcase what the norm for the clean vocals would become on furture songs. This is a true gem of a song. There also very nice melodic leads throughout.

Demon of the Fall is the most popular song from MAYH. A bit overrated but probably the highlight of the album. Weird sounds start which give way to a HEAVY as FUCK riff. This is probably also the darkest song. The heaviness and intensity are found all over. The vocals are almost unhuman. More riffs follow and just kick more ass. Acoustics do a little piece which is taken over by the heaviness and just blows you the fuck away! INTENSE! Also much more intense live. The chorus, if you want to call it that, it just so mindblowing. This has to be the better of their songs, mainly cause the song makes sense to the average listener, as it is more consistent. The dark, mellow part is cool, but doesnt last long. For the intensity returns, but is met by a more melodic feel. Clean vocals come in now. The diversity from heavy as hell intensity, to beautiful melodies is absolutly superb. You can obviously tell this is the best song here.

Credence is a little quiet and moody. The clean vocals finally make a very huge impact here, whereas before it was only brought in during intense parts. This is a nice little piece of music.

Karma scares the shit out of you after listening to the previous track. It gets going right away. This is intense, but not as great as the other tracks.

Epilogue closes the album (obviously). It's an instrumental and has some really beautiful stuff. Reminds me a bit of Pink Floyd. Very nice leads.

This is good stuff. I'd get Blackwater Park first If i wanted to get into Opeth.

The one thing that I appreciate about Opeth as much as anything is their ability to evolve their sound and this album is definitely no exception. MAYH is undoubtedly much more guitar (heavy distortion) driven and heavier than their previous albums and perhaps there heaviest album to date. Songs like April Ethereal and The Amen Corner (not counting Madrigal) have little acoustic work in comparison. This experiment was far from a failure, seeing as April Ethereal is arguable one of their greatest tracks. The increased implementation of Mikael's clean vocals was another strength to this MAYH. His clean vocals gradually improve and he shows more confidence in showcasing this fine aspect of their music. His signature growl has changed a bit on this album to the point that it might detract older fans but make no mistake about it. His guttural vocals are as still ferocious. They are just closer to a lower death growl without as much of a black/dark metal tone in his vocals, which are great for this album!


One thing that will never change and stays the same is Opeth's ability to write some of the most moving guitar melodies around. Perhaps not as complex or progressive as some other Opeth efforts, this album still maintains their standard of incredible musicianship. This includes their amazing blend of different styles from the heavier Karma, April Ethereal all the way to the purely melodic beauties, which include the majestic Credence and the incredible closer Epilogue. Its hard to determine if their guitars have progressed musically, but I will say that I give them full marks because this CD contains many of their most hypnotizing riffs. The bass section of this album is quite average but their drumming does more than enough interesting fills and drum patterns to consider Opeth to have a formidable rhythm. It’s hard to choose standout tracks although I still stand by my comment about April Ethereal being one of their best. The prologue is beautiful, When is one of the more memorable MAYH tracks, Madrigal is a superb acoustic intro for The Amen Corner, which despite being one of the weaker songs, is still better than most. This brings us to Demon of the Fall which Mikael himself states is one of their more evil songs, one listen to the haunting intensity (melodies) and you’ll see why. Credence is without a doubt one their most beautiful acoustic songs. Karma mixes heaviness and beauty like no other Opeth song and Epilogue is an impressive closer and an excellent way to end one of their many masterpieces. Even if not their best work to date, it is still very well written and worth a good listen.

I gave this album many listenings, but I’m still not impressed by it. I’m a big fan of most of Opeth’s other albums, however this one doesn’t feel right. There is nothing dynamic about it other than a several shining moments here and there. Compared to the previous release, Morningrise, this is a huge difference. One reason could be to the departure of bassist Johan Defarfalla. I’m not sure who did bass on MAYH, but it really doesn’t matter; you can barely notice it anyways. The lack of memorable bass lines is a striking difference from their older material. If the riffs were outstanding, I wouldn’t mind the lack of bass as much, but even the guitar work seems stale.

As far as the songs go, each has at least one good moment in it. However, these great moments are surrounded by uninteresting material. For instance, Prologue could have been far better than it is now. I feel that it should have been an extended piano piece with the sound of rain falling in the background. Instead they chose to make it very short without any chance to create the proper atmosphere. It left me confused as to why they didn’t make it longer. April Ethereal as a nice opening riff, and part with the line
“. . the rain was waving goodbye . . .” is awesome. Demon of the Fall is probably the best track. It has distorted vocals in the beginning to make it sound more ‘demonic’ and the chorus, if you can call it that, is catchy.

These are all good parts, but as I said the stuff in between are not interesting enough to keep you listening all the way through. MAYH feels like a creative slump for the band, as if they decided just to write an average or generic album. Hell, the several acoustic passages here are nothing special either; it’s nowhere near the quality of the acoustic sections in Morningrise.

It’s not a terrible album, just a dull one. For the hardcore Opeth fan, it’s worth buying for the moments I described above. At least they redeemed themselves with the next release, Still Life.

Highs: Demon of the Fall; Some good moments occasionally.

Lows: Uninteresting bass; Not very exciting material.

Final Comment: My least favorite Opeth album, far more dull than it should have been.