Burden

When talking about the Opeth, the word 'mediocrity' doesn't fit in well. This band started out as a Progressive metal band, heavily influenced by Swedish death. but now, after thirteen years of their first release, they have lost all of their previous touch.
Watershed turned out to be disaster, and Akerfeldt hasn't yet endeavored to mend his ways.

Well, I can't say much about Mellotron Heart. Since It happens to be an altered version of Porcelain heart performed on mellotron and mini-Moog synthesizers, how am I supposed to judge it? The Porcupine Tree influence is perceptible, no trace of anything that's remotely close to sounding like 'extreme progressive metal'. Slow and mellow, lasting for over five minutes - I would gladly invest this five minutes in order to listen to 'Death Whispered A Lullaby' . I wonder if there's any change in the Pitch and amplitude throughout this five and a half minutes. So if anyone could educate me about the genre of this particular track, I would be glad. :)

Burden, Radio Edit? I only listened to this track once and the only difference that I could notice is, this track's a few minutes shorter than its Watershed Version. And that's why , we have another EP that fails do justice to this band's image and productivity. So much for a few minutes.

Opeth covering Alice In Chains. Surprise , Surprise. Akerfeldt does justice to Layne Staley's vocals ( RIP), performing a pretty decent cover. Once again, I have a word or two about the length of this track. Although the lyrics have been shortened, the cover is actually 15 seconds longer than the original one. Well, Akefeldt covered the solo pretty accurately, adding up some of his touch. You would expect Opeth's version to be a bit faster and may be , a bit more aggressive but, hell, it's slower and gets worse with every passing second.

Yes, I am a big Opeth fan. But even though I hate to do this, I have to admit it that the band have had a jaded outlook in terms of music production since the release of Watershed. We don't have many wicked growls and evil riffs now-a-days. And the depth in lyrics have also dwindled. Try comparing Black Rose Immortal with any of the tracks in this EP. Sounds Weird, right? But Black Rose Immortal's what in my opinion, a track that denotes the sound of an extreme metal band, not EPs and singles like this. :)