In my time of need (Opeth) (LP 3426 - 3429)

Opeth Damnation (CD, Music For Nations, 2003) *****  

Opeth Heritage (CD, Roadrunner Records, 2011) *****  

Opeth Pale Communion (CD, Roadrunner Records, 2014) ****  

Opeth Sorceress (CD, Nuclear Blast, 2016) ****  

Genre: Prog metal

Places I remember: Fives, Fopp, JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: In My Time Of Need (Damnation)

Gear costume: Chrysalis (Sorceress)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: Opeth started out as a death metal band from Sweden but have evolved into a prog metal band along the way. Although they are truly a band, the main man is very much Mikael Åkerfeldt. He composes the songs, sings them, and plays lead guitar.

I did have a few of their pre and post-Damnation albums, but I couldn't take the death-growling vocal style and flicked them off to Real Groovy.

So, we take up the story with Damnation. All the vocals are sung cleanly and it is all the better for it. Steven Wilson's influence is obvious (he produced this one) and Opeth are again all the better for it.

The sound is heavily influenced by seventies prog bands like Camel, King Crimson and Caravan. It's mellow, melancholy, deeply reflective numbers all feature melodic electric and acoustic guitars, with even some piano and lashings of Mellotron. Oh, hell yeah!!

The next purchase that I ended up keeping wasn't until Heritage - nearly ten years later. Again, the clean vocals were the single biggest reason for my returning to Opeth albums. That and the decidedly progressive nature of the album.

I especially like the embracing of piano, mellotron and Hammond organ on this album. The music reminds me of Deep Purple and Focus at times (high praise!).

The AllMusic review summed it well: Heritage, for its many excesses and sometimes blurry focus, is a brave album. It opens the door for Opeth to pursue many new directions and reinvent themselves as a band.

Pale Communion and Sorceress were their next albums, both continuing the prog rock leanings. On Pale Communion there are even harmonies applied to the vocals. On Sorceress the Black Sabbath/ Deep Purple influence is more obvious and it has heavier leanings that the other two albums (Jethro Tull are obvious on the previous two).

Where do they all belong? They've gone back to death growls on their latest album, although In Cauda Venenum (the 4th in their prog era) sounds like an album I need to find.