Justin Lohman

This album is superb. The opening song is so good. I love the melody Akerfeldt sings and how the woman sings the harmony melody yet both voices never meet. Brilliant. I could go on and on about the rest of the songs but I’ll cut it short by just saying every song is well written, a sonic roller coaster and has enough darkness and light to keep you feeling good and evil throughout as you listen. I can not speak as highly about any other Opeth record as I do with this one and I’ve been a fan of the band for a couple decades. Damnation and Ghost Reveries are close but this is the pinnacle in my humble opinion. 5/5

Not great. I really had high hopes too. Don’t be fooled by the return to growls. Not even close to Watershed, Blackwater Park or Ghost Reveries. I was hoping for a cross between Damnation and something I mentioned above but it sounds like a cacophony of Heritage style songs w/o titles, a bunch of incohesive non-sense, exception being song 1. The last song is quite good too. Basically, good bookending songs on this but that’s about it. There will be plenty who disagree with me yet I’m confident that this album is not worth writing home to your mother about; meandering non-sense throughout. It can be put into the grouping of sub-par releases like Heritage, Pale Communion, Sorceress and In Cauda whatever the hell that record is called. 3/5