Review by Jeger on December 2, 2024.

Sweden's Opeth have enjoyed a storied career that has stylistically spanned a number of styles, from their early dark progressive metal days, through their progressive hippy metal phase all the way through til now, they've captivated audiences the world over since 1991. Their music has always transcended typical genre classifications. Is it black metal? Is it progressive psychedelic rock? Shit man, that's the sign of true genius - the ability to stand apart from every other extreme metal band, all the while as you appease fans of all genres. When frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt abandoned the daemonic growls of olde, Opeth fans were in a tizzy over it. Opeth had also ditched their bordering-on-black metal approach to songwriting and had chosen to venture into uncharted musical territories, which only broadened their already globe-spanning fan base. But the music has always stood as art to be admired and envied.

It's been five years since the release of Opeth's psychedelic In Cauda Venenum LP, and to say that fans are in dire need of a return to form would be an understatement. From everything I've heard about their latest opus, The Last Will & Testament, that's exactly what we're all in store for. Light the candles and fire up the hearth. Perhaps a nice brandy is in order, because this eve, we delve into Opeth's long-awaited new album.

You can feel the cold embrace of Opeth past here like the frigid touch of the Reaper himself. Shades of Deliverance and Ghost Reveries eras of the band are cast like shadows upon mausoleum walls. Maddening yet elegant, ghostly yet brutal and just what nearly every fan of this band has been yearning for years. All eras of the band are steeped in greatness, but there was just something about the olde days. With The Last Will & Testament, you'll experience a synergy of styles past and present: dramatic cleans, playful instrumentation, impossibly dark and menacingly brut. Mikael's gutturals, like a vintage stored at just the right climate, are poured over you as sweet as candy to your ears and preceded/followed by sinister soliloquies that set a most baleful tone.

Pristinely engineered and layered beautifully - a textured sonic tapestry with many shades of colour yet blackened as charcoal - smoky yet rich and fulfilling like your favorite dish. Mikael just shines the whole way through and plenty are those telltale passages from back in the day: intrepid bass lines, bewilderingly heavy riffs and hard-snapping cadences. Just an air of olde timey elegance to it all like a grande Ball held in celebration of the darkness and of death; a macabre masquerade of epic proportions set to music of the most astonishing consort. Sickness and curses prevail as the sands run through the hourglass of your mortal season in this the great reckoning of hearts. Jazzy during some parts and groovy during others, and is that a flute I hear? The highest plateaus of creativity scaled. Opeth resting at an Olympian vantage o'er the prog scene with authoritative austerity.

The Last Will & Testament represents everything Opeth does well and delivers element upon element of every stylistic front that has defined their entire career thus far. A record for the true Opeth diehard and a testament to artistic maturation on an impossible-to-traverse scale. Psychedelic parts fit for the Lizard King unfurling into "Master's Apprentices" - level brutality and so much in between. Opeth went for the jugular here and the crimson is flowing like a river - streaming o'er us like a sacred baptism. Percussion? What a delight and what an intricate foundation lain for all other phases. Just so much going on yet nothing lost to gaudiness or pretentiousness. From top to bottom, a record to be remembered by.

A new era for Opeth is upon us! Or is this a one-time revisitation? Who cares! You'll be listening to The Last Will & Testament for years to come. A journey through the annals of time and through the pathway of your own mortality awaits. A blessed union of olde and new, and ackaged beautifully as always in stunning cover art. In a class of their own are Opeth and an unfair standard has been set. Album of the year type stuff. Let the fanfare commence! You're going to love this one. I guarantee it…

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Alex Grindor on November 25, 2024.

Opeth is a band that at this point needs zero introduction, but I'll do one anyway. The Swedish prog legends were renowned due to their unique mix of death metal devilry and soothing progressive rock segments, shifting and entwining both of them to their whim, without feeling forced in any way. This formula was pretty much unique to them and they kept going with it for many years. Watershed, released in 2008, was the last album to feature this formula, as it was evident that the band was moving into more prog territory from earlier albums, and it was more than notorious here, with a bigger emphasis on clean vocals and a somewhat more subdued approach that, nevertheless, was still Opeth.

Heritage, the follow-up, saw Opeth discarding the entirety of the death metal elements, with the band going full prog metal. This creative choice was met with quite some disapproval at the time, but the decision was final. Later releases were in line with this choice, and while there were still some embers of the sound of yore, the band embraced a more 70's prog-rock approach that still was good, but left many fans disappointed with many stating that "Opeth doesn't sound like Opeth anymore".

And it was so for 16 years. It was assumed that Åkerfeldt and company would not return to their former sound. And while Mikael never fully stated that he was "done" with doing death growls, it was no longer a topic of discussion. Opeth moved on, and many of the faithful moved on with them. And so, when The Last Will And Testament was announced, everyone (myself included) presumed that it would be one more excellent prog release from Opeth... until "§1" was released. Not only did we get a song reminiscent of the "Watershed" era, but the growls were back, baby! The moment many of us wanted was here. Åkerfeldt's vocals returned and this was just a taste of what was to come. This was just the beginning of The Last Will And Testament. I don't think it is hyperbole to state that this was the most anticipated album of the year. And it does not disappoint... at least, not entirely.

From start to finish, this is still the Opeth that fully embraced the 70's prog-rock sound, but now in a darker, claustrophobic shade. The reincorporation of the extreme vocals and approach was made while tinkering very little with the new essence of the band. While there are exquisite moments of brutality and fiendish riffs, it never strays too far from what Opeth is now. The overall sound of the album serves as a reminder of this, yet barely needs any discussion. They sound as good as ever, with constant shifts in tempo, mood and rhythms. It is as groovy as it can be demolishing, as suffocating as it can be soothing. It is a joy to listen to. The guitars and synths complement each other, and drift between discordant darkness and hopeful serenity, with many solos to be found (check the synth solo in §6). The bass oscillates around the guitars while never losing any sense of cohesion. The drums, which are played by the relatively newest addition to the band, Waltteri Väyrynen, are executed flawlessly and pack quite a punch at moments.

While every member executes their role perfectly, with no noticeable flaws, I think it is time to discuss the biggest element to return to Opeth: the growls.

Back in 2008, Åkerfeldt's vocals were showing some sings of decline that only accentuated in the following years (the worst offender being Bloodbath Over Bloodstock), which would eventually lead him to stop doing harsh vocals entirely, at least in the studio. Anyone that attended any Opeth live show since Heritage's release can attest that his harsh vocals had lost significant power and depth, so the choice was understandable. It wasn't until very recently that his harsh vocals recovered some of their former glory. Since Heritage, Åkerfeldt's clean vocals have shown an outstanding progress, even more so in the last few years, and he unleashes every flavor possible in this new album. Falsetto, Vibrato, harmonies, everything is here. His growls have recovered some more depth and resemble his work back in 2008 with Watershed and Fathomless Mastery, perhaps even a bit more energetic. And unlike the aforementioned Opeth album, the vocals are more evenly distributed here. However, I do have some issues with the record as a whole...

First of all, as I stated before, Opeth is now a prog-rock band and have been so for the last decade. While the old formula is back, the old sound as a whole is not. It lacks bite and weight. Make no mistake, The Last Will And Testament is heavy, just not as heavy as many expected it to be. Second, the closing track 'A Story Never Told' feels an underwhelming closure to the album and the story it presents. It is beautiful and a bit mournful, but it barely holds a candle to other album closers like 'White Cluster' or 'Hex Omega'. Then again, Opeth is not that way anymore. Third, and the worst offender by far, the hideous visualizers for §1 and §4. The cheap AI images may be disguised in flashy effects and transitions, but they are still noticeable. While this is something more and more common nowadays and slowly making its way into a semblance of acceptance, it is a shame that a band of this caliber would take the cheap route for a couple of videos, maybe even their Single's artwork.

The Last Will And Testament marks Opeth's return to the dark familiar soundscapes of their early repute, while showing quite the restraint to embrace it. I have constantly compared this album to Watershed, their last album with extreme elements from 2008. And I have done so as it is the most thematically similar, but also because this was (at the time) the weakest album they had released of that era. And if the weakest of their early repute can kick the shit out of what is essentially the comeback everyone wanted, then it means Opeth is still some steps away from achieving a full return to form. But they are now, with some odd choices, on the right path.

Opeth's new album serves a double purpose: to retread their previous path in a different manner (very successfully) and to introduce their newer fans to their former repute and renown brutality and duality in a more accessible way. The Last Will And Testament is the sound of a new era for this band, one that hopefully continues to improve in the future and deliver more masterpieces like §1, §2 and §6. If you are a longtime fan, chances are you already enjoyed this work, but if by any chance you still haven't, give yourself the time to listen to The Last Will And Testament. It is a trip worth taking.

Rating: 9.6 out of 10