Opeth - Sorceress

The diverse array of tones, emotions, and sounds matches what we've come to expect from Akerfeldt. The heavy moments are still strong, still as powerful as ever for Opeth, but implemented more sparingly than ever before. The title track is a great example of the heaviness serving its purpose as one of numerous engines driving the larger machine, with all of the motors humming in sync on a blissful journey toward a magnificent destination. The guitars on the first "Sorceress" song chug a percussive rhythm on the deeply-tuned-down muted low string, punctuated by shining, fleeting, crackling chords, like flashes of lightning.

The album's opening and closing tracks, ‘Persephone’ and ‘Persephone (Slight Return)’, bookmark the tone with an alluring, complex blend of Classical and 70s folk guitar on metal strings, evoking Andres Segovia as much as Stanley Myers's "Cavatina" (best known as the theme from The Deer Hunter film). Many of these lovely passages sound like they could have been co-written by Tony Iommi. There are also plenty of pretty piano sections, and even a lively-but-subdued harpsichord in "A Fleeting Glance," but nothing quite as widely-utilized as the plucked, strummed, and picked acoustic guitars, which are possibly even more prevalent than the heavy distorted electrics.

Three albums into their Prog-primary era, Opeth have served up three different Prog flavors with each album. Where "Pale Communion" stood triumphantly on the shoulders of "Heritage", I think it's safe to say that "Sorceress" has climbed even higher than its two predecessors. The noodliness of the prior two is more assured, strategic, and well-used here. The analog-like warmth of the production, the song structures, album artwork, (hell - - even Akerfeldt's look), all betray a studious devotee's paean for the 70s. Not the 70s as a whole. There's no trace of Barry Gibb, Donald Fagen, Richard Nixon, Chevy Chase, Jim Henson, or Johnny Rotten - - just the headier stuff, more along the lines of Camel, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath's undistorted stuff. Yes, Alice Cooper, Mason Williams, and maybe folkies like Nick Drake and Simon & Garfunkel, at their deepest and most philosophical moments.

Fredrik Åkesson's lead guitar playing was always inspired and creative during his time with Arch Enemy, but that was a much heavier band and sound than what he's a part of here in Twenty teens Opeth. No worries - - he's risen to and surpassed the challenge. It's possible that his playing has never sounded better. Ditto for Mikael Akerfeldt. And there's no doubt that Mikael's voice has continued to sound better and better, through the years. The emotion and grit in his all-clean singing is one of the major reasons why these songs are such victories, and why "Sorceress" is such an artistic success. History will recall this as one of Opeth's finest hours, and one of the very best releases of 2016.