Still Life (Opeth album)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Still Life | ||
 |
||
| Studio album by Opeth | ||
| Released | 18 October 1999 | |
| Recorded | 15 April-29 May 1999 | |
| Genre | Progressive death metal | |
| Length | 62:31 | |
| Label | Peaceville/Snapper | |
| Producer(s) | Fredrik Nordström | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opeth chronology | ||
| My Arms, Your Hearse (1998) |
Still Life (1999) |
Blackwater Park (2001) |
Still Life is the fourth studio album from Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. Still Life was recorded at Maestro Musik and at Fredman Studios during the 15th of April and the 29th of May, 1999. The album was produced and Engineered by Opeth. Sound setting and additional engineering by Fredrik Nordström and Isak Edh. The album was mastered at The Mastering Room by Göran Finnberg. The inner booklet was designed by Travis Smith and Opeth with the photography being produced by Harry Välimäki and Travis Smith.
Prior to the release of Blackwater Park in 2001, Still Life was the band's most commercially successful album[citation needed]. Like most of the band's albums, Still Life features the unusual marriage of death metal and progressive rock elements that helps differentiate Opeth from their musical peers.
On this album, vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt's death metal vocals began to deepen considerably relative to the style that had been used on the band's earlier albums. Still Life continues the band's experimentation with the dynamics of their songs. Still Life is often considered Opeth's most technical album from a guitar standpoint, especially with its many complicated acoustic guitar passages.
The song "Benighted" is its only acoustic track, containing a jazz-influenced guitar solo. This is also one of the band's few songs that follow a linear song structure, containing verses and a chorus. "Face of Melinda" is considered to be a fairly soft song for Opeth, and while it does not contain death metal vocals, it does contain guitar riffs that are typical of the band's heavier songs. A fretless bass guitar was used in "Face of Melinda" to give it a jazzier sound. The band looks to the song with a certain fondness and considers it their ballad.
This album was the band's first to be recorded with Martin Mendez, who has continued to be the band's bass player. Although he had joined the band prior to the release of My Arms, Your Hearse, he had not had enough time to contribute any bass lines to the recording. This lineup is considered to be the classic Opeth lineup.
The album was released in Europe under the Peaceville/Snapper label in 1999. Due to US label problems, the album was not released in America until February 27, 2001.
Contents |
[edit] Concept
Like its predecessor, My Arms, Your Hearse, Still Life is a concept album. The entire story is in first person, told by an outcast whose name is never revealed. He returned to his hometown for his love, Melinda, fifteen years after being banished. He convinced Melinda to run away with him, if only for one night. The Council of the Cross finds them, takes Melinda and cuts her throat. In blind rage, he kills as many of the townspeople as he can before they pull him down. He is hanged, and sees Melinda waiting for him as he dies.
"The Moor" tells that he was shunned by the town because he was an "ungodly freak - defiler", and he was "branded a Jonah with fevered blood," meaning that he is someone thought to bring bad luck. Almost everyone in the town looked down on him and shunned him completely. He is full of bitterness and spite upon his return, opening himself to Melinda and Melinda alone.
"Godhead's Lament" finds the outcast attempting to conceal his return. He contemplates the consequences, considering leaving for safety's sake, but does not due to his love for Melinda. He watches her from afar, as her face helps him keep his sanity.
"Benighted" reads like a love letter, basically an unspoken ode to Melinda. The outcast tries to convince her to come with him because he loves her. He suggests that she has been lied to and controlled through her fright.
"Moonlapse Vertigo" is a reminder that the people of the town would kill him if they realized he was there. The song references the Council of the Cross, the power in this town, who openly show scorn for the disgraced and the poor. He realizes that he has no time left to flee from the town and decides to test Melinda at last, knowing that she could redeem him in his own eyes.
"Face of Melinda" paints the black-haired lady as a quiet, brooding creature as he approaches her. After his failure to court her, she was sworn to the life of a nun, however, he does not give up, plotting to have her back to fill his emptiness. He is disheartened, but tells her about what he risked to return to her. She tells him of her own moral failings, but surprises even herself when she tells him that she still loves him. The song ends with a grim clue of what's to come - "and baffled herself with the final line - 'my promise is made but my heart is thine'", implying these are Melinda's very final words.
"Serenity Painted Death" begins when the outcast awakens to find Melinda has been taken and her throat cut. In an outburst of all of the pain and rage he had pent up, he loses his mind and kills as many people as he can before he collapses in total exhaustion. When he regains control over his mind, the Council of the Cross is there to take him.
"White Cluster" starts as the outcast is about to be executed. They have him repent for his sins before he dies, though he still loathes them all. They wear white for him on his execution day, seeing him as a lost soul. The hangman approaches him and ties the noose, allowing him a moment of reflection before he is hanged. As he dies, he sees that the dead Melinda has been standing right behind him in the entire time, her arms outstretched for him.
[edit] Track listing
- "The Moor" – 11:28
- "Godhead's Lament" – 9:47
- "Benighted" – 5:01
- "Moonlapse Vertigo" – 9:00
- "Face of Melinda" – 7:59
- "Serenity Painted Death" – 9:14
- "White Cluster" – 10:02
[edit] Credits
- Mikael Åkerfeldt - Vocals, Guitar
- Peter Lindgren - Guitar
- Martin Mendez - Bass
- Martin Lopez - Drums
[edit] External links
| Opeth |
| Mikael Åkerfeldt | Peter Lindgren | Martin Mendez | Martin Axenrot | Per Wiberg |
| David Isberg | Andreas Dimeo | Kim Pettersson | Johan DeFarfalla | Stefan Guteklint | Mattias Ander | Nick Döring | Anders Nordin | Martin Lopez |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio Albums: Orchid | Morningrise | My Arms, Your Hearse | Still Life | Blackwater Park | Deliverance | Damnation | Ghost Reveries |
| Singles: The Drapery Falls | Still Day Beneath the Sun | The Grand Conjuration |
| Live Albums: Lamentations |
