Opeth - Damnation

Damnation is the seventh studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth, originally released in April 2003 via Koch Records in the US and Music For Nations in Europe.

Damnation is easily the most radical departure of Opeth's career. The companion piece to the previous year's Deliverance set, to which it was originally inextricably married (before record company marketing men got their dirty little hands on them), the album is the first to explore the group's non-heavy metal-based songwriting both at length and exclusively.

Since all of Opeth's previous outings were specifically conceived for the express purpose of contrasting heavy and light, violent and delicate, black and white, such a uniform presentation would already be surprising enough, but perhaps even more astounding is the realisation that Damnation can't even be termed a heavy metal album. This is because, except for very brief moments in the excellent "Closure", not a distorted power guitar chord, not a pounding bass drum, not a growled death vocal is to be found here - only mellow, melancholy, deeply reflective numbers boasting melodic electric and acoustic guitars, the odd bit of piano and Mellotron), and background string arrangements.

Alluringly mournful tracks like "Windowpane", "Death Whispered A Lullaby", "Hope Leaves", and "Ending Credits" are at once complex and supple. Relatively of short length by Opeth standards, they often resemble the short musical interludes separating the band's prevalent explosions of black metal fury and progressive rock excursions.

Laid out in unnaturally fluid sequence here, these songs obviously fail to provide the striking, surprise-filled experience that long-time Opeth fans had grown accustomed to, but once the novelty sinks in, Damnation will be recognised for the finely executed if unique chapter it represents. In fact, even traditional rock fans with no interest in heavy metal whatsoever are likely to appreciate Damnation for its beautifully assembled, reliably high-calibre songwriting - it's that good.

Opeth has been able to so effectively and beautifully combine their love of '70s prog-rock with their love of metal, that there really is no accurate genre label to dump them in; it is simply Opeth and Damnation is simply a marvel.

This album is a 20^th Anniversary Edition on 180 gram heavyweight black vinyl housed in a single pocket sleeve with a printed inner sleeve, pressed in Europe via Music For Nations.