Dom Lawson 

Opeth: Heritage – review

Even the prog-averse might be lured by Opeth's timeless take on the genre, suggests Dom Lawson
  
  


Sufficiently admired in the UK that they were able to pack out London's Royal Albert Hall in April 2010, Opeth have long been a potent antidote to the notion that prog rock and metal are genres bereft of substance. The Swedes' 10th album, Heritage, is a brave, melancholic and often beautiful heavy rock record that revels in the warm, analogue tones and shimmering mellotrons of the pre-punk 70s while still exuding a sense of wonder at new ideas. Band leader Mikael Åkerfeldt has confessed to a peevish rejection of the modern metal scene, but there is still plenty of rugged oomph amid the labyrinthine riffing of The Devil's Orchard and the Rainbow-like clatter of Slither. Although proudly mired in indulgence – Famine is a bewildering squall of crescendos, calms and rasping flutes; Folklore ends with an outrageous Gilmouresque guitar solo – this is both tasteful and timeless enough to lure in the prog-averse, too.

 

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