Opeth – Heritage
Roadrunner Records 2011
There was a time when calling Opeth progressive death metal seemed like a neat and tidy way to sum up their varied career. When it comes to “Heritage” however, the latter half of that genre tag no longer applies.
For as the title seems to suggest, “Heritage” feels like a tribute to the bands more cultured and seminal influences. It’s certainly an album that finds the group blasting off on a spacey prog rock-led odyssey. But in order to reach orbit they’ve jettisoned the majority, if not all, of their blackened death metal hallmarks.
Thankfully 2011′s “Cold Lake” this is not (we did already have “Illud Divinum Insanus” after all.) But it does find the band on a course many of their fans would not have expected.
At its core “Heritage” comes off like a loving, if not somewhat selfish, homage. One that pays endless tribute to the prog and psych rock bands that helped to define a musical generation over three decades ago. Truly its whirring collage of fusion, meaty prog rock hooks and psyche groove speak from a different era. This in itself is a touching gesture, but not one endearing enough to forgive the albums continually stunted momentum.
Repeatedly the effort is bogged down by ethereal folky tenderness and depressive melancholy. Sure the songs here are beautifully played, but they have little in the way of structure, if not drive as well. Ultimately far too much of “Heritage” unfolds like a listless collection of drawn out jam sessions. Yes, there are some majestic chops and moments of near aural hypnotism afoot.
But rarely does any of if congeal into anything that the listener can digest. Music as artistic expression is certainly fine, but the lack of momentum found on the lion’s share of this offering just makes it far too esoteric to retain.
That’s not to say it entirely meanders. There is the intricate groove laden boogie of “The Devil’s Orchard” (and to a lesser extent “The Lines In My Hand“.) But that aside little else but dramatic noodling and sweeping aural despondency is served up.
Don’t get me wrong, Opeth have certainly earned and deserve their cult status. But it’s a stretch to see “Heritage” as being anywhere near a crucial addition to their already excellent back catalogue.
- USER RATING
- ( 20 votes, 3.25 stars )
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COMMENTS
A flawed Opeth album is better than the best album in almost any other band’s catalog. I actually love this record the more I listen to it.
Saw them tonight. Played about 4 or 5 songs off this and wide array of mellow stuff from their other albums (including Patterns In The Ivy II!). The new stuff sounded amazing, even better than the album.
great band bottom line! i dont know why people even continue to pick this band apart and review them, they are unique and will always operate on a more diverse musical plateau every album is exciting and every transition is refreshing, OPETH!!!!
3/5 stars, not enough breakdowns
That’s hilarious hahahahaha nice
Very different vibe from Opeth and I agree with the review – there are only a handful of memorable tracks with the rest failing to live up to the always lofty expectations. Still, on the whole, the record is great but just not on par with Ghost Reveries or Watershed.
Rad cd, a bit of a surprise that they just totally ignored their death/black metal roots. But I love how they don’t really give a fuck about ‘sticking to their roots’ cause that’s exactly why a lot of bands start sounding redundant and boring. I love the evolution of this band- I don’t think they can even produce bad music because they’re brilliant musicians. Good cd, Opeth rocks.
This is the direction the band has been hinting at for years.
i think i’m honestly more impressed by wook’s usage of terms like “congeal” and “aural despondency”
Oral despondency’s better.
A lap dance is always better when the stripper’s crying.
HAHA!… fuck
Definitely gotta go to the internet to get a fair review of this album… there’s not a magazine in print that would shit on an Opeth record if it was a remix album of Mikael’s farts.
This album is terrible. Wanna try new stuff? Cool, I get it. Uninspired by death-ier shit? Cool, you’re a grown man and an established musician… I get it. But what we have with Heritage is a band focusing on trying NOT to write a metal record instead of just trying to write a good record. Heritage is the most pretentious shit I’ve ever heard in my life.
It’s a 70s-inspired prog rock jazz album. Call it pretentious all you will, the atmosphere of the entire thing is incredible as well as some of the individual performances. Pretentious is far from up my alley (see last 3 Tool albums) and I think this is a phenomenal record.
Tool shits all over Opeth
This is where preference really comes into play, and what an artist does is his own business. But, for the sake of the name and the fanbase, intentions like making a strictly “70′s inspired prog rock jazz album” may have been more fittingly released under Mikael’s own name, or maybe something different. But this was released as an Opeth album. I’ve been into this band since My Arms, Your Hearse, and I’ve followed them with every release. But this is just too far away from what Opeth means to me. In the end, it’s really about what Opeth means to Opeth, and I applaud them for that as an individual and as a musician. But as a fan and a dude in general, I drop ‘bows on this shit.
When was the last time an Opeth album had filler, much less have an entire second half (30+ mins) of filler (Lateralus)? 10,000 Days isn’t far behind in that department.
Disposition/Reflection/Triad is not “filler.”
As far as Opeth goes, my favorite album, by far, is Damnation. And I immediately liked this one because I am not a fan of his death growls. I like his singing voice much better and wish he’d stick to this. I gave it 5/5 stars because it was the album I had been hoping for. My opinion.
It’s a good album but “Unto the Locust” by Machine head is a masterpiece, it blows this out of the park, I just love that album a lot, but going back on topic I’m satisfied with my purchase of this album.
Seriously why hasn’t there been a review of Unto the Locust yet?!? I don’t even know when records come out anymore but I stole this one WEEKS before I stole Unto the Locust so where we at here? I guess it’s kind of pointless, in a way, I haven’t heard anyone say anything bad about Locust yet, but you could always take a fat shit all over it just to be the guy that did, resulting in hundreds of new users registering in order to faithfully protect the good name of Machine Head with sophomoric insults and vague retorts.
Oh, and this album gets two stars from me. Watershed was fresh air, this is an Opethian abortion.
I wanna have your Opethian abortion.
Not the biggest fan of “Unto the Locust”. Not saying that to be different, I was excited to buy it until I sampled the whole thing a week before release date.
I don’t really understand why everyone hates this album so much? Especially since alot of the people bashing it around the internet say they would love it if it was a solo record. Yeah, it’s different for Opeth, but so was Damnation and people love that. 5/5 expand your boundaries.
there is no way in hell it deserves a 5/5, I understand you think it’s a good album but a 5/5 is to much of a stretch, it’s as if you’re saying that it deserves a 5/5 cuz it’s different… Does “The View” deserve a 5/5 cuz it’s different? I understand that a band is doing something different but when something sucks it sucks.
The problem isn’t that it’s different – I’d definitely say this should be released under the Opeth name. The problem is that it’s a very poorly executed ’70s Swedish prog knockoff. I’ve heard way too many albums in this style which were done much better, and this is coming from an Opeth fanboy.
Legitimately interested in this…care to share some worthwhile ones?
for modern takes on this sound, try anglagard, anekdoten, and guapo for starters
to see the roots in ’70s music, try Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Camel, Caravan, Comus
for Slither, check out Rainbow
for the fusiony bit in Nepenthe, check out Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Tony Williams Lifetime, ’70s Miles Davis + Herbie Hancock
Heritage is basically an inferior knockoff of all of this stuff
So much better than the shitty death metal growls. Damnation is by far my favorite, I really appreciate the new one too.
Damnation is pretty great. Windowpane’s one of my faves on there.
Damnation is my favorite Opeth album. This one is pretty decent. They have such a huge catalogue of music, they can go in any direction they choose. Still a fan.
After several listens, I dig it. Good record to chill out to. I’d give it 3.5/5 but alas, ’tis impossible. 3/5 it is.
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