Global Domination | Reviews | Opeth: Damnation

Recent updates

Recent discussions

Reviews

Opeth: Damnation

21/08/08 || Daemonomania

So we all know that Opeth wanted to release this album full of pretty little acoustic numbers with their more metallic material on “Deliverance” as one album. No surprise, really, as “Deliverance” is a pretty harsh record (for Opeth) and they love to do things half soft/half hard, kind of like me in bed with your mother after a few drinks. But the record label had their way and the two were released separately. “Damnation,” full of prog-rocky kiss a dude type tunes was left to stand alone. And does it stand tall?

Yes and no seems to be the answer. Let’s just start by reinforcing the fact that there is NO METAL on here at all. It would pass through airport security with zero difficulty. If you were looking for a soundtrack to smoking opium and cuddling a puppy – great success. If you are looking for some tunes to snap your neck to whilst chugging cheap beer and shitting your pants, look away, look away, look away Dixie land.

Without the dynamics, the growls, the double bass, and the startling transitions Opeth’s tendency to wander comes to the forefront. The catchy choruses and vocal patterns save songs like “To rid the disease” from just meandering right off the cliff into the great chasm of boredom. In fact, I’d say Mike A’s happy little voice pretty much builds a fence right on the edge of that cliff for the whole damn(ationed) disc.

Not that everyone else isn’t in fine form, mind you, and there’s commendable, restrained playing from the rest of the ‘peth crew throughout. Just fine, not outstanding. It all sort of happens and then it is over. I’d say “Death whispered a lullaby” with lyrics by none other than former band-controlling nonmember Steve Wilson is overtly memorable. As is the chorus to “In my time of need.” The album does a great job of creating a rainy-day-alone-by-yourself-and-where-the-fuck-is-my-opium-and-my-motherfucking-puppies atmosphere. I would recommend indulging in everyone’s favorite smokeable plant, putting on some headphones, and wandering out into the wilderness with this baby on high volume. It will probably be the single most profound experience of your life. If you’re an asshole.

Have I been a bit too harsh? Maybe so. There’s nothing to actively dislike on “Damnation,” but there’s nothing I am going to mate with anytime soon either. Think Pink Floyd but with better vocals and fewer psychedelic drugs. Is LSD hard to get in Sweden? That might explain why there isn’t much freaking out on “Damnation,” and why the lyrics to these songs continue to get more and more clichéd. For every, “as I’ve come clean I’ve forgotten what I promised/ in the rays of the sun I am longing for the darkness,” there’s a, “I’m not afraid of what you have just done/ but of what you’ve just become.” Come the fuck on now, guys. It’s not at AC/DC “Giving the dog a bone” caliber, but it is getting close. Not that I’m insulting AC/DC mind you, and the aforementioned song may be the best about tonsil spearing ever written.

As background music, “Damnation” would get a perfect score. But as an engaging, ball-grabbing musical extravaganza, I’ll have to give it a pleasant but not really very low or very high score of 6 out of 10.

There’s some phrase out there about faint praise really being damnation, and if I were smarter I’d know what that phrase is.

Information
Released: 2003
Label: Music For Nations
Website: www.opeth.com
Band
Mikael Åkerfeldt: vocals, guitar
Martin Mendez: bass
Martin Lopez: drums
Peter Lindgren: guitars

Tracklist
01. Windowpane
02. In My Time of Need
03. Death Whispered a Lullaby
04. Closure (of my favorite department store)
05. Hope Leaves
06. To Rid the Disease
07. Ending Credits
08. Weakness

Reviews