Grapthar's Song of the Day: Opeth 'The Devil's Orchard'

grapthar (74)in #music • 6 years ago

Opeth - The Devil's Orchard

Opeth is a Swedish

prog. Metal band, formed in 1989. They have had a number of line up changes, with vocalist/songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt being the only one to survive each incarnation. Their early music is a lot heavier and more death-metal influenced, though over time they began to experiment with more singing (instead of various screams), and instrumentation that is very uncommon in modern metal. Clearly influenced by groups like Yes, they definitely have embraced some very proggy ideas, particularly in their guitar harmonies.

Listen to The Devil's Orchard by Opeth here.

This song is from their 2011

album Heritage, which is about as Proggy as anything they have ever done. They definitely embraced more of a throwback/'70s prog feeling, with melodic guitar lines instead of super heavily distorted chugging, keyboard solos, and really interesting harmonic ideas. This is the 2nd track on the album, and has some INCREDIBLE guitar tones, which they are able to replicate absolutely flawlessly live. The vocal lines are also amazing here, he has a serious range, and is able to utilize interesting scales and modal ideas to make the melodies much more interesting.