Morningrise [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Opeth

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 17, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued
• Label: Candlelight
• ASIN: B00009W8MF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #79,606 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

2003 reissue of 1996 album includes the bonus track 'Eternal Soul Torture'. Impeccable musicianship and memorable lyrics. Guitar World calls them 'Metal's most brilliant band'. 6 tracks. Candlelight.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morningrise Returns..., July 31, 2003

By	Nicholas Alla Koholick "anonymousnick2001" - See all my reviews

Much like my other Opeth reviews, I have to say that listening to an album of this caliber and then attempting to convey the feelings it arouses in the form of words is both foolish and futile. Nothing can prepare you for Opeth. Although the band has attracted its share of detractors now, I must say that any music listener with an open mind and long attention span should find hours of perplexing enjoyment here. Those who fail to understand, power to ya, but don't pollute this website with tasteless reviews on why you hate Opeth.

Morningrise is different from every other Opeth album. Each has its own appeal, something you look for as you're listening. With My Arms, Your Hearse it is the aggression and heavy riffs that I search for as I listen. With Still Life I listen for the enchanting vocal performance given by Mikael Akerfeldt. Blackwater Park has everything. Aggression, melody, awesome growling, awesome singing, beautiful acoustics, sweet riffs, and progressive song lengths. On here it is just the riffs. Oh, the riffs. And the twin guitar melodies. Amazing. The lyrics pale in comparison to future albums', although they are still good, and Akerfeldt has a different style of singing here. It's more of a black-metallish high shriek than the deep inhuman growl of late, and his clean vocal performance is less catchy and haunting. Therefore the guitar leads and segues into acoustic dreamland are what I look forward to when sitting back to this eclectic journey of a CD. The mood given by the amazing guitar lines on Morningrise make it my favorite, with Blackwater Park a close second.

Morningrise is also the least 'metal' of all their albums. When compared to MAYH or Deliverance, it is very soft. While those make Pantera and At the Gates sound light, Morningrise is like a heavy thrash album. The riffs do not reverberate in your skull like the opening to "Bleak," or "Godhead's Lament," or "When." They glide soothing over you, flowing in an ambient manner, rather than a percussive one. The song lengths are also unbelievable. There are five songs here, the average length 13 minutes or so, the longest being "Black Rose Immortal," at a Dream Theater-esque 20 minutes! An epic album in all proportions.

"Advent" kicks the album off with a short acoustic beginning and following with a 12-minute rollercoaster of double-bass drums and awesome riff after awesome riff, balanced with the needed, yet arbitrary acoustic interludes spicing up the mix. "The Night and the Silent Water" is a much more laid-back track, with less aggression, clocking at about 11 minutes. "Nectar" is another piledriver, this time with Medieval-sounding riffs similar to In Flames. "Black Rose Immortal" is the epic, which feels 8 minutes long at most. "To Bid You Farewell" is a largely jazzy-acoustic/clean vocals all through piece, with a bit of electric guitar finishing it off.

Opeth are beyond death metal. The incorporation of acoustic guitar is what makes them sound so classical. Many people compare bands like Suffocation or Emperor to the likes of Beethoven and Mozart. That's not accurate. Here's the real statement:

If Beethoven, Mozart, Grieg, and Mahler were transported to the present and were forced to form a rock band together, it would sound something like Opeth's Morningrise.

***This is a reissue, containing the bonus track "Eternal Soul Torture," a rough, poorly produced demo that was later cut up and used for the other songs. It sort of throws off the album's mood, but whatever.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Opeth's masterpiece., August 1, 2006

By	Herodotos Economides "Bereft" (Limassol, N/A Cyprus) - See all my reviews

If Opeth had released only this album they'd still be one of the best bands around(maybe even better...). I'm just going to say that this album goes just beyond anything this band has ever released and I really don't think they'll ever top this one (this is maybe the reason that I judge them so hard). Musicaly this album has it all. Very long songs which build around compositions which seem to have their basis on death metal but also include acoustic guitars, folk parts at some parts and the occasional clean vocals by singer Mikael Akerfeldt who has one of the best voices around, be it clean or brutal vocals. One of the highlights of this album is without doubt the 20 minute opus "Black Rose Immortal" which is one of their best songs. It's very hard to find a weak moment on this album which makes me believe there isn't any. Highest ever possible Opeth recommendation.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliance. Pure Brilliance., February 9, 2007

By	D. R. Cromwell "SeventhSeal17" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

While "Morningrise' is not near as well produced as the later albums would be, this is far more genuine. Their sound has changed so much since the days of 'Orchid' and 'Morningrise' that I can say, without a doubt, Opeth will never reach as high as they did here.

Later albums such as 'Blackwater Park' and 'Ghost Reveries' would lean more to the progressive side of metal (which is perfectly fine), but their earlier albums had a much more primal feel to them. The guitar lines were more prominent (and absolutely jaw-dropping) over-shadowing the bass and drums just enough to avoid sounding muddy.

Vocals are quite different then on the later albums, too. The growl isn't as deep and sounds almost Black Metalesque in comparison...a good kind of Black Metalesque. The thing with 'Morningrise' is that the whole is far greater then the sum of it's parts, and the picture on the front very astutely matches the over-arching tone of the album. Very fine artwork indeed.

For some seriously awesome riffs be sure to check out the opening theme riff to 'Night and the Silent Water' and really anything from the mid-section of 'Black Rose Immortal'.

Visceral, technical, and enduring...this one is a keeper. One of metal's all-time best.