Opeth Rank álbuns

When Opeth came along, midway through the 1990s, the Swedish death metal scene was arguably enjoying the height of public awareness, as were original champions of the sound like Entombed, Unleashed, Tiamat and Dismember (from the capital of Stockholm), In Flames, Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates (from Gothenburg), Grave, Edge of Sanity and …well you get the picture.


However, those who had followed Sweden’s unlikely rise to global death metal prominence over the decade’s first half knew constant change and evolution were needed to ensure its ongoing vitality, and this is precisely what Opeth delivered -- via a bold new sound prizing extreme disparities of heavy and light, often drawn-out to eight-to-ten-minute songs, or “movements” as band leader Mikael Akerfeldt called them.




This proclivity for epic songwriting arose from Akerfeldt’s passion for ‘70s progressive rock, and took shape over Opeth’s first two LPs, 1995’s Orchid and ‘96’s Morningrise, with the help of like-minded producer Dan Swano (ex-Edge of Sanity), both hailed as groundbreaking efforts by the death metal intelligentsia.


But it took Swano’s departure and the band’s near-collapse prior to the recording of 1998’s My Arms Your Hearse for Opeth to realize they still had a lot to prove, to the world and to themselves. So it was that a solid lineup of Akerfeldt (vocals and guitar), Peter Lindgren (guitar), Martin Mendez (bass) and Martin Lopez (drums) meshed their talents to perfection on a string of landmark albums between 1999’s Still Life and 2005’s Ghost Reveries.


Come time for the latter LP, Opeth had gained true international recognition, well beyond the heavy metal, never mind the even more limited death metal marketplace. But, rather than encouraging Akerfeldt to sit on his laurels, this success challenged him to keep on maturing his band’s music, and in recent years Opeth has traveled the brave new world of genuine progressive rock, where heavy metal appears merely in the details.


These efforts, too, have gained far more supporters than detractors, so we can only wonder what lies ahead for Opeth, because there’s no doubt they will continue to evolve. So join us in reviewing the band’s evolution thus far as you scroll through this gallery of Opeth album rankings!


Opeth Albums Ranked



Opeth Albums Ranked


Roadrunner / Moderbolaget Records / Candlelight / Century Black / Koch / Music for nations / Peaceville
Opeth Albums Ranked
Scroll through the gallery to see how we ranked Opeth's albums from weakest to strongest.

12. 'Heritage' (2011)


Roadrunner
12. 'Heritage' (2011)
After the mixed results witnessed on 2008’s ‘Watershed,’ one can’t really blame Mikael Akerfeldt for taking the plunge into straight-up progressive rock with Opeth’s tenth album, ‘Heritage,’ but that in no way guaranteed a smooth transition. Instead, Mikael Akerfeldt’s definitive adieu to Cookie Monster growls robbed Opeth of a necessary dynamic ingredient that his new songwriting direction struggled to compensate for, as evidenced by these surprisingly humdrum excursions, salvaged, now and then, by the odd standout in “I Feel the Dark” and “Folklore.” Otherwise, this was anything but an auspicious next step.

11. Opeth, 'Sorceress' (2016)


Moderbolaget Records
11. Opeth, 'Sorceress' (2016)
Opeth’s reincarnation as clean-singing proggies continued to produce not-quite-convincing, or outright frustrating results on the group’s twelfth LP (and third of this era), ‘Sorceress.’ New offerings like the folksy “Will O the Wisp” and exotic “Seventh Sojourn” couldn’t transcend their ‘70s root sources, and even though the title track, the hard driving “Chrysalis,” and the comfortingly epic “Strange Brew” actually traded in ominous chords, their serpentine patterns of guitar and organ ached for the excitement of a metallic catharsis that never came. Note to Akerfeldt: why not call this a trilogy and re-engage that death metal spark?


10. 'Morningrise' (1996)


Candlelight/Century Black
10. 'Morningrise' (1996)
Among all of Opeth’s seminal early records, ‘Morningrise’ has aged most poorly -- even though it too contains an essential song or two. Problem is, it doesn’t contain six or seven of them, but then how could it when the massive “Black Rose Eternal” took up over 20, exhausting but mostly worthwhile minutes, and left room for just four more songs. Among these, both the bass-driven “Advent” and grandly named “The Night and the Silent Water” never disappoint, but neither “Nectar” nor the closing “To Bid You Farewell” (a true clunker this one) have shown very much staying power.

9. 'Pale Communion' (2014)


Roadrunner
9. 'Pale Communion' (2014)
Now this was more like it! Rather than retreating to “safer” metallic terrain and gutteral vocals after the disappointing ‘Heritage,’ Opeth soldiered on with their mainstream prog-rock ambitions on 2014’s much-improved ‘Pale Communion.’ Shorter song lengths seemed to come more naturally this time, producing instant rewards on the serpentine “Eternal Rains Will Come,” the surprisingly uplifting “River,” and the foreboding “Voice of Treason.” But no one was complaining when Akerfeldt and company churned out some familiarly twisting power chords and ran with them for nearly eleven minutes on the excellent “Moon Above, Sun Below.” Hey, old habits die hard.

8. 'Watershed' (2008)


Roadrunner
8. 'Watershed' (2008)
Opeth’s signature blend of dark and light sonic-scapes extending over epic lengths of inspired songcraft never sounded as conventional as it did on 2008’s ‘Watershed,’ proving even the best things in life have to run their course, at some point. None of which excuses us from looking a gift horse in the mouth, but that’s precisely what we’re doing with reliably multi-faceted displays such as “Heir Apparent,” “The Lotus Eater” and the hypnotic “Hex Omega.” Then again, the latter and another highlight, “Hessian Peel,” all but dispense with death-styled vocals, showing how bored with their own blueprint Opeth themselves had become.


7. 'Orchid' (1995)


Candlelight/Century Black
7. 'Orchid' (1995)
One can better recognize ‘Orchid’’s human flaws in retrospect (especially compared with what came after), but when Opeth’s debut arrived, seemingly out of nowhere, way back in 1995, its radical clash of death metal’s wanton rage with stark melodic content was nothing short of revolutionary. With a little help from erstwhile Edge of Sanity mastermind Dan Swano in the producer’s chair, precocious triumphs like “In Mist She Was Standing,” “Under the Weeping Moon” and “The Twilight Is My Robe” parlayed a gothic ambiance that conjured vivid images – the better to disguise the occasional musical awkwardness as the band found its feet.

6. 'Damnation' (2003)


Koch
6. 'Damnation' (2003)
‘Damnation’ was originally intended to comprise the second disc of a double album with ‘Deliverance’ – in fact, both LPs were even recorded simultaneously. But when Opeth’s record label demanded to release them individually, this mellow eight-song set, deprived of virtually any metallic ingredients, came in for a lot more scrutiny than was deserved. Even so, though, the majority of Opeth fans brought open minds and heartily embraced the album’s risk-taking avoidance of the band’s extreme metal comfort zone. Plus, a few cuts (“Windowpane,” “”Closure,” “To Rid the Disease”) were especially well realized – all signs of things to come.

5. 'My Arms, Your Hearse' (1998)


Candlelight/Century Black
5. 'My Arms, Your Hearse' (1998)
Though it spawned what is possibly Opeth’s most popular song of all in the devastating “Demon of the Fall,” the evocatively named ‘My Arms Your Hearse’ was a somewhat inconsistent long-player, marred by the rhythm section’s recent departure. But, luckily for us, Mikael Akerfeldt (who also handled bass here) and Peter Lindgren discovered a percussive savior in Martin Lopez, then proceeded to vent their wrath in a set that nearly crossed over from death into black metal. But in every other way, standout creations like “April Ethereal,” “When” and “The Amen Corner” remained virtually unclassifiable as anything BUT the work of Opeth.


4. 'Deliverance' (2002)


Koch/Music For Nations
4. 'Deliverance' (2002)
Probably Opeth’s most underrated album, ‘Deliverance’ couldn’t help but be overshadowed by the seismic aftershocks set off by the game-changing ‘Blackwater Park,’ which were still reverberating through the metal community, just one year later. But listeners who underestimate ‘Deliverance’ do so at the peril of missing out on one of the group’s most impeccably crafted collection of hard/soft epics. Among which we’ll point out the unusually relentless “Wreath,” the alternately savage and psychedelic “Master’s Apprentice,” and the all-encompassing, thirteen minute title track. Then there’s the absolutely majesty of “A Fair Judgment,” boasting one of the most awe-inspiring solos ever recorded by Mikael Akerfeldt or, well, anyone!

3. 'Still Life' (1999)


Peaceville
3. 'Still Life' (1999)
Above all else, 1999’s ‘Still Life’ signified stability at last for Opeth, following a near-fatal band schism that nearly stopped them dead in their tracks, but, instead, made way for the formation of the now “classic” Akerfeldt/Lindgren/Mendez/Lopez lineup. Though written around a central lyrical concept (about a banished heathen and his medieval misadventures), it’s Opeth’s musical interplay that takes a noticeable leap forward here, yielding songs such as “Godhead’s Lament,” “Moonlapse Vertigo” and “Serenity Painted Death,” that sound smooth in spite of their complexities. The predominantly melodic “Face of Melinda” was another important breakthrough, and contributed to the perception of ‘Still Life’ as Opeth’s most melancholy album.

2. 'Ghost Reveries' (2005)


Roadrunner
2. 'Ghost Reveries' (2005)
Signing a deal with heavy metal major Roadrunner Records had no discernible effect on the ferocious elements of Opeth’s sound, nor the extended lengths of their average compositions; instead, 2005’s in every way astonishing ‘Ghost Reveries’ may have evoked Satan’s name more often than any other Opeth LP! At the same time, the band continued to expand their melodic dimensions with new full-time keyboardist Per Wiberg, whose talents were immediately felt on the evocative “Baying of the Hounds” and conversely dreamy “Atonement.” There are also few Opeth tracks as powerful as the monstrous “The Grand Conjuration,” featuring a command performance from drummer Martin Lopez, whose departure we’ve yet to entirely recover from.


1. 'Blackwater Park' (2001)


Koch/Music For Nations
1. 'Blackwater Park' (2001)
Who knows where Opeth’s musical evolution will lead to next? But whether they forge onwards into traditional prog-rock, backtrack to their deathlier early style, or, more likely, veer off into musical lands as yet unknown, we are fairly certain that 2001’s ‘Blackwater Park’ will remain the ultimate expression of the band’s unique, signature formula. For it was here, on the group’s fifth album (and the first produced by Porcupine Tree leader Steve Wilson) that Opeth’s songwriting maturity fully caught up with their unbound imagination, backed by immaculate arrangements. The result was a wealth of all-time classics (“Bleak,” “The Drapery Falls,” “Dirge for November” the title track, and on and on) that Opeth will no doubt perform regularly for the duration of their career.