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During a period of time working in Asia, I happened upon an entertainment park that boasted a “traditional Chinese haunted house”. Game for anything, I ventured inside, sat down at a large boardroom-style table, put on headphones and selected “English” as my chosen language, and waited. The lights suddenly went out, everyone screamed, and then a creepy voice appeared through the headphones trying to scare everyone. But, as it was in English and not the “default” language, well, it sounded a bit shit. The lights came up and everyone else looked ashen. After motioning to the staff that I was staying for another attempt, this time I selected the default language, and as soon as the voice started whispering to me in Cantonese, I screamed. In its natural tongue it seemed more organic, more authentic and it worked on so many more levels that the English version. A bit like the new Opeth album ‘In Cauda Venenum’, which you can devour in both Swedish and English languages. It’s good in English, but switch to Swedish and the difference is immeasurable.
Although ‘In Cauda Venenum’ sees Opeth continue to go down a more progressive route at the expense of the older, death metal leanings, it’s still a very heavy album. It’s quite a dark album, gothic in places (especially on the immense ‘Charlatan’), light and mysterious in others (‘Ingen Sanning Är Allas’ – complete with its lavish string arrangements) and metal-esque in others (‘Hjärtat Vet Vad Handen Gör’ – fantastic chugging guitars during the intro). There are loads of quirky touches throughout, such as sporadic laughter, children’s voices and what sounds like a radio broadcast.
It’s also a very expansive album, one that will take 70 minutes each time to properly digest. The Pink Floyd-like synths during the opening track ‘Livets Trädgård’ are pretty irresistible, setting the scene along with church bells tolling and someone’s footsteps. The three minute instrumental is the perfect length for an introduction, the listener doesn’t have time to grow tired of it as soon enough the band explode into the riff-heavy ‘Svekets Prins’. With it’s long, winding intro, it means it’s a full six minutes of instrumental music before any vocals are heard on ‘In Cauda Venenum’. Mikael Åkerfeldt finally appears with his soft, wispy vocals that gradually grow into a dynamic, charismatic performance. The fact that he is singing in Swedish doesn’t lessen the effect of his vocals, as stated previously – it enhances them.
As usual, Åkerfeldt’s vocals are towering. There might not be any growls, but ‘De Närmast Sörjande’ does feature what sounds like some traditional throat singing. However, it’s when he seems to be at his most fragile and stripped to the bone, where he impresses the most. Both ‘Minnets Yta’ and the jazzy ‘Banemannen’ spring to mind, as does the first few moments of ‘Kontinuerlig Drift’ – a seven minute long journey that peaks and troughs with moments of intense riffing and atmospheric quieter periods. The album ends with ‘Allting Tar Slut’, nine multifaceted minutes where at times the listener doesn’t know what is awaiting around the corner.
‘In Cauda Venenum’ is fresh and inventive, and it’s also heavy in many various ways, but some might not take to it instantly. If you are going to judge it solely by the singles that you might have heard on Youtube, then you are missing out. It’s not a singles album, neither is it a concept album, or an album to drop in and out of. What it is though is an album that needs your undivided attention, it’s only after a few complete visits that the full effect can be felt.
Available now on Nuclear Blast
Review – Dave
Opeth kick off their UK tour in Norwich on October 27th, all tour dates can be found here.
