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""Sorceress" is an album of great richness and diversity, both dark in its themes and luminous in its compositions. A very great progressive rock album."
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5/5
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Opeth is twenty-six years old and it's already eight years since this gifted band left the death metal house. Some members of the growl family, the big saturated riff and the double pedal have never recovered. But what could they do after the masterpiece "Watershed"? It was time move on.
"Sorceress", the band's twelfth studio album, is thus in line with the two previous ones. If Opeth's genius has always managed to reconcile the irreconcilable, it is the same with this opus which is at the same time modern and vintage, heavy and delicate, crazy and serene, varied and coherent. Mikael Akerfeldt's compositions are a work of art, and his clear, totally mastered vocal bewitches the listener insidiously with his misanthropic lyrics about destructive love, possession and jealousy.
It all starts with a nice Andalusian prologue ('Persephone') played on two classical guitars before 'Sorceress' with its heavy riff, followed by 'The Wilde Flowers', a very progressive title typical of the Swedish style with its changes of rhythms and melodic themes and its magnificent guitar solo. Then, if the superb chord progression of 'Will O The Wisp' is strongly inspired by Jethro Tull, it is to Deep Purple that Opeth pays tribute with 'Chrysalis'. This track is without a doubt one of the album's highlights and allows the immense Joakim Svalberg to express all his talent as a keyboardist.
The ghosts of other great names in music haunt "Sorceress" like Genesis on 'Sorceress 2' or Led Zeppelin on the oriental instrumental 'The Seventh Sojourn'. But if since "Heritage", Mikael Akerfeldt celebrates his peers and all the influences that forged Opeth's musical identity, he hasn't lost that grain of madness. And the combo still surprises us, especially on the last two tracks of the album: the psychedelic 'A Fleeting Glance' with its astonishing harpsichord and the very heavy 'Era' with its wild rhythm, probably one of the fastest tracks ever composed by the band.
"Sorceress" is an album of great richness and diversity, both dark in its themes and luminous in its compositions. A very great progressive rock album from a band at the top of its art and with no intention of putting a brake on its demands for musical quality. Opeth is twenty-six years old and is still one of the greatest bands in the world. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Persephone
02. Sorceress
03. The Wilde Flowers
04. Will O The Wisp
05. Chrysalis
06. Sorceress 2
07. The Seventh Sojourn
08. Strange Brew
09. A Fleeting Glance
10. Era
11. Persephone (Slight Return)
LINEUP:
Fredrik Åkesson: Guitares
Joakim Svalberg: Claviers
Martin Axenrot: Batterie
Martin Mendez: Basse
Mikael Akerfeld: Chant / Guitares
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(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
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(3) COMMENT(S)
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Je rejoins Lolo The Best sur le caractère assez inégal de cet album, c'est aussi le qualificatif qui me vient en tête en y repensant. Outre 'Will O The Wisp' et 'Strange Brew', voire 'Sorceress 2' ou 'A Fleeting Glance', le reste me paraît assez faiblard pour du Opeth. En tant que fan de la première heure, j'ai quand même beaucoup écouté cet album à sa sortie, mais l'intérêt n'était pas suffisant pour me donner envie d'y revenir sur la durée.
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…et j’avais omis « Strange Brew », chanson de Cream.
D’ailleurs on oublie souvent que Wishbone Ash a beaucoup influencé Opeth sur l’utilisation des guitares pendant leur période death, il suffit d’écouter ‘Blackwater Park’ (le morceau).
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Et si le morceau ‘Persephone’ qui voit les guitares acoustiques s’entremêler et se doubler était un clin d’œil à ‘Persephone’, un classique de Wishbone Ash, groupe des ‘70s célèbre pour son utilisation des deux guitares simultanément en arpèges ou en solo ? Cela ne m’étonnerait pas vu le nombre de références déjà glissées dans l’album (le « slight return » en cli d’œil à Hendrix, mais aussi « The Wilde Flowers » qui était le groupe fondateur de l’école de Canterbury, « Seventh Sojourn » est un album des Moody Blues, « A Fleeting Glance » un album obscur du début des années 70)… 
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READERS
4.1/5 (12 view(s))
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STAFF:
3.6/5 (8 view(s))
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IN RELATION WITH OPETH
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LAST INTERVIEW
OPETH (SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2024)
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Opeth are back with a new album, and what an album it is! A concept based around the legacy of a sterile and cruel patriarch, illustrated by the return of the long-awaited growls!
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OTHER REVIEWS
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OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT OPETH
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