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Opeth: In live concert at the Royal Albert Hall

10/12/10 || cadenz

Mikael Åkerfeldt is one of the most gifted song-writers ever to emerge in rock music. Now you know. And yes, I’m including legends such as John Lennon, Tony Iommi, Bob Dylan and Spartacus of Skull and Bones in that category. His genius lies in creating not only riffs and melodies that still decades after you initially heard them haunt your brain and make you wanna mosh and groove at the same time, but he also has a perfect sense for composing and arranging these bits and parts into larger bits (songs, and ultimately, albums) that are greater than the sum of their parts (and bits). Opeth’s music has always been striving to push forward their boundaries, so to label them as progressive as most people do, is completely correct. Contrast, conviction and condom-free sex are three more alliterative and descriptive terms that fit like a glove. In short, Iron Mike’s a bad-ass composer.

In 2010, Opeth celebrate their 20th anniversary. Amazing how time flies. Seems like just yesterday when I sat in my room at my parents’ house, decorated with Metallica, King Diamond and Pavel Bure posters, and discovered Opeth’s just-released sophomore effort “Morningrise” (1996). I’d gotten hold of it in way of an ancient ritual nowadays forgotten to Man – the tape trade. Jesus. I’m getting fucken old. Anyway, our heroes chose to arrange five special gigs at different locations around the world for the grand occasion, and this album is a documentation of the one played at the legendary Royal Albert Hall in London, UK. And a magnificent gig it is.

The concert consists of two different sets commemorating the band’s history, with a short intermission in between. The first set offers Opeth’s 2001 breakthrough album “Blackwater Park” in its entirety, while the second set features one song each from every other Opeth album, in chronological order.

The “BP” disc holds none of Åkerfeldt’s stand-upish speeches, but is played through without pauses, as close to the original as possible. This is one of the small set-backs of the record – many tracks are mere carbon copies of their original album shapes, and there are no “wow, I didn’t think you could do that!” moments. The live setting gives the songs of course a little bit of extra energy and edge, but especially this first disc feels…not redundant, absolutely not, but it certainly could’ve used some more refreshing details. The songs are still awesome deluxe of course, so it’s not like I’m not loving every second anyway. Especially “The Funeral Portrait” rendition kicks major goat ass.

The second CD has all the talk the first one hasn’t. Mike gives us a small historic essay on the band’s progress from the immature teenage mongrels they were in the 90’s to the immature 30-something mongrels they are now. Very entertaining. Some parts of the earlier songs have been seamlessly re-arranged to incorporate the articulate keyboard antics of Mr. Wiberg. Huge props to the hipster for having such a great voice too, laying out those backing vocal harmonies with style. These songs sound more fresh somehow, and most of these I haven’t heard as live versions before. “The Moor” and “Harlequin Forest” are highlights, but I could really say that about every song on the disc.

What strikes me as a bit ironic is that the “weakest link” in terms of musicianship in Opeth is, nowadays, Åkerfeldt. Not that he is bad by any means, but all of his fellow band mates outshine him by far. Axenrot and Mendez are Mr. And Mrs. Stability and bring teh chops as well, while Åkesson…Fred…dude…such a great guitarist. It’s a shame his jaw-dropping skills don’t get fully utilized, other than the solo spot he gets on Hope Leaves…which is a fucken guitorgasm. A classic blend of taste and technique make for a winning recipe. Åkerfeldt himself plays his stuff well and all, and his clean vocals are ace as they always are nowadays. His growls, though, seem kind of semi-weak on the Mike scale (meaning his usual self obliterates mountains, while now he merely causes massive rock slides.)

The production is very good, everything is clearly audible. How many post-gig corrections they have made I have no idea about, but it all sounds authentic enough to me. A small detail keeps bugging me, and it’s that Åkerfeldt’s guitar is mixed juuuust a little bit higher than Åkesson’s, which makes it all the more irritating as the six-strings are panned 100% left and right. I hope this wasn’t done on purpose.

Some people have criticized this release as pointless due to the other live DVD’s/albums, “Lamentations” (2003) and “The Roundhouse Tapes” (2007), Opeth have released during the last decade, but in my opinion they all deserve to exist. Mostly because of the very varied set lists – not a single track is featured on more than one release, except of course the songs from “Blackwater Park” and “Damnation” (which was performed in its entirety on “Lamentations”) – but also because I’d rather have three Opeth live albums than just one to choose from. Why fucken whine, motherfuckers? Also, this release is the first live album with the whole new line-up.

Finally, please answer the $1,000,000 question: what makes you cringe the most on “In Live Concert”? If your answer is “the cover image”, congratulations! You haven’t won shit. As aesthetically horrible as the white frame is, I’m glad Opeth made this ballsy move and paid tribute to Deep Purple.

For any Opeth fan this is a must-buy, and for every one of you others: you have no taste whatsoever in music, and will probably die alone when your pathetic Opeth-free record shelf decides to crash on you as vengeance for you not being sensible enough to feed it with quality music. Unless, of course, you repent this instant and suck Iron Mike’s virtual dick with the vigor of a rabid poodle in heat. Meaning, buy this album. Whoever said you couldn’t argue about taste had clearly not heard Opeth.

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Roadrunner
Website: www.opeth.com
Band
Mikael Åkerfeldt: vocals, guitars
Fredrik Åkesson: guitars
Per Wiberg: keyboards, backing vocals
Martin Mendez: bass
Martin Axenrot: drums

Tracklist
CD 1
01. The Leper Affinity
02. Bleak
03. Harvest
04. The Drapery Falls
05. Dirge for November
06. The Funeral Portrait
07. Patterns in the Ivy
08. Blackwater Park
CD 2
01. Forest of October
02. Advent
03. April Ethereal
04. The Moor
05. Wreath
06. Hope Leaves
07. Harlequin Forest
08. The Lotus Eater

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