Opeth: Orchid (1995)
As I wrote in the Discogs Blog today, one of the most remarkable heavy metal careers of the past quarter-century was launched 25 years ago by Opeth’s watershed debut album, Orchid, but of course none of their future greatness was apparent, at the start.
In fact, Opeth vocalist, guitarist and leader Mikael Åkerfeldt, wasn’t even present at the group’s founding moment; but he did endure the next few years of fits, starts, and continued musician turnover, before recruiting second guitarist Peter Lindgren, bassist Johan De Farfalla, and drummer Anders Nordin, in 1994.
By then, Edge of Sanity mastermind Dan Swanö had also taken an interest in producing Opeth, which made perfect sense, since EoS’s groundbreaking progressive death metal experiments had clearly impacted Åkerfeldt’s vision, which was mind-bogglingly ambitious for a brand-new group.
Unveiled in May 1995, Orchid’s monolithic songs -- five of which either ran or exceeded ten minutes in length -- may have been fueled by death metal’s (and sometimes black metal’s) fury, but Åkerfeldt’s passion for ‘70s prog was already accounted for in the way they stockpiled crushing riffs, haunting melodies, contrasting passages, growled and clean vocals, behind pretentious titles like “In Mist She Was Standing” and “The Twilight is My Robe.”
But Orchid’s de facto “showpieces” -- what immediately set Opeth apart from their peers -- were the comparatively quiet, atmospheric passages nestled within these hulking metallic husks, highlighted by the gothic, psychedelic mystery and beauty found on “Under the Weeping Moon,” and Lindgren’s King Diamond-inspired solo and mellow vibes within “Forest of October.”
The album’s remaining two cuts were proper, free-standing instrumental interludes, namely a moody classical piano piece called “Silhouette” (performed by drummer Nordin), and a folksy number called “Requiem,” which preceded the album’s final rather less satisfying epic, “The Apostle in Triumph.”
Which raises the point that, for all its pioneering audacity, Orchid was anything but perfect, and its formative flaws would be duly revealed as Opeth honed their songwriting, arranging, and performing skills on future albums, arguably culminating in ‘00’s celebrated Blackwater Park.
But, whatever your favorite Opeth LP (I’d also cast votes for ‘05’s Ghost Reveries and ‘99‘s Still Life), it’s hard to believe that the Swedish group’s wondrous musical voyage is already 25-years-long.
p.s. -- Åkerfeldt later revealed that he ordered the flower seen on Orchid’s striking cover all the way from Holland, in case you didn’t know this was (and still is) a thing!
More Opeth: Morningrise, My Arms, Your Hearse, Still Life, Blackwater Park, “Still Day Beneath the Sun,” Ghost Reveries, Watershed, Pale Communion, Sorceress, In Cauda Venenum, The Last Will and Testament.