"This day wept on my shoulders ..."
Opeth is testament to the fact that there is always beauty to be found in places where one would least expect it - in this case, an album labelled under the "extreme progressive metal" genre. Sure, this album is heavy in the truest sense of the word, but if you invest some time and dig through the imposing wall of sound, you will realize that it has been built on a solid base of scandinavian folk melodies and layered twin-guitar harmonies.
For a while, I have been trying hard to find a way to describe Opeth in words. This is what I been able to put together so far: take a bunch of hopeless romantics (who also happen to be gifted musicians), give them guitars and drums and ask them to play mind-numblingly heavy and blisteringly fast music. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Opeth ...
This is Opeth's 3rd album, and in my humble opinion, the one that will eventually stand the test of time. Their first album was like - "Dude, we just discovered something new and incredible, now what the heck do we do with it ?". Their second album, "Morningrise" improved on the first, and had better musicianship (in fact, it sported several acoustic twin-guitar harmonies that made that album very special to me). MAYH marks a turning point in Opeth's sound - it is much more organized with shorter songs that don't meander into netherland (not that there is anything wrong with "meandering" - it is subjective), and also the overall sound is much heavier (yet the melody is still there). This is arguably one of Opeth's heaviest albums, and probably the first one to consistently feature Opeth's trademark "melodic/heavy/sad/powerful/epic"-sounding riffs (or just "Opethian"-riffs for brevity).
Just like other Opeth albums, MAYH is a concept album that describes an over-the-top love story - though, with a slight twist - one of the lovers is a dead guy (or a ghost to be precise). This guy dies before the beginning of the album and for a short while he doesn't know that he is dead yet (and by the way, this album was released in 1998 - an year before "The Sixth Sense" was released). For most of the album, this ghost watches in agony as his wife (or lover) suffers in grief unable to cope with the loss of her loved one. He (being a ghost and all) is powerless and unable to comfort her. The only time they are able to have a real conversation is through her dreams where "she laughing and weeping at once, says: 'take me away'", for which he responds, "I don't know how or why, and I'll never know WHEN.". And so on and so forth goes the story as his other attempts to reach her (as in the "Demon of The Fall") end in disaster as she starts to think that she is being haunted, and it drives her further into madness. Realizing this, he decides that the best way out of this is to let her be, and he simply walks away ...
A few special notes are in order about this album: the ending lyrics of all the songs are the same as the title of the following song (the ending lyric of the last song is the same as the title of the first song). All the songs represent different seasons - the first full song "April Ethereal" starts (obviously) in the spring, and the album moves on to summer (on the "Amen Corner"), and into the fall (on "Demon of the Fall") and finally ends in winter's "Epilogue" (which starts the next "Prologue", and so it goes on ...).
Musically, this is clearly one of Opeth's best works. It starts with "Prologue" that sets the mood for the rest of the album. You hear raindrops on the background followed by a gentle piano intro that forebodes the sadness that is to follow ... "April Ethereal" then starts with fade-in vocals and immediately bursts into massive riffs followed by Akerfeld's imperious growl and the rest is ... well, you just have to listen to find out. Trying to describe Opeth's songs using words is always a very difficult thing to do.
I do want to mention a few highlights though: this album features several unique riffs that follow some sort of a "question/answer" format - more precisely - the first part of the riff appears to ask a question that is answered by the second part of the riff (Ok. maybe, I am imagining things here ... or maybe not). Just listen to the riff that begins around 4:40 into the "April Ethereal", or the riff around 5:50 into "When", and you might understand what I am trying to say. Also, a special mention is in order for the outros of "April Ethereal" and "Demon of the Fall" - these are priceless gems, and the absolute head-banging beauty that launches the "Amen Corner".
All said, I do have a few minor quibbles. For example, I felt that the gear shift from the "Prologue" to "April Ethereal" was bit too abrupt for my taste. Also, some middle sections of the "Amen Corner" could have been a bit more interesting. It is definitely the album's weakest point (although, for an album of this calibre, that doesn't mean much).
Overall, this is a masterpiece - enough said.
"... Amidst the forest one would hear that I had been there. Draped within a fate I could not change, and always welcoming Winter's EPILOGUE ..."
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