Opeth. One of my favourite bands, but they’ve sort of left me behind in recent years.
First album: Orchid, 1990.
Sixth album: Deliverance, 2001, released along with Damnation – That’s my favourite era of the band. Still Life, Blackwater Park, Deliverance and Damnation, Ghost Reveries. Heavy, kick-ass death metal mixed with progressive, calm moments to build anticipation and emotion.
Ninth album: Watershed, 2008 – The last of the really good stuff.
Tenth album, Heritage, 2011 – they start losing me. I linked the only song on the album I like.
Eleventh album, Pale Communion, 2014 – This is not Opeth as I know it. It sounds like bad video-game music. I get it, Mikael, you’re artsy and creative and you honestly think you’re old enough to remember 70s acid trip music. You’re not.
Twelfth album, Sorceress, 2016 – I haven’t even given it a fair listen yet. I’m too scared of being further disappointed.