Opeth - Pale Communion

I had no idea this dropped already (22 Aug). Just grabbed it, and updating with my first impressions as I listen.

1) Eternal Rains Will Come - 70s proggy feel, but more listenable than most songs on Heritage. Chord progression reminds me of Face of Melinda.
2) Cusp of Eternity - A little boring for me, but Mikael sounds pretty great on this one
3) Moon Above, Sun Below - Here we go, ~11 min song and starting off super interesting. Still has that kinda plodding guitar progression with a focus on Mikael's vocals, but at least this song has textural shifts unlike the previous one. Interesting little shift around 6:30, unison organ/bass/guitar, almost sounds like a new song. The groove on the latter part is almost jazzy, but I can dig it.
4) Elysian Woes - Really sparse intro with a more targeted message ("Are we pursuing destruction..."). 3:20 and the song opens up, but it's almost over. I'm guessing this song is more of a bridge into the next one.
5) Goblin - Here's that jazzy feel again, not exactly what I think of with a song name like Goblin. 2:00 and no vocals yet, just this jazzy groove.
6) River - Is this Opeth or Kansas...? First 3 min are solid, but wow, if it wasn't for Mikael, I'd almost not know it was Opeth. Not loving the organ chirps on this solo section... Nice little unison section in their older style/key. Liking the earnestness in Mikael's vocals. The first half was kinda weird, but it ended well.
7) Voice of Treason - Interesting string part to begin, feeling hopeful for this one. The song's escalated nicely, sounding a bit like the good parts of Heritage/Watershed. Loved this one. Great build ups and feels like a successful marriage of their older stuff with their proggy/experimental side.
8) Faith in Others - Last track eases into that plodding groove from elsewhere in this album, a nice come down from the previous track. More vocals without much background, giving off a hopeful vibe. Those guitars, damn, love it.

I'd give Pale Communion a 4 out of 5. For reference, I'd give Heritage a 2.5 and Still Life, Blackwater Park, and Ghost Reveries are 5s in my book. Watershed is another 4 out of 5 and I enjoyed this one about as much as Watershed, maybe even a little more than Watershed. There's a lot more groove on this album and a pretty big focus on Mikael's vocals, but this is album is more cohesive than Heritage. It gels the concepts from Heritage with their older work. It never really brought me to the highs those other albums can and still do, but it came close.

Meh. I still enjoy that album even if it did mark the end of their death metal rooted style. I've accepted their new 70s prog rock / jazz fusion sound and if I want to go back, I'll just listen to their older albums.

I hate to break it to you, but this is 'real Opeth'. They'll make whatever music they want and don't seem to care whether or not people want their old sound. Frankly, I'd rather have a band evolve over time, making music that's interesting to them. It's much better than having them shit out the same album year after year.

Still digging this album.

I just realized the references to Dream Theater on the second track: Cusp of Eternity. The key is really similar to DT's Dance of Eternity and also there's the lyric "She turns around to stare at a scene form her memory".

Also, while the first section of River is decidedly the most un-Opeth style on this album, I love how the main lyric of that section is "And our bodies float on the river / to the oceans of demise". It's a little cheesy to have these metal lyrics in this almost country-vocal section, but it works.