BY HASAN MURAT SÜMER (EE/IV)
hasan.sumer@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
A Great Week for Music
Opeth and Marillion releasing new albums at the same time is one of those events that make me say, “What a great age to be living in.” Opeth has been exposed to a lot of unnecessary rage since they went soft and dropped the growls in “Heritage” (2011). Personally, I was okay with the change since I was never a fan of metal music, and continuing with the softer style, Opeth just got better in “Pale Communion” (2014). Announcement of a new Opeth album was bound to elicit high anticipation and high expectations. Comparatively speaking, I wasn’t that hyped about the new Marillion release, but music legends releasing new stuff is always a happy event. As it turned out, both albums were solid enough to satisfy all expectations.
The only album released by Marillion during this millennium that I truly love is “Marbles” (2004). That being the case, the new album “FEAR” (F*** Everyone and Run) is beyond what I could have hoped from them. Any work by the two Steves in the band (Hogarth the vocalist and Rothery the guitarist) is beautiful by default, but a concept album like this is what makes them exceptional musicians. The title “FEAR” refers to the emotion of fear (particularly the fear of foreigners) being the root cause of what constitute the themes of the album: rage, rebellion and political accusations against the media and government of England. In my opinion, the brave, edgy lyrics, along with the way they’re vocalized, are the album’s greatest strengths. There is this constant use of sentences in both their literal and metaphorical meanings, and it’s really poetic. I was listening to the first song and heard the words, “But in England, although nothing really changes, the weather always does,” and then I was like, “Holy cow, that’s beautiful.” Rothery, of course, does not disappoint with the guitar. I just can’t stop comparing this man to David Gilmour. Listening to Gilmour’s guitar work in Pink Floyd’s final era (e.g., in the album “The Division Bell”) as opposed to his work during the band’s prime, I’m aware that he couldn’t deliver solos the way he used to, but he was still pretty damn good. The case is similar for Rothery, but because he’s a more skilled guitarist, the drop in quality is less significant. I also think that my comparison of the guitarists here can be generalized to a comparison of the bands, and I think it matters because of the strong Floyd influence in this album. It’s just history repeating itself.
“Sorceress” is yet another disappointment for old-school Opeth fans, though it may be the best thing they’ve done since “Blackwater Park” back in 2001. The very first thing to notice is how eclectic they are in this album: we see Opeth mixing styles and genres as if they had newly discovered how vast music is. The whole album feels like the band is paying homage to the prog giants of the past (I believe I’ve read somewhere that this was the intention), and tracks named after the band The Wilde Flowers and The Moody Blues album “The Seventh Sojourn” make it obvious. The vocals and music of the track “Will O The Wisp” were performed to sound exactly like Jethro Tull; if I hadn’t known whose work it was the first time I listened to it, I could have sworn it was by Tull. Despite this tribute aspect of the album, Opeth still offers the best of their own style: the frequent switching between heavy, aggressive sections and light, acoustic sections is accomplished perfectly, fast guitar solos still kill, and acoustic melodies are more emotional than ever. If it’s any consolation for fans of the old Opeth, the aggressive sections are edgier than their other recent releases, and there are some hellish-sounding keyboard-based sections here and there. What I like most here is that the disturbing messiness that was introduced by the new Opeth in “Heritage” and persisted a little in “Pale Communion” is now completely gone. This leads me to say that Opeth’s transition from one genre to another has been one of the most successful evolutions in music.
Respect…