Ghost Reveries

Ghost Reveries
Studio album by Opeth
Released August 29, 2005 (2005-08-29)
Recorded March 15–June 1, 2005
Genre Progressive death metal
Length 66:46
Label Roadrunner
Producer Jens Bogren, Opeth
Opeth chronology
Damnation
(2003)		 Ghost Reveries
(2005)		 Collecter's Edition Slipcase
(2006)
Singles from Ghost Reveries
  1. "The Grand Conjuration"
    Released: July 26, 2005
Alternative cover
Special edition CD/DVD 2006
Alternative cover

Ghost Reveries is the eighth full-length album by Swedish heavy metal band Opeth. It was released on August 29, 2005. It is their first album since signing with Roadrunner Records.[1]

Ghost Reveries is the first album by Opeth to include keyboardist Per Wiberg as a "permanent" member (although Wiberg contributed keyboard work to Opeth's live performances starting around the time of Lamentations (Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire 2003)), and it is the last Opeth album to include drummer Martin Lopez and long-time guitarist Peter Lindgren.[2]

The album's only single is "The Grand Conjuration". A music video of the song was released, although about half of the song was edited from the video, due to the length of the song. Lopez does not appear in the video, as he was sick and was temporarily replaced by Gene Hoglan.[3]

Background

For the first time since Still Life, the songs for Ghost Reveries were written for the album before going into the studio. This gave Opeth three weeks to rehearse and perfect the recording in the studio. The band had to decide whether to record the album at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, or at Sonic Ranch. They eventually chose Fascination Street Studios, as it was closer to their homes.

Style

Ghost Reveries was initially intended to be a concept album, with numerous tracks linking together a story of a man's turmoil after committing an unconscionable act, symbolised by killing his own mother. However, Mikael Åkerfeldt commented:

"I had intended to do a occult concept piece lyrically and got off to a great start with some downright evil lyrics like "The Baying of the Hounds" and "Ghost of Perdition", then I did "Isolation Years" which had nothing to do with the intended concept but I liked it so much I decided to ease up on the concept idea in favour of this one lyric. Why I decided on a occult theme? Well, I've always been intrigued by it, especially Satanism and stuff like that. I studied some books that oddly enough my wife had in her collection like "Servants of Satan" as well as "Witchcraft and Sorcery" + some more. I figured it'd be interesting to see what a mature 31 year old mind would make of this subject as opposed to the 16 year old kid who used to pose in front of his Bathory poster. I'm quite happy with them to be honest, and they're.....evil!"[4]

The album only partly portrays a concept, not fully arranged in the poetic manner as previous releases such as Still Life and My Arms, Your Hearse.

"The Baying of the Hounds" is partially inspired by lyrics from the song "Diana" from Comus's album First Utterance.

Artwork

The artwork was created after the completion of the album. Akerfeldt commented on the artwork, saying:

"I'd been looking for one of the old medieval looking woodcuts, me and Peter went to the Royal library here in Stockholm looking for a evil (yep!) picture, but that was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Couldn't find one. In the meantime I'd received some pics from good ol' Travis Smith. And as per usual with Mr. Smith, he's a genius...the candle pictures just blew me away...that's the cover, fuck the woodcuts! I love it! It's probably the most gothic looking cover we've had, right?"

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[5]
Alternative Press[6]
Aquarian WeeklyA+[7]
BBC Musicpositive[8]
Blabbermouth.net[9]
Chronicles of Chaos[10]
The Guardian[11]
IGN[12]
Kerrang![13]
The List[14]
"The New York Times"favorable[15]
Pitchfork Media8.4/10[16]
Pop Matters[17]
Rolling Stone[18]
Terrorizer[13]

Ghost Reveries received critical acclaim and peaked on the Billboard 200 at number 64.[19]

Release

Ghost Reveries was released in Europe on August 29, 2005, and in North America on August 30, 2005.

A special edition of the album was released by Roadrunner Records on October 31, 2006. It is packaged in a large digipak and contains a CD and DVD, along with new cover art and an extended booklet featuring extra album artwork and a letter from Åkerfeldt. The CD contains the original tracks from the album, as well as a bonus cover of "Soldier of Fortune" by Deep Purple, which was recorded as a live take with the band's new drummer, Martin Axenrot. The DVD contains a Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound mix (not including the bonus track), a 40-minute documentary, and the video for "The Grand Conjuration". This documentary details the making of Ghost Reveries, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the band's day-to-day life while recording and touring.[20]

Some copies of Ghost Reveries were mastered using HDCD. Although it is unmarked, playing the album in a CD player able to decode HDCD will give superior sound quality.

"Ghost of Perdition" is included in the soundtrack for the video game Saint's Row 2 on the radio station Krunch 106.66.[21] As of November 29, 2011, it is also available for download for the video game Rock Band 3. "The Grand Conjuration" is included in the soundtrack for the video game Sleeping Dogs, on the radio station "roadrunner records".

Release history

Date Release
August 29, 2005 Europe
August 30, 2005 United States

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Mikael Åkerfeldt, except where noted[22]. 

No. Title Length
1. "Ghost of Perdition"   10:29
2. "The Baying of the Hounds"   10:41
3. "Beneath the Mire"   7:57
4. "Atonement"   5:23
5. "Reverie/Harlequin Forest" ("Reverie" appears after 5:23 in "Atonement". On the CD version, it appears in the pregap between "Atonement" and "Harlequin Forest". On the digital version, the pregap has just been added to the end of "Atonement".) 11:39
6. "Hours of Wealth"   5:20
7. "The Grand Conjuration"   10:21
8. "Isolation Years"   3:51
Total length:
 66:46

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Weekly

Chart (2005) Peak
position
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[23] 39

Monthly

Chart (2005) Peak
position
Poland (ZPAV Top 100) 38[24]

References

  1. ↑ "Opeth sign with Roadrunner Records". Blabbermouth.net. May 20, 2005. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Peter Lindgren and Martin Lopez quit Opeth". Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  3. ↑ "'The Grand Conjuration' Video Posted Online". Blabbermouth.net. September 2, 2005. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  4. ↑ http://www.opeth.com/home/chapters/chapter-x
  5. ↑ "Ghost Reveries". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  6. ↑ "Alternative Press | Reviews". Altpress.com. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  7. ↑ "Opeth: The Roundhouse Tapes | The Aquarian Weekly". Theaquarian.com. November 14, 2007. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
  8. ↑ "BBC - Music - Review of Opeth - Heritage". BBC. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  9. ↑ "Blabbermouth.Net". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  10. ↑ "CoC : Opeth - Ghost Reveries : Review". Chroniclesofchaos.com. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  11. ↑ Lawson, Dom (21 August 2014). "Opeth: Pale Communion review – strange, intricate prog-metal genius". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  12. ↑ Ramirez, Carlos. Watershed review music.ign.com. Retrieved on October 13, 2009.
  13. 1 2 Archived September 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ Cope, Chris (19 August 2014). "Opeth: Pale Communion". The List. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  15. ↑ Ratliff, Ben. Playlist nytimes.com. Retrieved on October 13, 2009.
  16. ↑ Stosuy, Brandon. Ghost Reveries review 2007-01-02. Retrieved on 2010-11-26.
  17. ↑ Begrand, Adrien. "Opeth: Ghost Reveries < PopMatters". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  18. ↑ "Rolling Stone Heritage review". Rolling Stone. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  19. ↑ "Ghost Reveries Number 64 on the Billboard". Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  20. ↑ "Ghost Reveries Special Edition". Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Saints Row 2 Soundtrack". Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  22. ↑ "Opeth official website discography". Opeth.com. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  23. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  24. ↑ http://muzyka.interia.pl/lista/zpav,38

External links

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