To grunt or not to grunt, that has been the question with Swedish prog metal band Opeth in recent years. Singer, guitarist and leader Mikael Åkerfeldt already showed on Damnation in 2003 that he can do fine with his natural voice. But the real Opeth fan prefers to hear him alternate this voice (combined with atmospheric prog passages) with his deep grunts in which the music turns to ferocious metal.
On Heritage, Åkerfeldt not only omits his grunts, but also metal only sporadically appears. Whimsical prog, jazz rock and folk rock that reveals a broad knowledge of the early seventies, dominates this time. The keyboards used are exclusively vintage, such as the Hammond and the mellotron and even a jazzy solo flute appears in Famine. The exciting and rich sound on Heritage can perhaps best be described as a European version of The Mars Volta, full of echoes from music history but unmistakably Opeth. (MR)more
