Twenty Years With Opeth's "Damnation"

Opeth's entire career has been a case of "What if?" At first, I found myself wondering how great they could become if they weren't committed to being a death metal band. When they no longer were, I found myself wondering how great they could have been if they didn't abandon everything heavy they once were. I could always hear something in Opeth I loved, and I could see the path to the promised land, but Opeth was never willing to point their compass in that direction. So while I do enjoy what is right now the middle period of their catalog, every listen comes with my mind wandering to a future that never came.

The one exception to those trends is "Damnation", the album that might have been made simply to prove that the band was prog all along. The companion to their heaviest record, "Damnation" was Opeth's first attempt to strip away all of the extremity and metal from their sound. This record is all atmosphere, bathing us in a melancholy that may even exceed anything Katatonia has ever managed.

From the very first notes of "Windowpane", this record makes clear what we are dealing with. Clean guitars, jazzy drumming, and ample keyboards soften Opeth's sound without diluting their identity at all. The chord progressions are pure Opeth, merely without the distortion hiding that side of Mikael Akerfeldt's influences. His vocals are just as soothing, and he is one of the rare singers who is better when he isn't putting as much into his performances. These are intimate recordings, sung softly, like a cooing lullaby as the shadows creep up the bed.

In fact, the song "Death Whispered A Lullaby" is a fitting description of the record as a whole. The atmosphere hangs heavy in the air, and the melody wraps around us like a pall, warming us for the journey to the next destination. These are amazing songs that show something that was always present in Opeth's music, as we saw in "Face Of Melinda" or "Harvest", but was more of a sideshow attraction to the endless ten-minute forays.

So why do I say Opeth's entire career is a case of "What if?"

Like every other entry, "Damnation" suffers a fatal, self-inflicted wound. After six tracks that redefine everything we thought we knew about Opeth, the record ends with two throw-away songs that tail off like a skid mark pointing over the cliff. Opeth pulls the rug out from under us, and everything the feeling of this record was stirring up in us gets consumed by the bitter aftertaste we are left with. It sounds as if the band only realized after recording the album that they didn't have enough songs to pull this off, so they threw together whatever they could to pad it out.

That is a shame, because "Damnation" should be Opeth's true masterpiece. I love "Still Life" and "Blackwater Park" like everyone else does, but a full record of Damnation hitting on all cylinders would be untouchable, even by Opeth. Unfortunately, there is a second problem that is even harder to ignore, and that can't be remedied by treating "Damnation" as an EP you turn off two songs early.

"Damnation" ruined modern Opeth, because it shows us exactly why their recent records fall short. Their outright prog direction is similar in tone, but not in execution. When Mikael ditched growling to focus on clean singing, he not only started to sing beyond the means of his voice, but also lost his ability to write his unforgettable melodies. The new records might be longer, and more involved, but they do so much less with so much more. An entire decade has now passed with every Opeth release sounding like the echo of their real voice.

Twenty years after "Damnation" came out, it is as frustrating as it has ever been. The greatness is still apparent, but now it is also the proof that some of us don't hate Opeth for making their change, but for not doing it well. "Damnation" proves that prog Opeth has been a decade of disappointment, and maybe the way the record immolates itself was a sign even Opeth knew they weren't going to be able to reach those heights ever again. They warned us not to get too attached, but we didn't listen.

What if "Damnation" fulfilled its promise? What if "Damnation" was the masterpiece it should be? Well, I probably would be able to put my frustrations with Opeth aside more easily.