Singles Roundup: Opeth & Ad Infinitum/Melissa Bonny

There's a big one this week.

Opeth - S1

The growls are back. That is pretty much the only headline made by Opeth's newest song, and it has created a discourse that frustrates me to no end. Yes, Opeth has reintroduced growling for the first time since "Watershed", but that isn't an important fact. If you look at most of the commentary about this song, that is the only thing most people are mentioning, which completely misses the point. Whether something is heavy, or whether it has growls or not, say absolutely nothing about the quality of the song. They are descriptors of facets, not of worth. In fact, few of the people I've seen comment on the song have bothered to talk about the composition at all. They're all so focused on the growling that nothing else seems to matter, which tells me those are the sorts of people who enjoy certain tones of noise more than they do actual music.

I say that because if you look beyond the novelty of growling, the composition is the same tuneless prog Opeth has been engaged in for the last fourt albums. The instruments do some interesting things, but it's wrapped up in a song that has no main melody at all. They are fragments of ideas stitched together in the most boring way possible. That has been Opeth's problem all along. It wasn't that they ditched growling, it was that Mikael stopped writing memorable melodies for himself. We can debate exactly why that happened, but the only difference between this song and those albums that were disappointing to so many is the tone of voice Mikael is using.

Growling a weak vocal line doesn't make it more interesting than singing it clean. This is a boring Opeth song that continues the boring era of the band. And with the album proposing to be a full concept suite, filled with narration and flute, telling the story of the reading of a man's will.... I'm already penciling it in for my worst of the year list. I can't find a single thing about this song, and the information already dropped about the album, that appeals to me.

Or, as the media would put it... "But his growls!"

Ad Infinitum - My Halo / Melissa Bonny - Gravitate

After a great album last year, Ad Infinitum is not letting their momentum wane. They already have a new album scheduled for this fall, and the first single shows us they remain a rather polarizing band for me. They are a fully modern band, which means there are too many influences that come through in their songs. "My Halo" has a good hook to it, which is all you really need, unless everything leading up to that falls too flat. Unfortunately, that's what happens here. The verses throw harsh vocals into the mix, which you could say add a heaviness, but it neutralizes the band's single best element; Melissa Bonny's voice. She is amazing, and anytime the vocals don't highlight that, it's a misstep. Also a misstep is the truly annoying blips of synth that come in after the chorus. The electronic elements add to the modern feel, but the particular sounds they have chosen are off-putting, and do not make me want to listen to the song again. It's a shocking decline in appeal from "Chapter III", and a damn shame.

At the same time, Melissa Bonny has released a solo single, which does some of the same things, but in a far more effective manner. "Gravitate" is still modern and heavy, but done with a sense of pop fun, letting her voice shine on a more infectious hook. I get why this might be a bit too mainstream for Ad Infinitum, but the two sides do not need to be pulled so far apart. "Chapter III" bridged the gap perfectly, and this song actually feels like the more logical continuation of Ad Infinitum's evolution. Their own song feels more like a detour than a natural turn. If this song is an indication of one side to Melissa's musical heart, I would embrace a full album going down this road. There's no reason she couldn't become as big as Amaranthe doing this style. She has more than enough talent.