Pale communion

Pale communion
Studio album by Opeth
Publication (s)	August 25, 2014
Label (s)	Roadrunner Records
Format (s)	CD, LP, BD
Genre (s)	Progressive rock , progressive metal
Title (number)	8 (+2 bonus tracks)
running time	55:48 (67:39 with bonus tracks)
occupation	Mikael Åkerfeldt - electric guitar , acoustic guitar , vocals Fredrik Åkesson - electric guitar, rhythm guitar Joakim Svalberg - piano , keyboard Martin Mendez - electric bass Martin Axenrot - drums , percussion Steven Wilson - vocals
production	Mikael Åkerfeldt
Studio (s)	Rockfield Studios, Monmouthshire , Wales ; Junkmail Studios, Stockholm ; No Mans Land Studios, Hemel Hempstead ; Angel Studios, London .
chronology Heritage (2011) Pale communion Sorceress (2016)

Pale Communion is the eleventh studio album by the Swedish progressive metal band Opeth , which was released on August 25, 2014 on Roadrunner Records . With third place in the German album charts , it was the group's most commercially successful release in Germany to date . The successor Sorceress was able to establish itself in first place in 2016.

Musical style

The style change already apparent on Watershed (2008) and carried out on Heritage (2011) in favor of retrospective progressive rock elements , accompanied by the renunciation of characteristic death and black metal stylistic devices , the combination of which always marked Opeth's musical direction, is on Pale Communion consistently continued. Mikael Åkerfeldt is the author of all the titles and also acted as producer . The mixing was again done by Steven Wilson .

The opening title Eternal Rains Will Come exemplifies two distinctive elements of the album with jazz-oriented drum characters and polyphonic vocal lines, on which the sound of the Hammond organ also dominates. Once again , there are no growls on the entire album for Heritage and Damnation , which was released in 2003 .

As the title Slither on the previous album a deliberate musical reminiscence of the band Rainbow took for himself, Opeth honor here titled Goblin the style of the Italian progressive rock group Goblin . The title marks the only purely instrumental piece on the album.

Due to its diametrical break from a country or folk music- oriented origin to largely instrumental song structures characterized by harder guitar riffs , which are traversed with various solo interludes of guitar and keyboard instruments, the piece River represents an innovative novelty by Pale Communion .

The use of a string orchestra in Faith in Others and Voice of Treason rounds off the number of exceptional moments on the album.

The bonus titles Solitude ( Black Sabbath ) and Var Kommer Barnen In (Hansson de Wolfe United), which are only available for download, were recorded in April 2012 at a concert in Stockholm.

The group made the album available in full on the Internet in advance of its official release.

Track list

All pieces were written by Mikael Åkerfeldt unless otherwise stated.

1. Eternal Rains Will Come - 6:43
2. Cusp of Eternity - 5:36
3. Moon Above, Sun Below - 10:53
4. Elysian Woes - 4:48
5. Goblin - 4:34
6. River - 7:33
7. Voice of Treason - 8:00
8. Faith in Others - 7:41

Bonus tracks

1. Solitude (live) ( Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , Bill Ward , Ozzy Osbourne ) - 5:59
2. Var Kommer Barnen In (live) ( Lorne de Wolfe , Dick Hansson ) - 5:52

live

On the Pale Communion Tour , which started in 2014 , the titles Eternal Rains Will Come , Cusp Of Eternity and Elysian Woes were performed . On September 19th, the song Voice Of Treason was played live for the first time in Plovdiv , Bulgaria with orchestra accompaniment .

Artwork

The concept of the cover design comes from Mikael Åkerfeldt and was realized by the American graphic artist Travis Smith . Despite the striking resemblance of the cover to the 1971 live album Pictures at an Exhibition by the group Emerson, Lake and Palmer , a reference to it is not intended by Pale Communion .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ musicline.de: Opeth longplay chart tracking. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 30, 2015 ; accessed on September 22, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Mike Akerfeldt in an interview on the-pit.de. Retrieved August 30, 2015 . 
3. ↑ Pale Communion on opeth.com. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 29, 2015 ; accessed on August 30, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ visions.de: Opeth are streaming their new album "Pale Communion" in full length in advance. Retrieved August 15, 2015 . 
5. ↑ setlist.fm: Opeth> Tour Statistics. Retrieved August 15, 2015 . 
6. ↑ setlist.fm: Opeth> September 19, 2015 Setlist. Retrieved September 22, 2015 . 
7. ↑ Pale Communion on opeth.com. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 29, 2015 ; accessed on August 30, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Interview with Mike Åkerfeldt on Invisible Oranges. Retrieved August 15, 2015 .