Heritage

iTunes Review

Opeth’s 10th studio album plays like an equal tribute to early Yes recordings and the band’s keyboardist Per Wiberg, who left the Swedish metal band following its recording. Heritage marks a final shift from Opeth’s death metal trappings as it fully embraces progressive metal. Wiberg’s unaccompanied grand piano introduces the opening title track with a melancholy solo before the band joins in on “The Devil’s Orchard”. He switches from piano to Hammond B-3 organ and an eerie-sounding Mellotron as singer Mikael Åkerfeldt abandons his death growls for melodic inflections. The song’s instrumental interlude feeds from the roots of prog rock with clever time signatures and vintage instruments recalling early-’70s recordings by the late, great Bo Hansson. British folk–inspired acoustic arpeggios dance around “I Feel the Dark”, with Mellotron woodwinds lending an authentically classic sound. Fans of early Hawkwind and Deep Purple will warm to the familiar tones of “Slither”, while “Famine” plays like a Latin–tinged King Crimson. Both “Pyre” and “Face in the Snow” make for impressive bonus tracks.