Ghost Reveries
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| Studio album by Opeth | ||||||||||
| Released | August 29, 2005 | |||||||||
| Recorded | March 15–June 1, 2005 | |||||||||
| Length | 66:46 | |||||||||
| Label | Roadrunner | |||||||||
| Producer | Jens Bogren, Opeth | |||||||||
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Special edition CD/DVD 2006
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| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  |
| Alternative Press | |
| Blabbermouth.net |  |
| Chronicles of Chaos |  |
| Kerrang! | |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.4/10 |
| PopMatters | |
| Terrorizer |  |
Ghost Reveries is the eighth full-length album by Swedish heavy metal band Opeth. It was released on August 29, 2005. It was their first album after signing with Roadrunner Records.
Ghost Reveries is the first album by Opeth to include keyboardist Per Wiberg as a "permanent" member (although Wiberg contributed keyboard work to Opeth's live performances starting around the time of Lamentations), and it is the last Opeth album to include drummer Martin Lopez and long-time guitarist Peter Lindgren.
The album's only single is "The Grand Conjuration". A music video of the song was released, although about half of the song was edited from the video, due to the length of the song. Lopez does not appear in the video, as he was sick and was temporarily replaced by Gene Hoglan.
For the first time since Still Life, the songs for Ghost Reveries were written for the album before going into the studio. This gave Opeth three weeks to rehearse and perfect the recording in the studio. The band had to decide whether to record the album at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, or at Sonic Ranch. They eventually chose Fascination Street Studios, as it was closer to their homes.
Ghost Reveries was initially intended to be a concept album, with numerous tracks linking together a story of a man's turmoil after committing an unconscionable act, symbolised by killing his own mother. However, Mikael Åkerfeldt commented:
"I had intended to do a occult concept piece lyrically and got off to a great start with some downright evil lyrics like "The Baying of the Hounds" and "Ghost of Perdition", then I did "Isolation Years" which had nothing to do with the intended concept but I liked it so much I decided to ease up on the concept idea in favour of this one lyric. Why I decided on a occult theme? Well, I've always been intrigued by it, especially Satanism and stuff like that. I studied some books that oddly enough my wife had in her collection like "Servants of Satan" as well as "Witchcraft and Sorcery" + some more. I figured it'd be interesting to see what a mature 31 year old mind would make of this subject as opposed to the 16 year old kid who used to pose in front of his Bathory poster. I'm quite happy with them to be honest, and they're ... evil!"
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Wikipedia