Opeth – Garden Of The Titans (2018) (****)

What’s to like?

“I hear a voice on the air, It has a warning to share”

Enjoyable audio visual set from progressive metal “titans” Opeth, filmed on their recent Sorceress tour. Worth at least one viewing but perhaps not as dramatic and engaging as previous releases.

The low down

You can always rely on Opeth to come up with groovy titles for their releases, and this concert release is no exception. Although given Mikael Akerfeldt’s self-deprecating sense of humour, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t consider his band Titans….or does he?

Opeth’s last dvd release was back in 2010, and it’s fair to say that the albums released since then have had a turbulent reception, with the more metal-minded fans accusing the band of selling out, and the more prog-minded fans embracing the new music but decrying the older songs because of the growled singing style. Some simply think Opeth have lost their way.

Me? I like where they’re headed, and can happily listen to both the intense stuff like Deliverance and the more seventies-infused music on the Pale Communion and Sorceress albums. [You can read my thoughts on the latter album here.]

And the seventies are writ large on the artwork for this release:

           

I caught the Sorceress tour last year and it was one of the best shows I saw, with a balanced set-list of old and new, and every song getting equal respect and commitment from the players. [The gig review can be found here.]

Opeth aren’t the most dynamic of bands onstage, focussing more on the complex music rather than throwing stage poses and engaging with the audience, and with only some modest backdrop screens for visual effect. So it really does come down to the quality of the music and its performance, which makes it a challenge for the editing team when compiling the footage for a concert dvd.

The good news is that Garden Of The Titans is an easy watch. There is none of the razor fast editing that makes other concert dvds a struggle on the eyes, and the photography and lighting manage to capture the drama of a night-time show in an outdoor setting. The band chose to film their 2017 show at the famous Red Rocks amphitheatre in Colorado, which affords the music a dramatic backdrop and some interesting visuals.

Opening track Sorceress:

Opeth were clearly battling the elements this night, as the wind sweeps in mid-set and there are some great images of the band looking rock-star cool as their hair blows around them, silhouetted by the stage lights. But it must have been a cold one, as you can see them stoically driving on with the music, while the shots of the audience see them all wrapping up in thermals and woollies.

But beyond these striking images, the camerawork is simply competent rather than adventurous, so Titans is pretty much a plug and play kind of set. Which is fine if all you’re wanting is to hear is the music, with a a mixture of wide angle shots of the whole band and close-ups during solos. I opted to buy this on bluray, but to be honest I’m not sure that image is as sharp as it could be, and if your gear only stretches to standard definition dvd, you’ll still be fine.

On the audio front, you get the expected options of a stereo or surround mix. The stereo mix is the more aggressive of the two, but I found that the surround mix offers better overall ambience – during the gaps between songs, you can hear the wind blowing through the rear speakers!

The music is well mixed, and arguably the tracks from the newer albums have better sound definition and clarity than their studio counterparts, which suffer from muddy sounding mixes. Although Opeth are primarily a guitar band, the keyboards have become noticeably more prominent in the band’s sound in recent years, and not just in the studio.

Older material has also been given a makeover by the current live line-up, with the keyboards much higher in the mix, almost on a par with the guitars, giving familiar songs a new lease of life. Perhaps at times the keys are just a bit too forward in the mix, as I struggled to recognise some of the music on occasion.

And yes, the band’s unfortunate tradition of technical gremlins on the night of filming continues with this release. This time around, Akerfeldt’s guitar loses its mojo just as they’re about to tear into the main riff on Demon Of The Fall. But kudos to the guys for not editing it out afterwards, in spite of Akerfeldt joking with the audience that all the ****-ups would magically disappear by the time the concert arrived in their homes.

The one thing that did strike me with this show however, was the muted interplay between band and audience, compared to the RAH or Roundhouse shows. Akerfeldt’s laconic banter between songs seemed to fall flat, and his efforts to parody American rawk-speak had me cringing. The audience don’t seem to have much to say either, unlike their unruly UK counterparts.

On the one hand it’s refreshing to watch an Opeth show where the band aren’t being bawled out for not being metal enough, but on the other hand the downtime between songs does drag the pace. Opeth always seem to spend an inordinate amount of time tuning up between songs, and if Akerfeldt is engaging with the crowd it’s fine, but on this set it felt a little stilted.

But once the songs kick off, it’s great stuff. A good spread of the old and the new, and tracks not present on previous concert dvds. The band play impeccably, and when you crank up the volume there’s plenty of drama and excitement to stir your speakers. Akerfeldt just about gets through the growled vocal sections, but he sounds so much stronger on the cleaner vocals, and his voice really rings out across the Red Rocks amphitheatre.

So is it worth a punt? Well, if you’re a fan of the band’s current affinity with seventies prog and heavy rock then this is a nice compact show that is easy to sit down with for 90 minutes. However, older fans lamenting the gradual move away from the death growls and aggressive metal style may feel less enthused, and prefer to stick with the Roundhouse and Albert Hall sets.

Still, a concert release showcasing the more recent material was overdue, and Garden Of The Titans serves as a timely closure on this particular period of the band’s career.

“The end of an era, one starts anew”