OUR LIST OF 2024’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 11): OPETH, BORKNAGAR

(written by Islander)

In yesterday’s installment of this list I think it’s fair to say that I spelunked pretty far underground with the selections, and (to mix my metaphors) veered off the beaten paths we usually beat around here. And so it seemed appropriate today to bounce back with songs from two bands of long standing and widespread veneration, both of whom released standout albums last year (though the first one wasn’t without its fan controversies).

I should add another explanation for today’s choices: I listened to hundreds of songs last year and found many of them infectious, as I define the word, far too many to include all of them in this list. And so part of what I try to do is to make choices that also provide a reflection and survey of metal in 2024, though in all cases my own tastes are still in command.

To find yesterday’s unconventional installment and all the other Parts of this list so far, click this link.

 

OPETH

I’m going to assume that all visitors who land here today have already listened to parts or all of Opeth‘s latest album, The Last Will And Testament, and already have firm opinions about it. So, I’ll dispense with commentary about the album as a whole, but will point you to the mini-review DGR included in his year-end list, Grover‘s brief comments about the record in his list, and those of Didrik in his, since I find my own reactions to the album very much in line with theirs, including the part where DGR wrote that he truly enjoyed it from front to back.

I think I was predisposed to put “§1” of the Will on this list because it was the first single, because I was so happy to hear how Opeth had reached back into elements of their sound I thought they’d shelved for good, and because I really did find it infectious (especially the work of the band’s tremendously talented rhythm section). When I had the chance to hear the whole album for the first time, I also wavered toward “§2” and “§5,” but ultimately settled on the ingeniously wild ride of “§4“. But why?

Well, I chalk it up to the funky rhythm-section work, the vividness of the darting and blurting fretwork, the range of vocal variations, the woodwind-sounding and flute-sounding fascinations, and even the refined and mysterious elegance of the interlude phases, but probably most of all the glorious guitar soloing which precedes the advent of ravaging growls, and the catchiness of the skittering rhythm-section interplay near the song’s end.

https://www.facebook.com/Opeth/

 

BORKNAGAR

Even though I think Borknagar, like Opeth, are also firmly ensconced in the greater pantheon of metal, I don’t think I can safely assume that anyone landing here today has already heard parts or all of their newest album, Fall. They’re probably not as universally studied or broadly loved as Opeth. So, I can point you to Gonzo’s mini-review or DGR’s extensive write-up when he put the album on his year-end list at No. 30.

Here again, I was torn about which song to include, though it was a foregone conclusion that I would include something, because I love the band and Fall. In the midst of all their beguiling folk melodies, their proggy diversions, and the charring from their fires, what has always grabbed me strongest in the band’s music are the glories portrayed when they rise like hawks and soar above vast northland expanses. And though they do this quite often, it’s the album opener “Summits” that I chose.

They do other gripping things in the song, thanks to racing drums, scorching screams, the melancholy moods that flow from their ancient-sounding and sweeping melodic cascades, and the passion in the sky-high singing. The initial softer and more mysterious phase of the song is also entrancing (infectious in its own way), but it’s what happens after that, when they really take flight, that accounts for this choice.

https://centurymedia.bandcamp.com/album/fall-24-bit-hd-audio
https://www.facebook.com/borknagarofficial