i gave it a listen but yeah i wish mikael would go back to the older cleans but this is better than anything in the last 10 years that ive heard from them. I wrote them off a long time ago when they stopped the prog death metal tunes, but i do respect mikael for just doing what he wants to do, even if its not my jam. I wish they kept up with the style of my arms your hearse/blackwater park/deliverance, but i just accept that opeth wont go back there. I did seen them live back in like 2006 and it was sick when they still played a ton of death metal songs.
It wasn’t bad. The growls are on point, no question. The song structure and riffs didn’t do much for me. I will remain cautiously excited that there might be a little more death metal on this record…I want RIFFS!