New label, new series and anti-Christian themes

Opt1999 album Still life – released on October 18, 1999 – was a big deal. It was their first and only release on Peaceville Records after leaving Candlelight and Century Black, and their first album to feature a longtime bassist. Martin Mendes. I’d say it was also a first Opt an album that will truly deliver that haunting, “evil lurking in the distance” sound we all know and love.

personally, Still life and: Blackwater Park those were the two albums that got me Opt as a teenager through the Prog genre Theater of dreams and: Porcupine Tree:eventually I was led down a darker path Opt – one I never got back to. Still life The second “The Moor” drew me into my headphones, and thank Satan for the repeat button on the CD-player boombox, because by the time “White Cluster” closed, I was ready for it all to begin. again.

Although the record received rave reviews upon its release and has been viewed positively by fans for years, Still life wasn’t much of a needle mover Optthe career of In an interview in 2019 Invisible oranges, Opt creator Michael Akerfeldt noted that Still life and the folks at Peaceville really only landed the band one major opportunity, their first US show at the original Milwaukee Metal Fest.

“Definitely, that’s how it happened [that Still Life was a failure, but an opportunity]. But you only live around the record, so when the new CD comes out, you ask, “What’s going on now? Oh well, nothing is happening. And it was a good two years between those two records, and two years with nothing is a long time. It was only when we were not accepted by Music for Nations Blackwater Park and the record that followed that we actually started having a career and started touring and stuff like that. But back Still life there was nothing…

“Except for one really good thing I remember from it Still life cycle… we played our first US show. We played the Milwaukee Metal Fest in 1998. 1999 [ed. note – it was 2000] When did that happen? We had a packed room. Someone said there were 2,000 people there, and we said, “What? Two thousand people? It’s similar Iron Maiden! [laughs] We saw that, yes, there are fans listening to this record. We just never said there was no way we could get that kind of response, except for a few mean comments on what little website we had at the time. But not much happened Still life — Of course, that was the catalyst for what was to come Blackwater Park and music for the nations.”

But what the hell? Still life about? That Travis Smith the cover art obviously suggests something, doesn’t it? By: Åkerfeldt in an interview with Metal upgrade, Still life It revolves around a small town heretic who returns to his very religious hometown and all the bad things that happen soon after.

“For the sake of My arms, your corpse it was like a ghost story. The main theme was that this man is dying. He’s kind of reborn as a ghost, and he stays in the same environment. He sees his loved ones, like family members and friends, move on with their lives. It’s almost like a movie. what is it called? It The sixth sense – he doesn’t realize he’s dead, but I actually wrote it before then Sixth sense came out. It’s almost like a movie.

“Still life was not a satanic but an anti-Christian theme. It seems quite naive when I explain it like this. It takes place a long time ago, when Christianity was more important than it is today. The main character is kind of an outcast from his hometown because he doesn’t have the same faith as the rest of the people there. The album basically begins with her returning after a few years to hook up with her old ‘babe’.

“Obviously, a lot of bad things start to happen, as I call it on the album, with ‘the tip.’ The big bosses of the city know that he is back to do a lot of bad things, they see him as a hypocrite.

Still life released in 1999 on October 18, but was not released in the US until 2001 due to distribution issues. February 27. Still life has also greatly decreased Optwhere “Moor” still plays some games in 2022 and 2023; and “Melinda’s Face” will return for the first time seven years ago earlier this year.

Anyway, go listen Still life. It’s just as great as it is 25 years after its release.