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Damnation | 
 enlarge | Artist: Opeth
Label: Koch Records
Category: Music
List Price: $17.98
Buy New: $10.99
You Save: $6.99 (39%)
New (31) Used (15) from $9.23
Rating:  231 reviews
Sales Rank: 6530
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 8652
UPC: 099923865223
EAN: 0099923865223
ASIN: B00008OLYN
Release Date: April 22, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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| Tracks:
| • | Windowpane | | • | In My Time of Need | | • | Death Whispered a Lullaby | | • | Closure | | • | Hope Leaves | | • | To Rid the Disease | | • | Ending Credits | | • | Weakness |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Damnation is a complex and often acoustic album that demonstrates beyond question Opeth's high regard for the sweet harmonies and post-psychedelic atmospherics of '70s rockers such as Camel, Steve Hackett, and, especially, Barclay James Harvest. Which isn't to say this is a retro album; the aforementioned bands have been left out of rock history to such a degree that it's as if they never existed at all. Then there's Opeth's own pedigree. Steeped in the bloodier aspects of metal, singer Mikael Akerfeldt has no time for sweet love or fanciful flights of fantasy; he's trapped in post-relationship depression, drowning in loneliness and regret. His voice drifts beautifully over and under the band's dark folk and hypnotic soft-rock progressions, as chiming twin guitars that recall Wishbone Ash drop casually in and out. This music is intense and often moving—even without the shouting. --Dominic Wills
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| Customer Reviews:
 Beautiful album from heavy band June 15, 2008
Cloud (Canada)
Strangely, this is the first review I've done of an Opeth record even though I own 5. Part of it, like all Opeth releases, is that it takes a bit of time for the album to sink in and thanks to the ever-shifting changes in tempo, dynamics and song lengths, sometimes it takes awhile before you really "get" an Opeth release. Released after their 6th release, "Deliverance" which was one of their heaviest records, in comes "Damnation" which is one of their more softer, introspective and dare I say it, gorgeous releases. While some songs are just simply good, others are their best of their whole career.
Windowpane: With its eerie guitar chord intro, the album opens and leads into a gorgeous track complete with 2 great guitar solos and an effective bridge at 2:24 with guitars playing the same riff but out-of-sync. Longest track and a great opener. 9.5/10
In My Time of Need: Very chime-y guitar arpeggios start off though strangely I'm not a fan of the halted verse melody though of course that changes with the pre-chorus which leads into the chorus that really shows off Mikael Akerfeldt's vocals. Outro goes on a bit too long but oh well. 9/10
Death Whispered a Lullaby: Upbeat title no? Anyway, the opening acoustic riff is catchy and the chorus is another Akerfeldt standout but the song as a whole I never could get into all that much. I like the Pink Floyd-esque guitar solo though. 7.5/10
Closure: Emotive vocals and 12-string acoustics start us off before we get a repeating riff and few instances of distortion, and ending with a riff sounding like from the Middle East and more ethnic drumming until it unexpectedly cuts off. It's decent and I like parts of it, just not the whole. 6/10
Hope Leaves: A quite gorgeous song with everything from the chime-y arpeggios like track 2, Akerfeldt's vocals (I love the pre chorus), backing vocals from male to an ethereal female, this is easily one of the best songs on the album. 9.5/10
To Rid the Disease: A beautiful-yet-eerie guitar riff starts off the track and the chorus is pretty enough though it's not really stunning either. But adding the piano to mimic the guitar riff is a nice touch and the piano riff after the solo is absolutely gorgeous and very simple. It's one of those I like the song but love its parts. Weird, I know. 8/10
Ending Credits: Strangely, the title doesn't mean it's the last track of the album. It's an instrumental with an acoustic guitar providing simple chord progressions before the 2nd guitar basically solo's riffs throughout the whole thing. It's a fun song to play and it's peaceful though not really a put-on-repeat one. 8/10
Weakness: Strange organ sounds sounding sci-fi-esque and very minimal guitar playing makes this a very lowkey album closer though for a record like this, it seems oddly appropriate. Nice bit of winding down and nice to listen to though it probably won't go on your iPod...unless you got chill-out music on there. 8/10
It would be easy to recommend buying Damnation if you're not an Opeth fan already since it's so different than the others; on the other hand, it's for that reason why it's maybe not the best "starter" release since the others will surprise you. But still, it would be a shame if you didn't check out this release anyway.
 Another quality release from Opeth May 18, 2008
Jason D. West (omaha,ne)
I like Opeth. These guys consistently release quality material and Damnation is no different. My only beef with this album are the first three songs. The vocals are too, well, girly. They just dont do it for me. The remaining songs are wonderful and morosely beautiful. With a release like this I wonder why there are not more singles playing on like Mtv (my-bad they dont play music anymore) or adult contempo radio stations. Opeth does not suck and over 95% what is played on Adult contempo radio do suck. Still a large portion of American listeners are just too juvenile to like or understand quality music. (If you like bands like Opeth your not included).
If It would of gottne four stars if it werent for the first few songs.
Opeth does Prog March 1, 2008
M. R. Warren (Kalamazoo, Michigan United States)
I love this cd, I play it all the time. However, this is the only one like it. Essentially a death metal band, Steve Wilson of Porcupine Tree guided them for this project, bringing along with him his trusty Mellotron. Simply beautiful, and not another one like it!
 Enchanting February 3, 2008
Scott Wallace (Noblesville, IN USA)
An absolutely stunning album! The allure of Opeth is multi-faceted, but a key ingredient has always been their ability to intermingle haunting melodies and beautiful clean vocals with a more brutal, metallic approach. This album, seen as a companion to 2002's Deliverance, focuses solely on the clean vocals and less on the death vocals and riff driven, metal sounds, to create an amazing album that is positively trance inducing.
Opeth - Goes Melodic For A Fantastic Album November 8, 2007
Steven Sly (Kalamazoo, MI United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Opeth are one of the most unique bands in progressive metal at the moment. They are incredible musicians and posses a lead singer who can not only take on the best "cookie monster" vocal growls, but also has a flawless melodic singing voice. The band uses this to full advantage on their releases and has gained a world wide following. "Damnation" is a bit of a departure for the band. It is somewhat considered to be their acoustic album (although electric instruments are to be found throughout the disc). There are no growling vocals to be found here, and the album probably has more in common with Pink Floyd or Porcupine Tree than it does death metal. This will be a huge turnoff to some, thus some of the negative reviews I have read from metal purists, but this album is very rewarding and might attract a different audience from Opeth's usual fans. The album is quite depressing with music and lyrics that create a somber mood. With titles like "In My Time Of Need", "Death Whispered A Lullaby", and "Hope Leaves" you can pretty much tell that this is not going to be an upbeat listen. As previously mentioned the vocals from Mikael Akrerfeldt are simply gorgeous and the music is all melodic and moody. This album was released with a companion disc "Deliverance" which is mostly metal oriented stuff. Personally I like "Damnation" a lot better, but opinions will vary on this.
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