Ghost Reveries is the eighth full-length album by Swedish progressive metal bandOpeth. It was released on August 29, 2005. It was their first album after signing with Roadrunner Records, and first album since Blackwater Park to not be produced by Steven Wilson. Ghost Reveries is the first album by Opeth to include keyboardist Per Wiberg as a "permanent" member, and it is the last Opeth album to include drummerMartin Lopez and long-time guitarist Peter Lindgren. The album's only single is "The Grand Conjuration". A music video of the song was released, although about half of the song was edited from the video, due to the length of the song. Lopez does not appear in the video, as he was sick and was temporarily replaced by Gene Hoglan.
Background
For the first time since Still Life, the songs for Ghost Reveries were written for the album before going into the studio. This gave Opeth three weeks to rehearse and perfect the recording in the studio. The band had to decide whether to record the album at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, or at Sonic Ranch. They eventually chose Fascination Street Studios, as it was closer to their homes.
Style
The album marks a temporary return to the progressive metal styles of the previous albums and features death growls, though still includes some of the progressive rock elements of Damnation. Ghost Reveries was initially intended to be a concept album, with numerous tracks linking together a story of a man's turmoil after committing an unconscionable act, symbolised by killing his own mother. However, Mikael Åkerfeldt commented: The album only partly portrays a concept, not fully arranged in the poetic manner as previous releases such as Still Life and My Arms, Your Hearse. "The Baying of the Hounds" is partially inspired by lyrics from the song "Diana" from Comus's album First Utterance.
Artwork
The artwork was created after the completion of the album. Åkerfeldt commented on the artwork, saying:
Reception
Ghost Reveries received critical acclaim and peaked on the Billboard 200 at number 64. In 2014, TeamRock put Ghost Reveries at #46 on their "Top 100 Greatest Prog Albums Of All Time" list commenting that "this was a partial concept album, with Satanism as its theme. It’s now regarded as one of the defining albums of 21st-century progressive metal." Loudwire placed the album at #3 on their "Top 100 Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Albums of the 21st Century" list, only being beaten out by System of a Down's Toxicity and Tool's Lateralus.
Release
Ghost Reveries was released in Europe on August 29, 2005, and in North America on August 30, 2005. A special edition of the album was released by Roadrunner Records on October 31, 2006. It is packaged in a large digipak and contains a CD and DVD, along with new cover art and an extended booklet featuring extra album artwork and a letter from Åkerfeldt. The CD contains the original tracks from the album, as well as a bonuscover of "Soldier of Fortune" by Deep Purple, which was recorded as a live take with the band's new drummer, Martin Axenrot. The DVD contains a Dolby 5.1 surround sound mix, a 40-minute documentary, and the video for "The Grand Conjuration". This documentary details the making of Ghost Reveries, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the band's day-to-day life while recording and touring. Some copies of Ghost Reveries were mastered using HDCD. Although it is unmarked, playing the album in a CD player able to decode HDCD will give superior sound quality. "Ghost of Perdition" is included in the soundtrack for the video gameSaints Row 2on the radio station Krunch 106.66. As of November 29, 2011, it is also available for download for the video game Rock Band 3. "The Grand Conjuration" is included in the soundtrack for the video game Sleeping Dogs, on the radio station "roadrunner records". It is also included in the soundtrack for the video game , being the boss battle theme song of one of the game's bosses, Famine.
