End of Abyss - Escape to a New Empire (2026
Escape to a New Empire Review
This week was the 10th anniversary of Sorceress by Opeth. The album was originally released on September 30th 2016 via Nuclear Blast Records. I have always enjoyed this album by Opeth and I am glad I sat down and listened to it this week because I hadn’t fully listened to the album in a while.
Aqualung consists of 12....
Artwork
The artwork of "Aqualung" is iconic in the world of both progressive rock and classic rock. There is not another album cover that even vaguely resembles this one its that unique.
Songs
The album starts off with a short but haunting acoustic song called Persephone. It’s short, sweet and beautiful.
Next up is the title track Sorceress. This is probably the most popular song on the album and it’s great. I love the guitars, vocals and lyrics in this song. Some other songs that I want to highlight are...
Will o the Wisp is an amazing song that reminds me a lot of prime Jethro Tull. Mikael captured the spirt Tull wonderfully within that song. The guitar work is also spectacular.
The Seventh Sojourn is one of my favorite songs on the album. Its title is a reference to the Moody Blues album of the same name released in 1972. It’s mostly an instrumental song but the end section is the best moment of the entire album. To describe it in words it’s a quiet but haunting vocal section that evokes a sense of pleasure as well as confusion and sadness.
Era is another one of my favorite songs on the album. The rhythm and guitar work alone is fantastic and I used to listen to this song a lot back when this album first came out.
Final thoughts
While many fans of the band prefer their earlier albums with death growls I actually very much enjoy this heavier prog era of Opeth with clean vocals. Mikael is a great vocalist and even though I also enjoy Opeth’s earlier albums with the growls I also love the mix of growls and clean vocals found on many of their older albums like Blackwater Park. I am also a big fan of their album “Damnation" from 2003 which was the first album to feature clean guitars and vocals. I feel like Heritage, Pale Communion and Sorceress are spiritual successors to the album Damnation. That being said Opeth is a great band and regardless of which era you prefer you can’t deny that Sorceress is a very unique and great album.
Track listing
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Vultures
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Astral Dreams
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One For The Broken
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Parasites of the Stream
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Incomplete
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Fraudulent Rant
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Veritas
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Island of Isolated Minds
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Sound Of Soul
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Escape to a New Empire
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