Korn‘s Jonathan Davis was so excited by ORGY that he created his own record label …
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Intense
In May 2017, Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado hosted legendary Swedish heavy prog band Opeth, who unleashed a truly epic set before several thousand fans gathered in the wild night air, nestled amongst the primal cliffs of the amphitheatre.
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Opeth have graced some of the most iconic stages around the world in their commitment to stellar live performance, and now this set at Red Rocks will be released as Opeth’s fourth live album, Garden Of The Titans: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Garden Of The Titans will be released on DVD/Blu-Ray, but as always with Opeth, the audio recording truly captures the live music moment.
Garden Of The Titans is above and beyond a tight, polished live recording, kicking off with the frontispiece of a delightfully textured version of 2016’s Sorceress. In an echo of Opeth’s live album history, a classy version of Ghost of Perdition and a thunderingly modern version of Demon Of The Fall get the set rolling. Immediately apparent, vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt still has one of the most profound guttural growls in metal. Both these tracks appeared on Opeth’s live classic The Roundhouse Tapes [2007] and in this reiteration, are the first official live recordings of these songs to feature now-longstanding guitarist Fredrik Åkesson. While drummer Martin Axenrot featured on the Roundhouse live version of Demon Of The Fall in the early stages of his tenure with Opeth, this 2018 live track of Opeth’s live set mainstay showcases Axenrot stronger than ever.
Opeth are renowned for their immense and rich sound on their live recordings, often outstripping even their own studio versions of songs.
Opeth are renowned for their immense and rich sound on their live recordings, often outstripping even their own studio versions of songs. The Garden Of The Titans live cut of material from Sorceress [2016] captures decidedly fuller, heavier versions. In particular The Wilde Flowers is a tough, dense edition of this 2016 song. Although Opeth began their live album discography a fair while after their studio debut they have made up speed by carefully selecting setlists for live recordings to include songs that have yet to be covered as live tracks. This time, Watershed’s rollicking rollercoaster of shifting dynamics Heir Apparent [2008] is added, among others, to Opeth’s live track corpus.
Closing the set at Red Rocks Amphitheater is Opeth’s live anthem Deliverance. Garden Of The Titans is bound to entrance Opeth adherents and fans of prog metal performance in general. Opeth have tastefully built on their live album catalogue with an intense concert performed at one of North America’s most majestic venues.
STANDOUT TRACKS: Ghost of Perdition, The Wilde Flowers, Deliverance.
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Opeth live recordings – Lamentations, The Roundhosue Tapes, In Live Concert At The Royal Albert Hall.
