Opeth - In Cauda Venenum (Swedish Version)

Sweden’s Opeth release their most important record to date with In Cauda Venenum. Certainly, fans and critics will have their opinion, but few records in the Swedes’ oeuvre are as engaging, delicate, panoramic, intense, and musical as Opeth’s lucky thirteenth.

Sporting a clever Travis Smith cover - replete with inside jokes and a nod to King Diamond - a masterful Park Studios (The Hellacopters, Graveyard) production, Opeth’s usual five-star musicianship, and lyrics entirely in Swedish, In Cauda Venenum raises the bar markedly.

In a way, Opeth have come home. But the Swedish lyrics of the primary edition of In Cauda Venenum shouldn’t distract from the quality presented in Opeth’s new songs, the lot of which sneak up and take control after repeated listens. In Cauda Venenum is like that, tricky in its complicated simplicity, resourceful in its ability to charm with delightful if wistful melodies. Really, it’s just Opeth being Opeth.

Heavyweight double vinyl produced by Nuclear Blast in 2019. Gatefold sleeve.