Opeth "Pale Communion"

Pale Communion is the eleventh studio album by Swedish progressive rock band Opeth. The album was released on 25 August 2014 through Roadrunner Records. The album was produced by Mikael Åkerfeldt and mixed by Steven Wilson. Pale Communion is the first album with keyboardist Joakim Svalberg after the departure of Per Wiberg in 2011. The album sold 19,090 copies in its first week of release in the United States, debuting at number 19 on the Billboard 200.

Mikael Åkerfeldt said of the album, "I wanted to do something more melodic with this album, so there's stronger vocal melodies and more melodies overall for this album." Greg Kennelty of Metal Injection said the album does not contain "growls or death metal vocals". He also described the album as "the missing link between Damnation and Ghost Reveries or if Heritage was written directly after Ghost Reveries without Watershed having ever existed".

AllMusic's Thom Jurek has compared the album to Deep Purple's In Rock and King Crimson's early music, as well as noting the influence from jazz fusion.

The cover art was designed by Travis Smith, who has designed several previous Opeth album covers. The artwork contains Latin text. The left panel quotes Axel Oxenstierna: "Don't you know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?" (An nesci, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur?). The middle panel quotes Terence: "In these days friends are won through flattery, the truth gives birth to hate." (Hoc tempore obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit, Andria, vv. 67-68). The right panel quotes Marcus Valerius Martialis: "He grieves truly who grieves without a witness." (Ille dolet vere qui sine teste dolet, Epigrammata, I, 33).

Pale Communion was met with positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic (a review aggregator site which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from music critics), based on 12 critics, the album has received a score of 75/100, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews.

Track listing

All tracks written by Mikael Åkerfeldt.

1. "Eternal Rains Will Come" 6:43
2. "Cusp of Eternity" 5:35
3. "Moon Above, Sun Below" 10:52
4. "Elysian Woes" 4:47
5. "Goblin" (instrumental) 4:32
6. "River" 7:30
7. "Voice of Treason" 8:00
8. "Faith in Others" 7:39

Total length: 55:45

• Recorded at:

　- Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, UK.

　- Junkmail Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. (Lead vocals)

　- Atlantis studios in Stockholm, Sweden. (Hammond organ)

　- Angel studios in London, UK. (Strings)

• Mixed at No Man's Land Studios in Hemel Hempstead, UK.

• Mastered at Audio Archiving Company in London, UK.

October Tide "Rain Without End"

October Tide is a Swedish death/doom metal side project that was created in 1995 by Katatonia vocalist Jonas Renkse and then-Katatonia guitarist Fred Norrman.

Rain Without End is the first album by death/doom metal band October Tide. This is the only October Tide release with Jonas Renkse on vocals. The album was reissued on 10 November 2008.

Track listing

1. "12 Days of Rain" 06:43
2. "Ephemeral" 06:22
3. "All Painted Cold" 05:45
4. "Sightless" 06:28
5. "Losing Tomorrow" 02:35
6. "Blue Gallery" 05:43
7. "Infinite Submission" 05:36

Total length: 39:12

Recorded at Unisound in Örebro, Sweden, in 1995.

Nocturnal Rites "The Sacred Talisman"

The Sacred Talisman is the third album by Swedish power metal band Nocturnal Rites, their second on Century Media.

Nocturnal Rites started off as death metal, recording one demo and a promo in this style. After a few years their sound gradually became more melodic and by the time they released their first album they were playing power metal.

Mattias Bernhardsson played keyboards on the first two albums on a session basis before being added to the official line-up for The Sacred Talisman, Afterlife and Shadowland, after which he left. Keyboards are now for the most part played by Henrik Kjellberg.

Fredrik Mannberg played lead guitar until Nils Norberg joined the band. He has almost exclusively played rhythm since then. He was also the band's vocalist until 1993.

Track listing

1. "Destiny Calls" - 3:58
2. "The Iron Force" - 4:20
3. "Ride On" - 3:16
4. "Free at Last" - 3:49
5. "Hold On to the Flame" - 4:08
6. "Eternity Holds" - 4:00
7. "When Fire Comes to Ice" - 3:48
8. "The Legend Lives On" - 5:57
9. "The King's Command" - 3:24
10. "Unholy Powers" - 3:12
11. "Glorious" - 3:23
12. "Journey through Time" (bonus track on the Japanese version)

Mourning Sign "Mourning Sign"

Mourning Sign is a Progressive Death Metal band from Hallstahammar, Sweden formed in 1992.

Mourning Sign is their self-titled debut, released in 1994.

Additional engineering at Studio Underground, Västerås, Sweden, August 1994. Co-Co-produced by Mourning Sign.

Mournful Gust "For All The Sins"

Mournful Gust is an Ukrainian Death/Doom Metal band. The band came together in 1999 featuring members of two other local bands: Temple of Oblivion and Vae Solis.

For All The Sins is their third album, released September 23nd, 2013.