''My Arms, Your Hearse'' is the third full-length studio album by Swedish
progressive metal
Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...
band
Opeth
Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikael ...
, released in August 1998. It was the band's first album to be released simultaneously in Europe, through
Candlelight Records
Candlelight Records is a British record label based in England and founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bassist Lee Barrett, though it has had a division in the United States since January 2001. Candlelight Records specialises in black metal ...
, and in the United States, through
Century Black
Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million.
Background
Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...
.
Background
''My Arms, Your Hearse'' was the first Opeth album with drummer
Martin Lopez Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austra ...
, who answered a newspaper ad that Opeth put up searching for this spot to be taken after
Anders Nordin
Opeth is a Swedish progressive metal/ rock band from Stockholm, formed in 1990 by lead vocalist David Isberg. The group has been through several personnel changes, including the replacement of every original member; notably Isberg in 1992. Mikae ...
left. Shortly thereafter the band also brought in
Martín Méndez
Martín Méndez (born April 6, 1978, in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan Swedish bassist of progressive death metal band Opeth and second longest serving member of the band, behind lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt ...
, a friend and previous bandmate of Lopez. However, Mendez did not have enough time to learn the bass parts for the album, so frontman
Mikael Åkerfeldt
Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (; born 17 April 1974)[Mikael Åkerfeldt](_blank)
, Op ...
played bass for the entire recording session.
[Session diary of ''My Arms, Your Hearse''](_blank)
All of the songs on ''My Arms, Your Hearse'' are shorter than ten minutes, whereas on Opeth's previous album, ''
Morningrise
''Morningrise'' is the second studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. It was released on 24 June 1996 in Europe by Candlelight Records and on 24 June 1997 in the United States by Century Black. The recording sessions took place at ...
'', every song exceeds this length. The album is dedicated to Lee Barrett (of Candlelight Records).
The title of the album is derived from the lyrics of the song "Drip, Drip" by the band
Comus
In Greek mythology, Comus (; grc, Κῶμος, ''Kōmos'') is the god of festivity, revels and nocturnal dalliances. He is a son and a cup-bearer of the god Dionysus. He was represented as a winged youth or a child-like satyr and represents ana ...
.
Concept
Åkerfeldt wrote all the lyrics before the music was written,
to create Opeth's first
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
. Each song ends with the title of the next song. For example, “April Ethereal” ends with the word “when”, which is the name of the next track.
Artwork
The cover of this album was captured by their guitarist (at the time) Peter Lindgren. The original picture was taken in late 1997, somewhere in Sweden. The effects were added later on. The figure seen in the middle is Lindgren's girlfriend in a costume with makeup on.
Reception
''My Arms, Your Hearse'' was widely praised by critics. Steve Huey of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
said that it "flows logically from one composition to the next, and the mostly long songs have enough variation in texture and mood to hold the listener's interest fairly consistently".
Jeb of ''Metal Faith'' magazine said, "each song sort of flows into the next giving the whole album a unified feel".
Jeff of ''Mid West Metal'' magazine commented, "having never been exposed to Opeth, I had them pegged as a typical black metal bands that sings about love and relationships and crap like that. I really didn't expect to get blown out of the water when 'April Ethereal' kicked in, from this point I am converted! And while the album has some mellow parts and some folk-ish characteristics, it's still a very intense album from a band who seems to have not forgotten how the fuck they got their current plateau in life."
Christian Renner of ''Metal Crypt'' wrote, "the musicianship is brilliant as always and the songwriting is just what you would expect from this incredibly talented group. This is another great album that most bands out there would give their right arm to have written and that statement just speaks volumes of the songwriting talent of the Åkerfeldt/Lindgren team."
Pedro Azevedo of ''
Chronicles of Chaos'' said of the album, "though some parts of the drum sound are somewhat awkward at times (new drummer and bass player, by the way), the
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...
performance is as great as one would expect, and Akerfeldt's vocals are again amazing. Top quality sections just flow throughout the album, making it truly -excellent-. ''My Arms, Your Hearse'' is a indeed a brilliant proof that Swedish metal isn't entirely stagnant."
''Tartarean Desires critic Cseke Róbert wrote, "this record is more powerful and more beautiful than most of today's music from this genre. The entire record is a mixture of hell-bound adrenalin and soul... ''My Arms, Your Hearse'' is such a powerful album that I consider it one of the best of the genre."
Demonic Tutor (Olivier Espiau) of ''
Metal Storm
Metal Storm Limited was a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in electronically initiated superposed load weapons technology and owned the proprietary rights to the electronic ballistics technolog ...
'' stated the album is a "trip to heaven" and also:
Tim Henderson of ''
Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles
''Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'' (''BW&BK'') is a Canadian heavy metal magazine. Although based in Toronto, Canada, ''BW&BK'' features writers from the US, Germany and the UK, allowing the magazine to represent metal music from an internationa ...
'' said "you are in for a treat, easily described as the
black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...
version of ''
The Dark Side of the Moon
''The Dark Side of the Moon'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. The album was primarily developed during live performances, and the band premiered an early version of ...
'' in all its pride and glory. In fact, if
Gilmour joined
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
, or if
Cradle took sides with
Yes, can ''My Arms, Your Hearse'' be truly described".
[MAYH Reviews](_blank)
. Opeth.com. Retrieved July 10, 2011 "''My Arms, Your Hearse'' is a milestone in '90s
extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...
", wrote Chris Bruni in his review for ''Unrestrained!'' magazine. He also wrote that the album is "easily their most stunning achievement" and "the songs are stronger, heavier, more cohesive, with a stronger sound courtesy of
Studio Fredman, and the textures and song movements are some of the best executed structures to be heard in
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
".
Track listing
Personnel
Credits for ''My Arms, Your Hearse'' adapted from liner notes.
Opeth
*
Mikael Åkerfeldt
Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (; born 17 April 1974)[Mikael Åkerfeldt](_blank)
, Op ...
– vocals, guitars, bass, piano
*
Peter Lindgren – guitars, photography
*
Martin Lopez Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austra ...
– drums
Production
* Fredrik Nordström –
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
, mixing,
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
on "Epilogue"
*
Anders Fridén
Pär Anders Fridén (born 25 March 1973) is a Swedish vocalist, best known as the lead singer of Heavy metal music, heavy metal band In Flames. He was also the vocalist of Dark Tranquillity and Passenger (Swedish band), Passenger, a side project ...
– engineering
* Göran Finnberg –
mastering
* Tom Martinsen – graphic design
Release history
This is the second Opeth album with a major delayed release (the first being ''Orchid'') and the recording for ''My Arms, Your Hearse'' was done a year before its release, just like ''Orchid''. ''My Arms, Your Hearse'' was released on 18 August 1998 simultaneously in Europe and the United States on CD by
Candlelight Records
Candlelight Records is a British record label based in England and founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bassist Lee Barrett, though it has had a division in the United States since January 2001. Candlelight Records specialises in black metal ...
and
Century Black
Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million.
Background
Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...
, respectively. It was released in Poland by Mystic Production on
cassette
Cassette may refer to:
Technology
* Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback
** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...
. The album was reissued in 2000 on CD by Candlelight Records and on LP by
Displeased Records
Displeased Records was a Dutch independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterp ...
. The LP was limited to 1,000 copies. These reissues contain two bonus tracks, "Circle of the Tyrants" and "Remember Tomorrow".
[Opeth: My Arms, Your Hearse](_blank)
. Opeth.com. Retrieved July 9, 2011. They are covers of songs that were only previously available on two separate tribute albums, ''
In Memory of Celtic Frost'' and ''
A Call to Irons: A Tribute to Iron Maiden'', respectively.
A Call to Irons: A Tribute to Iron Maiden, Vol. 1
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
. Retrieved July 9, 2011. A special edition was released by Candlelight in 2003.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:My Arms, Your Hearse
1998 albums
Albums produced by Fredrik Nordström
Albums recorded at Studio Fredman
Candlelight Records albums
Century Media Records albums
Concept albums
Opeth albums