Celebrating 30 years of music-making, Opeth released their 13th album, In Cauda Venenum. The album was released in both Swedish and English.
The band has always been about extravagance in sound, and this album is dynamic and creative, featuring funky bass, a vocal preference for singing over screaming, a progessive sound and catchy theme intertwined with orchestral glory. For a handful of tracks, menacing voices and laughter are added as an undertone. Drifting further away from their death metal roots, In Cauda Venenum opens with an intense choir of sound. It’s gorgeously melodic, featuring a signature ‘70s metal sound, heavy chord progressions, colourful acoustics, and some eerie synth.
The lyrics are the most fascinating part of this album. It seems that Mikael Åkerfeldt, the primary songwriter Opeth’s songs, is struggling while he watches society turn into something meaningless and empty. While there’s clear commentary on society, there also may be commentary about hanging onto or struggling with hanging onto religion. In “All Things Will Pass” the lyrics talk of an “old tradition” in the midst of chaos: “A simple test in an iron cage / Old tradition in a modern age / Strong and true are the weak at heart / I am you, you am I.”
“Heart in Hand” is the third track and contains clear societal commentary, acknowledging that we’re overwhelmed by information and that it’s getting harder and harder to find the truth: “Factual drowning stream, you believe / Slaves will follow conspiracy / Turn the locks on brother and kin.”
In the same song there’s a calling out of society for its shallowness and worship of the wrong things, such as monarchy, symmetry, beauty, and quick temporary highs: “And while losing ground, make sure to worship monarchy / Death is but a story in a land of borrowed wealth / The burdened scale weighs heavy with the hunt for dopamine.” A critique on extreme wealth divisions are present in the lyrics of “The Garrator:” “The beautiful people look down from ruby vantage points/While in the gutter, starvation invites us to join.”
The lyrics for “Next of Kin” portray a possible feeling of isolation from society: “I am outside waiting / Outside waiting / Am I the last one of my kind / Who’s afraid of dying? / But I would perish to save a child / And give all I can for love.”
In some of the English versions of the songs, children speaking in Swedish are left untranslated. In “Charlatan” a child is being asked about their belief in God. The Swedish lyrics translate as: “‘Who is God? (What is God?)’ / ‘It’s a hard question!’ / ‘I do not believe in God? (Do you believe in God?)’ / ‘No!’ / ‘Why should I?’” The lack of translation from Swedish is an interesting stylistic choice. We know for sure that in “Charlatan” the recordings were actually sampled from a Swedish children’s puppet show from the ‘70s. Personally, I enjoy the untranslated lyrics; it adds a bit of mystery and intrigue.
“The Garroter” is one of my favourite tracks; while the lyrics are dark and disillusioned, the piano comes off a bit whimsical, almost as if someone were losing their minds in the midst of a blasé society.
The song “Dignity” was accompanied by a dystopian, animated, art-noir music video featuring a young girl being forced into an arranged marriage similar in style to their “Cusp of Eternity” music video released in 2014 for their ***Pale Communion album. The use of film adds more depth to the lyrics to help listeners piece together Åkerfeldt’s abstract concepts of social commentary and personal values.
As a whole, the album is intricate, epic, and heavy with meaning. I was thoroughly impressed; not only did it blow me away musically but also lyrically. It’s always refreshing to hear a band with immense talent feature an intelligent and insightful lyrical critique as well. Of course, we’ll each see what we want in this album, but as for me, I liked what I heard and am looking forward to seeing other interpretations.
Darien Johnsen is a UFV alumni who obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with double extended minors in Global Development Studies and Sociology in 2020. She started writing for The Cascade in 2018, taking on the role of features editor shortly after.
She’s passionate about justice, sustainable development, and education.
