This song has a special recording trick. It starts with negative time values which makes it difficult to play this song correctly. The CD-Players which I used never played this part, although one played it when I hit the „pause“ button right at the end of the previous song „Atonement“. The MP3-Encoders I used all put the first part with the negative time indexes at the end of „Atonement“. Nevertheless, I think that this part actually is the „Reverie“ part which serves as a kind of prelude to the actual „Harlequin Forest“.
Section |
Time |
Instrument |
Function |
Rpt |
Text Hint |
1 |
-01:07 |
Guitar |
Prelude |
6x |
|
2a |
00:00 |
Voice |
|
2x |
„Into the trees“ |
2b |
00:38 |
Guitar |
Solo |
2x |
|
3 |
01:17 |
Voice |
|
2x |
„A trail of sickness“ |
2a |
01:36 |
Voice |
|
2x |
„Searching the darkness“ |
3 |
02:14 |
Voice |
|
2x |
„A trail of sickness“ |
4a |
02:33 |
Guitar |
|
2x |
|
4b |
02:42 |
Guitar |
|
|
„There falls another“ |
5a |
02:52 |
Guitar |
|
3x |
|
5b |
03:07 |
Growl |
|
2x |
„Lose all to save a little“ |
6 |
03:28 |
Guitar |
|
4x |
|
7a |
04:08 |
Guitar |
|
2x |
|
7b |
04:17 |
Voice |
|
2x |
„Nocturnally helpless“ |
8 |
04:38 |
Guitar/Keys |
|
4x |
|
9a |
05:04 |
Voice |
|
|
„They are the trees“ |
9b |
05:31 |
Voice |
Keyboard Variation |
|
„Roots are sucking“ |
10 |
05:57 |
Guitar |
Duett |
4x |
|
11a |
07:16 |
Voice |
|
4x |
„It is all false pretension“ |
11b |
07:43 |
Guitar |
Solo |
4x |
|
12a |
08:10 |
Guitar |
|
4x |
|
12b |
08:37 |
Growl |
|
4x |
„Stark determination“ |
12c |
09:03 |
Guitar |
Soft variation |
4x |
|
12d |
09:24 |
Guitar |
Outro |
|
|
13 |
09:26 |
Growl |
|
2x |
„Now the woods are burning“ |
14 |
09:56 |
Guitar |
Outro |
8x |
|
END |
11:39 |
|
|
|
|
|
Number |
Repetitions |
Average Length |
Sections |
14 |
1 |
0:51 |
Subsections |
23 |
2 |
0:31 |
While other songs on Ghost Reveries often just hint at a beginning „verse-chorus“ structure before they wander and meander through uncharted Opeth territory this song actually presents a full „verse-chorus-verse-chorus“ setup with sections 2 and 3.
Inside the sections there is not much variation in this song. We don't find any of the „Riff-Voice-Solo“ substructures that other songs use.
There is, however, a structure that can be observed in the big picture. While „GoP“ and „BotH“ launch straight into full-blown heavy assault, this song starts of calm and very repetitiv with the „Reverie“ prelude (1), then kicks up gears into medium heavy territory in the verse-chorus sections (2-3-2-3) and finally reaches its first peak in the heavy sections (4-5). Sections 6-7-8 release the tension again in a kind of „chillout“ interlude. From section 9 onwards tension builds up again until section 12 and is carried over to section 13 and held through the whole of 14 right to end of the song. So, we have a very big picture structure „prelude – build up 1 – interlude – build up 2“.
1-(2-3-2-3)-(4-5)-(6-7-8)-(9-10-11-12)-(13-14)
Another great song on Ghost Reveries with the one little flaw that it is difficult to listen to as a whole because of the negative time index issue. But apart from that: great! (Well okay, maybe the Guitar solo/melody in section 10 could do with two repetitions instead of four, but what the heck. Can aswell lean back and dream a bit before the Akerfeldt monster strikes again ;).
I love the slow, menacing riffs in sections 4 and 5. Section 9 which starts the second build-up has a quality about it that always reminds of the song „No quarter“ by Led Zeppelin, especially the keyboards in 9b. And I especially love the long outro, the tricky rhythm pattern. They repeat it eight times but I always can't get enough of it. I like it even more than the ending of „Deliverance“, which is also great. In my ears this rhythm pattern is a musical expression for the „pyre smoldering“ (which are the two last words of the lyrics in case you don't know).