At this point Sweden’s Opeth have all but severed their death metal roots. Jazz-fusion elements from 2011’s Heritage are explored further; including Damnation‘s melancholy and dramatic strings of Mikael Åkerfeldt’s Storm Corrosion collaboration with Steven Wilson. He again sheds Opeth’s earlier guttural growls, replaced with clean melodic vocals. That beauty is contrasted by menacing keyboards, synthesizers, and organs that stand on equal footing as other instrumentation. There are some moments of guitar heroics but this album mostly takes the jazz approach of recognizing individual contributions. It’s an approach to prog metal that’s esoteric on the surface but quite accessible to listeners wishing to be challenged.