Old South Daily

Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras - Cançons de la Catalunya mil·lenària (2011) {Alia Vox AVSA 9881}
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© 2011 Alia Vox | AVSA 9881
Classical / Chamber Music / Vocal / Sacred / World Music

This reissue in the Heritage Series - the original album was released in 1988 - enables us to hear the unique Montserrat Figueras singing a repertoire she embodies like nobody else : the traditional songs of Catalonia. This performance is the natural continuation of her exploration of the great works connected to Catalogne,eg: the Song of the Sybille or the Red Book of Montserrat (Gregorian manuscript): on this shore of Mediterranean Sea, traditional and "classical" repertoires are connected in a very intimate way. This album is a landmark of in the career of Montserrat Figueras: her innovative style of interpretation, characterised by great fidelity to the historical sources combined with an extraordinary creative and expressive power, sounds at its best.

Sweden’s OPETH are preparing to release their most important record to date with »In Cauda Venenum«. Certainly, fans and critics will have their opinion, but few records in the Swedes’ oeuvre are as engaging, delicate, panoramic, intense, and musical as OPETH’s lucky thirteenth. Sporting a clever Travis Smith cover – replete with inside jokes and a nod to KING DIAMOND – a masterful Park Studios (The Hellacopters, Graveyard) production, OPETH’s usual five-star musicianship, and lyrics entirely in Swedish, »In Cauda Venenum« raises the bar markedly. While a record in Swedish is a first—there’s also an English version—for frontman and founding member Mikael Åkerfeldt, the 10 songs on offer feel and sound completely natural. As if years of listening to and being a fan of Swedish rock and hard rock has paid off. In a way, Opeth have come home. But the Swedish lyrics of the primary edition of »In Cauda Venenum« shouldn’t distract from the quality presented in OPETH’s new songs, the lot of which sneak up and take control after repeated listens. »In Cauda Venenum« is like that, tricky in its complicated simplicity, resourceful in its ability to charm with delightful if wistful melodies. Really, it’s just OPETH being OPETH.