Riff Police! Pull Over! #53: The Faceless Vs Opeth!

Written by Peter Lindgren and Mikael Åkerfeldt, “Dirge for November” is one of the stand out cuts from the simply amazing Progressive Death Metal album “Blackwater Park” by Opeth. Recorded in 2001 in collaboration with Porcupine Tree frontman Steve Wilson who sat in the Producers chair, it’s an album surprisingly divides fans as it marks the start of the Stockholm natives style shift. Fast Forward 11 years and not for the first time, The Faceless stand in the dock, accused of something. This time out, it’s the closing track of their third studio album “Autotheism” that is the offender, the only album to feature the vocal talents of Geoffrey Ficco. Entitled “In Solitude”, the introduction maybe played in a different key and at a different tempo but it is the same as that from the Opeth track from the 37 second mark onwards. Ripped off? It’s a tough one to call, Opeth a major influencer in the Progressive Death Metal circles. That being said, Michael Keane… Nevermind.