My Arms, Your Hearse

Untitled

My Arms, Your Hearse (often abbreviated to MAYH) is Opeth's third album, released in 1998. This album marks a large stylistic change from their previous release, Morningrise, especially production-wise. All of the songs are shorter than ten minutes, in stark contrast to their prior albums on which most songs exceed this. The album features a heavier overall sound, cleaner production and fewer mellow acoustic parts (although, the album contains four mellow or instrumental tracks devoid of death metal vocals: "Prologue", "Madrigal", "Credence", and "Epilogue"). This was also Opeth's first concept album.

This was Opeth's first album not to feature Johan DeFarfalla and Anders Nordin, both bassist and drummer on the two previous records. Opeth brought in Martin Mendez, a friend and previous bandmate of drummer Martin Lopez, to replace him. However, he did not have enough time to learn the bass parts for the album, so Mikael Åkerfeldt played bass on the album.

Perhaps to enhance the flow of the album, the last word(s) of each song on the album is the name of the following, with the album's final track, "Epilogue", leading back to "Prologue" to complete the cycle. Since the album has three instrumental tracks, lyrics are included in the jacket to be read during those parts, fulfilling the naming convention. In some cases, the silent lyrics move the plot along, and in others only serve to comment in a passive fashion.

My Arms, Your Hearse was Opeth's first album to be simultaneously released in Europe, on the Candlelight Records label, and the United States, on the Century Media Records label.

The 2000 reissue of My Arms, Your Hearse includes two bonus tracks released by Displeased Records. The re-release in 2003 in the limited edition tin box also contains the bonus tracks. Both of these songs are covers that were previously only found on tribute albums.

The title of the album is derived from the lyrics of "Drip, Drip" by progressive folk band Comus.

The song "Demon of the Fall" is frequently performed as an encore at live shows.

Concept

The album concerns a character who dies and becomes a ghost. The narrative on the ghost's existence revolves around the woman he loved. Frustration and suspicion make the character restless as he watches his loved one after his death, his soul in constant turmoil as he does not believe that she genuinely grieved his passing. Though his ghost's actual presence remains undetected, she feels a great sadness, and remains unwilling to accept his death.

The progression of the album can also be seen as linked to the progression of the seasons, the final song ending with winter, and leading back into the first song with the beginnings of spring.

Track listing

1. "Prologue" – 1:01
2. "April Ethereal" – 8:41
3. "When" – 9:14
4. "Madrigal" – 1:26
5. "The Amen Corner" – 8:43
6. "Demon of the Fall" – 6:13
7. "Credence" – 5:26
8. "Karma" – 7:52
9. "Epilogue" – 3:59

2000 reissue

The 2000 reissue of this album includes two bonus tracks, which are covers of songs that were only previously available on two separate tribute albums, In Memory of... Celtic Frost and A Call to Irons: A Tribute to Iron Maiden, respectively.

10. "Circle of the Tyrants" (Celtic Frost cover) – 5:12
11. "Remember Tomorrow" (Iron Maiden cover) – 5:00

Credits

• Mikael Åkerfeldt – vocals, guitar, bass
• Peter Lindgren – guitar
• Martin Lopez – drums
• Fredrik Nordström – Engineer, Producer, Hammond Organ (in "Epilogue")
• Anders Friden – Co-Producer