What is this song? It's a story, a journey. That's what this track (and most of Opeth's work, which is a very high form of art, in my opinion – more than just music) is all about. Very basically, this is how I see/hear/feel the journey that this song takes you on (and, like a good movie, it's not always a comfortable one – but it's totally worth it when you come out of it at the end).
THE NON-CONCEPT CONCEPT*
First off, from what we know, Ghost Reveries is an incomplete "concept" album, but the concept was largely abandoned – although most of the parts do seem to be there (the album, according to the band, who can be very cheeky and often have to be taken with a grain of salt – they are Swedish, after all ;) – is not necessarily in any storytelling order, and even has at least one song completely unrelated to any loose concept). I believe the story is loosely about a person who, under the influence of possession and daemonic voices (and perhaps what many might assume is mental illness), has murdered his mother. "Ghost of Perdition," "Beneath the Mire" and "The Baying of the Hounds" are other names of tunes on the album, and it's not difficult to hear certain linkages and themes between them and "Reverie/Harlequin Forest".
PART 1
What is this song? It's a story, a journey. That's what this track (and most of Opeth's work, which is a very high form of art, in my opinion – more than just music) is all about. Very basically, this is how I see/hear/feel the journey that this song takes you on (and, like a good movie, it's not always a comfortable one – but it's totally worth it when you come out of it at the end).
THE NON-CONCEPT CONCEPT* First off, from what we know, Ghost Reveries is an incomplete "concept" album, but the concept was largely abandoned – although most of the parts do seem to be there (the album, according to the band, who can be very cheeky and often have to be taken with a grain of salt – they are Swedish, after all ;) – is not necessarily in any storytelling order, and even has at least one song completely unrelated to any loose concept). I believe the story is loosely about a person who, under the influence of possession and daemonic voices (and perhaps what many might assume is mental illness), has murdered his mother. "Ghost of Perdition," "Beneath the Mire" and "The Baying of the Hounds" are other names of tunes on the album, and it's not difficult to hear certain linkages and themes between them and "Reverie/Harlequin Forest".