Still Life

It was recorded between 15 April and 29 May 1999 at Studio Fredman and Maestro Musik in Gothenburg, produced and engineered by the band together with Fredrik Nordstrom. It is also the only album they released through Peaceville. It is the first record on which Martin Mendez actually plays bass: he had joined before the previous album but had no time to learn the parts, so Mikael Akerfeldt played all of it himself. Time was short here too and the band managed only two rehearsals before the sessions, and a delay over the cover art pushed the release back another month. American shops did not have it until 27 February 2001, more than a year later, because of the band's distribution at the time. The record follows a man banished from his town for not sharing its faith, returning after some years to Melinda, and the ruin that comes of it. The running order here is the original's as printed (Peaceville, CDVILE 78).