Along with "Orchid", "Morningrise" shows a sound that is influenced by progressive rock, folk, black metal and death metal, but with more clean vocals than that of the previous record. Despite the singing, Murat Batmaz of "Sea of Tranquility" magazine said that the song "Black Rose Immortal" "ends with one of Akerfeldt's most violent and longest screams in his career which could only be rivaled by his guesting on Edge of Sanity's "Crimson" album", and that Opeth created a "dark atmosphere on this album, which is simply unique." The album has a "dark melancholic" sound, and features acoustic and jazz styles. However, according to William York of AllMusic, ""Morningrise" is, as far as the metal scale goes, possibly their least heavy album".