Somebody asked me recently ( ;)) what i thought/think about Opeth and their albums.
So i thought "why not make an entire topic out of it?".
So here it is. My view on Opeth.
First of all, Opeth is not the standard Death metal band.
They (or better yet: Michael Awekurfelt ( ;D)) like to experiment with different sounds like jazz, fusion, progressive.
Combining these stiles makes them one of the original bands around.
I've always had troubles with bands like Opeth, meaning i hated the growls.
For instance i had a great appreciation for the musical skills of Chuck Schuldiner (sadly not among us anymore :()) (Death) which in my opinion is the not intended teacher of Michael åckerfelt, and to a certain extend i even liked the music of Sepultura too but i always got stuck with the growls.
They always had the urge to terrify me and when i was younger i even labelled those kind of bands as 'evil'.
A bit short minded, i must confess. ::) :-[
It took me a while to get over that. In fact when Ghost Reveries was released i began to get used to it.
About the albums:
The first album i bought from Opeth is...
Blackwater Park.
This album had a good review in a Dutch Metal Megazine and in the past they also had a good review of Still Life so i decided to give it a try.
What happened next is basically the same as i mentioned earlier: Great music, especially The Drapery Falls and the title track but...those growls. :-\ :-\ :-\
Still it's one of the best metal albums i've ever heard.
Damnation was a revelation to me, tracks like Windowpane, Death whispered a lullaby and To Rid The Disease are just awesome and stand the test of time. In fact there aren't any weak songs on Damnation. I really thought that after Anathema also Opeth had decided to give up the growls and keep it with the clean vocals instead.
That idea roamed through my head until i heard...
Deliverance. ::)
That album rudely woke me up from that dream. ::)
Brutal but on times also fragile.
But one of the things that i really like about them is that besides the different varieties of music they use, is also that they combine the growls with clean vocals and because they do that the growls don't get so nerve wrecking. Actually i even think that some songs can't be as good as they are if there weren't any growls in it or visa versa, like The Drapery Falls or Ghost Reveries.
But maybe that also is the touch of Steven Wilson because he produced most of their albums.
Ghost Reveries is also a must-buy though it somehow doesn't reach the status of Blackwater Park or Watershed.
It was the number one of 2005 for me but hasn't lived up to that status ever since.
Tracks like Ghost Reveries, Beneath The Mire and Atonement are timeless. The melodies are almost unforgettable for me.
Best track is Reverie/Harlequin Forest.
Watershed goes further down the road where Ghost Reveries had ended but with a twist.
A great choice it was to begin the album with such a fragile song as Coil has become. The clean vox combined with the female singer (forgot her name and can't find the credits in the booklet). And then to erupt with Heir Apparent.
The track titles they use on Watershed is both funny and original at the same time. Let's see: The Lotus Eater, Porcelain Heart, Hessian Peel, Hex Omega.
You don't see titles like that every day.
That proves what a great musician Michael å really is.
I couldn't dissect every song on each album to the core otherwise this would be really a boring topic. :-\ ;D
I do miss the albums before Blackwater Park though.
Still haven't been able to buy those though that's more my fault then because of the lack of availability.
Now....let's discuss.
Not disgust. :P
Thanks, Måd, great review, or "How I growled my way to Opeth" story 8)
Quote from: maddox on Sat, 2008-12-20, 19:56:15
Somebody .....
Sure required some b*-twisting, but now I'm happy that I persisted ;D ;)
I'l get back to you after I'v digested your stuff (first burp from Malmö) :D
Quote
Now....let's discuss.
Not disgust. :P
Either way ;D
Nicky.
Bravo! :)
Very interesting!
-Paco
Yes, Måd, you
are a clever bugger. And a nice one too, much nicer than me ..... but then again, when you're my age, you're allowed to be more grumpy and growly according to the PRCO.
However,
Quote from: maddox on Sat, 2008-12-20, 19:56:15
... Steven Wilson ... produced most of their albums.
is incorrect. SW produced (and sang and played on) Blackwater Park, Deliverance, and Damnation. Opeth have released nine studio albums.
I disagree with your opinion that BP is better than Ghost Reveries. I find GR at least as good.
But Watershed is a true masterpiece, to my mind the best album by any group since Systematic Chaos *horns*
I'm going to the Opeth concert in Malmö (at Kulturbolaget) on February 18, together with my good friend Claus (with whom I also play guitar & bass). You think I'm lookin forward to it ? :o
Nicky.
I love Opeth and recommend Still Life as the next to buy as along with Watershed and GR it is there best album.
I have tried this band and there certainly is something to enjoy, but I always run too the player as soon as I hear grunts, hate those ::). End of story ;).
Thanks for this post, Mad.
So far, I haven't tried Opeth because I've been disappointed by most of the prog-metal bands I've tried as a logical follow-up to my discovery (and love) of Dream Theater. With some of them, it's a kind of hit or miss thing (Threshold, Symphony X, Shadow Gallery, Pain of Salvation ...), with the others I just find them -for what I've heard- completely uninspired (Evergrey, Epica, Queensrÿche ...). Finally, I realize that I often prefer classic metal (or rather hard-rock) to prog-metal.
So if you add the growls to the picture :P, it makes me even more reluctant to try Opeth. But I will at least listen to Damnation one day.
Quote from: Bupie on Wed, 2008-12-24, 10:12:47
So if you add the growls to the picture :P, it makes me even more reluctant to try Opeth. But I will at least listen to Damnation one day.
I think you should try. I hate growly vocals too but with Opeth I enjoy the music that much that I need to "filter out" the growls. Try. if you end up liking them it will be well worth while *horns*
Quote from: johninblack on Wed, 2008-12-24, 12:31:40
I think you should try. I hate growly vocals too but with Opeth I enjoy the music that much that I need to "filter out" the growls. Try. if you end up liking them it will be well worth while *horns*
*What he said. ;)
I'v gotten used to growl. Just like with beer: When I was a kid, I hated the stuff, then somehow a lot of it found its way down my throat, so I got used to it, and today I enjoy it. I don't enjoy growl quite as much, but it's part and parcel of much of the music that I love, so I don't worry about it any longer. The main problem I have with growl is that I usually can't perceive the words.
I'd say that one misses a lot of great music if one avoids growl: Opeth, Scar Symmetry, Mercenary, After Forever, Dark Tranquillity ... man, even recent Threshold ;)
And I think that it has a lot to do with one's attitude towards music: Most people want music to sound nice. There should be a melody, clean singing, a clear rhythm, the lyrics should be about something rather straightforward, etc. Not me: I think that music should portray the whole spectrum of human emotions, experiences and thoughts; sometimes nice, other times rough, occasionally light, and then real heavy - just like life itself :)
And then we can get back to Opeth: Watershed is a sublime example of this. It covers the entire range of the human experience. What a masterpiece *horns*
Nicky.