I prefer the new Opeth

[Narrillnezzurh]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider any of Opeth's material to be death metal at all. Most of it isn't even very heavy, Blackwater Park included.

And just to add to the ongoing Watershed discussion, I have to say I really love Watershed, and it doesn't sound like a retread to me at all past having the signature Opeth sound. It seems more cohesive than their other releases, and I find it more interesting than most of their other albums.

 

[wankerness]

This falls under the general purpose of this thread I suppose:



Pretty cool

This reminds me of that video of guns n roses playing welcome to the jungle on acoustics live (which is now unfortunately removed from youtube due to copyright claims, I assure you it was amazing). I mean, the vocals are in tune on this one at least, but what was even the point? Not a single riff is changed, they just play the same darn thing but without the dynamics of the original and with some monotone "clean" vocals instead of monotone "growl" vocals. Give me the original any day. Blech. So many bands get lazy and do these sorts of things. Pain of Salvation's 12:5 album is the only prog/metal one I can think of offhand that seemed to involve any rethinking of the material (and even that had a few missteps on it). Oh, I guess maybe Anathema - Hindsight too, but I wasn't real huge on that either.

EDIT: Oh, I found a different link:

 

[rx]

And I've been a longtime fan! Well, since Blackwater Park I guess?

Their new album, Heritage, brought an invigorating breeze to their music and sound. So much that I almost find old Opeth boring :/

Am I the only one around here?

i like everything from my arms, your hearse to ghost reveries. absolute favorites being Still Life and Blackwater Park

don't really dig the new Opeth

 

[fps]

This. Live it is fucking AMAZING. I got to see a near-completely acoustic set here in my hometown, it was embarassingly good :3

What was the instrumentation for this one mate? I was very keen to see one of these shows, last month I think? But tickets, forget it!

 

[fps]

You might be. I got into them with MAYH and loved everything they did up to D1/D2 but lost quite a bit of my interest with Watershed and completely lost interest with Heritage. It just feels underdeveloped to me, a lot of the songs have lengthy sections of practically ambient noise. If they cut about 1/3 of the album out it might have been good, as it stands it just bores me. I listened to it several times on release and even bought the special edition a few weeks ago just to force myself to give it some more listens but it just doesn't do it for me.

This is how their recorded output is for me too. For my part I like Heritage more than either Ghost Reveries or Watershed, but all of it feels like it's not as good as the music that came before. Heritage starts pretty strongly but becomes anaemic. Beautifully produced though.

 

[rx]

This is how their recorded output is for me too. For my part I like Heritage more than either Ghost Reveries or Watershed, but all of it feels like it's not as good as the music that came before. Heritage starts pretty strongly but becomes anaemic. Beautifully produced though.

yeah the stuff before ghost reveries is orgasmic

 

[DLG]

why don't you just listen to old Camel albums? way better

 

[MrMcSick]

I think heritage should have been a side project. It reminds me of no other opeth album. I got into them shortly after MAYH came out and they were my favorite band for many of years after that. Huge influence on my guitar playing. Watershed was the 1st album of theirs I didn't thoroughly enjoy. It was still a good album but I could tell they were starting to stray from all the classic elements that made me like them. Heritage came out and I tried to like it so many times. To me it is a King Crimson album that was lost to time. I genuinely feel abandoned by them now as I don't see them ever coming back to the glory that they once were. I will still listen to everything up to Ghost and sometimes Water but I get upset every time thinking about how they changed. It like my girlfriend cheated on me and I can never trust her again lol.

 

[Greatoliver]

It actually says quite a lot about them as a band that there is such a varied response to peoples' favourite album. I really enjoy pretty much all of their albums for differing reasons, they hit too many different chords for me to be able to hit them all at once.

 

[Adam Of Angels]

This reminds me of that video of guns n roses playing welcome to the jungle on acoustics live (which is now unfortunately removed from youtube due to copyright claims, I assure you it was amazing). I mean, the vocals are in tune on this one at least, but what was even the point? Not a single riff is changed, they just play the same darn thing but without the dynamics of the original and with some monotone "clean" vocals instead of monotone "growl" vocals. Give me the original any day. Blech. So many bands get lazy and do these sorts of things. Pain of Salvation's 12:5 album is the only prog/metal one I can think of offhand that seemed to involve any rethinking of the material (and even that had a few missteps on it). Oh, I guess maybe Anathema - Hindsight too, but I wasn't real huge on that either.

Dude, seriously? Whatever. I guess they can just keep playing these songs the same way until they're too old to do so. Why do they have to write some new version of the song? They probably enjoyed theirselves, and I'd have certainly enjoyed witnessing it.

Armchair critics

 

[wankerness]

Dude, seriously? Whatever. I guess they can just keep playing these songs the same way until they're too old to do so. Why do they have to write some new version of the song? They probably enjoyed theirselves, and I'd have certainly enjoyed witnessing it.

Armchair critics

Armchair critic? Am I only allowed to not like something they do if I do acoustic covers of their songs too? I said I didn't think it added anything to the song and I prefer the original, uh ohhhh

 

[Adam Of Angels]

What you said was actually much more critical than that.

 

[AirJordanStaal]

Armchair critic? Am I only allowed to not like something they do if I do acoustic covers of their songs too? I said I didn't think it added anything to the song and I prefer the original, uh ohhhh

Why did it have to add anything to the song though, hell what does that even mean? It's just pointless criticism which is basically what he called you out on so I'm going to tend to agree.

I'm not going to start hoping for an all acoustic opeth rerecording but that doesn't mean it wasn't cool to hear it.

 

[wankerness]

When I hear one of my favorite songs played in a different less interesting version I'm going to try and come up with an explanation of why I don't like it, I'm not really sure what I should have said. Simply saying "this blowz" would have been a cop-out!

 

[Experimorph]

I was somewhat disappointed with Heritage. No, not because "it's not metal." I like the songs, but I'm not a fan of the production. When I heard the new album was going to be really different and devoid of growls, I was eager to hear the new material. When I heard The Devil's Orchard leak (or single, can't recall), I thought it was a demo mix. Then, even after many listen-throughs of the album, I can't get into the mix. I guess I was waiting for something more akin to Damnation.

However, I saw Opeth play a set of which at least half of the songs were from Heritage, and I loved it in a live setting. Funny thing is, I only later realised they hadn't played a single song with growls in it.

That all said, my favorite Opeth albums are Damnation, Ghost Reveries and Watershed.

 

[jehu12141987]

I really wish Mikael would just join Porcupine Tree. I think Steven Wilson, and Mikael's infatuation with each other's musical styles would blend perfectly with Gavin Harrison guiding the ship on drums...

 

[Konfyouzd]

Looks like I need to go music shopping... Amazon HO!

 

[sear]

Old Opeth (except the first two albums) is pretty good but I feel like around Blackwater Park they lost their direction. The music started to get slower, sleepier, and just overall more boring. I know that they were going for something more atmospheric but they lacked the doomy feeling that album desperately needed. Deliverance was just slow, cold and sterile to me, although most of that was down to the production. The songs just didn't grab me at all. Ghost Reveries was a wash other than Harlequin Forest - yes, I actually like that song.

Unlike most I actually thought Watershed was an improvement in that it had a couple of really great songs on it. Heritage I actually haven't fully listened to before, but what I have heard has been eh... Opeth have long been a band really looking for direction and have kind of just resorted to a grab-bag of influences. I think Mikael feels he "outgrew" metal long ago and only remains in the scene due to his legacy and because of the fanbase.

So, eh, as a metal band? Influential, but there are better bands who were doing the same kind of thing at roughly the same time to greater effect (Edge of Sanity, Amorphis, etc.). As a prog band? Again, there's much better stuff out there. Opeth are the ultimate gateway metal band - they've got something that appeals to almost any tastes and for what it is, it's not awful, but once you start digging you realize that they aren't really worthy of the recognition they've received over the years compared to far better artists out there. It also doesn't help that Opeth have kind of become the ultimate hipster metal band.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider any of Opeth's material to be death metal at all. Most of it isn't even very heavy, Blackwater Park included.

It's not, except arguably My Arms, Your Hearse and Still Life, which at least had a melodic death metal foundation. Opeth lacks most of the energy and power I associate with death metal. But then, I also don't consider, say, Amorphis to really be death metal anymore either.

 

[Konfyouzd]

Watershed was dope.

Also, thanks for mentioning those other similar bands.

 

[Adam Of Angels]

Old Opeth (except the first two albums) is pretty good but I feel like around Blackwater Park they lost their direction. The music started to get slower, sleepier, and just overall more boring. I know that they were going for something more atmospheric but they lacked the doomy feeling that album desperately needed. Deliverance was just slow, cold and sterile to me, although most of that was down to the production. The songs just didn't grab me at all. Ghost Reveries was a wash other than Harlequin Forest - yes, I actually like that song.

Unlike most I actually thought Watershed was an improvement in that it had a couple of really great songs on it. Heritage I actually haven't fully listened to before, but what I have heard has been eh... Opeth have long been a band really looking for direction and have kind of just resorted to a grab-bag of influences. I think Mikael feels he "outgrew" metal long ago and only remains in the scene due to his legacy and because of the fanbase.

So, eh, as a metal band? Influential, but there are better bands who were doing the same kind of thing at roughly the same time to greater effect (Edge of Sanity, Amorphis, etc.). As a prog band? Again, there's much better stuff out there. Opeth are the ultimate gateway metal band - they've got something that appeals to almost any tastes and for what it is, it's not awful, but once you start digging you realize that they aren't really worthy of the recognition they've received over the years compared to far better artists out there. It also doesn't help that Opeth have kind of become the ultimate hipster metal band.


It's not, except arguably My Arms, Your Hearse and Still Life, which at least had a melodic death metal foundation. Opeth lacks most of the energy and power I associate with death metal. But then, I also don't consider, say, Amorphis to really be death metal anymore either.

I really feel like you've been listening to a different Opeth than I have been. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but I can't even see where you're coming from

Mostly, though, I think the hipster bit is the wildest suggestion of all.