Prediction: You will hate the new Opeth album

[tripguitar]

maybe its because im still new to opeth overall and i didnt have any expectations/standards to go by, but after giving alot of their albums a listen, Heritage is probably my favorite *quickly hides*

I'm certainly looking forward to their new one for sure.

 

[Triple7]

I'm a massive Opeth fan. Heritage is the only album of theirs that I can't get into at all. I've tried many times, in many different moods. The songs on that album just aren't memorable at all, a real step down. I also thought the guitar tone was atrocious. I understand that's what he was going for, but it just grated on my ears.

I don't need Opeth to be heavy, or have growls all the time. I do need the dynamic, epic, song writing that has literally donned all of their other albums.

 

[tribalfusion]

I like very little modern metal but Opeth and Heritage I did like quite a bit and I look forward to the next one.

I do think the style of Opeth now is the big issue, not the quality per se and it's impossible to separate the 2.

Most of what people think is good on here is a step removed from noise to me.

 

[fps]

Oh rubbish, I didn't dislike Heritage because Akerfeldt was stretching himself, I disliked Heritage because Akerfeldt was stretching himself into areas that have already been covered by other bands better.

 

[tribalfusion]

Oh rubbish, I didn't dislike Heritage because Akerfeldt was stretching himself, I disliked Heritage because Akerfeldt was stretching himself into areas that have already been covered by other bands better.

A little hard to square with the fact that most of the big metal fans on these forums hate it and I and others who are not really modern metal fans like it more than most of the old Opeth.

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

Yeah i love Opeth too, but for Akerfeldt to write off the dislike due to not being heavy is kinda closed minded in itself and a not giving the fans enough credit (not sure how much they deserve but that's another story...). We appreciate less than heavy music, hence enjoying Opeth. It just has to be good. And not loaded with filler - Heritage missed there.

i'll be snatching up the new album when it comes out either way. Looking forward too it.

Am I the only one around here who didn't like watershed?

I really dig Watershed - more and more lately as i get into the final 3 tracks more. It's up there GR as one of my favorites. That's just me though!

 

[wat]

Heritage is great music. I never understood how people can let such obvious expectation bias cloud their opinions. Always seems to happen when a band does something different.

 

[wankerness]

A little hard to square with the fact that most of the big metal fans on these forums hate it and I and others who are not really modern metal fans like it more than most of the old Opeth.

A better stat would be how many people on this board liked Damnation and disliked Heritage vs people that disliked both. I think the former group is much, much larger. The problem is not that I wanted it to be metal. My problem was I wanted it to contain memorable riffs and/or melodies instead of boop noises, ambient noises, and songs that just sort of fade out as soon as they start.

 

[fps]

A little hard to square with the fact that most of the big metal fans on these forums hate it and I and others who are not really modern metal fans like it more than most of the old Opeth.

I couldn't care less what anyone else on the forum thinks, I like a lot of different styles of music thanks very much, and no-one bar one person out of my friends likes Heritage. Are they all closed-minded as well? Where are all these non-modern metal fans on sevenstring who love it? I think you've got it backwards, a lot of people on this forum are metal fans and don't like it, sure, doesn't mean the opposite is true too.

I bloody love Damnation, for the record, cheers.

 

[ZeroS1gnol]

Michael already lost me at Watershed...so Ive basically given up on Opeth before Heritage, which I disliked. I think that Akerfeld's problem lies in this: he used to be the musician that got away with combining multiple ideas into one song and it still sounded coherent, nowadays reaches the exact opposite, many ideas, no coherence.

 

[fps]

Heritage is great music. I never understood how people can let such obvious expectation bias cloud their opinions. Always seems to happen when a band does something different.

No, Damnation was something different, and is a much-loved part of their catalogue.

 

[tribalfusion]

A better stat would be how many people on this board liked Damnation and disliked Heritage vs people that disliked both. I think the former group is much, much larger. The problem is not that I wanted it to be metal. My problem was I wanted it to contain memorable riffs and/or melodies instead of boop noises, ambient noises, and songs that just sort of fade out as soon as they start.

No, not really because Heritage is a different kind of "not super heavy" than Damnation and to my mind more of a stylistic break.

In any case, I have seen this over and over on more modern metal related boards on which I am more of a lurker as it's not my main music by a long shot and I am always a bit taken aback by the response.

People call Heritage "non memorable" and then go on to list albums that I couldn't listen to for 30 seconds twice if you paid me and the thing is, it's not just my taste vs yours which frankly, is not so important. It's more a general thing with those of us who have grown up listening to different music like this Opeth a lot more than those who haven't.

 

[fps]

No, not really because Heritage is a different kind of "not super heavy" than Damnation and to my mind more of a stylistic break.

In any case, I have seen this over and over on more modern metal related boards on which I am more of a lurker as it's not my main music by a long shot and I am always a bit taken aback by the response.

People call Heritage "non memorable" and then go on to list albums that I couldn't listen to for 30 seconds twice if you paid me and the thing is, it's not just my taste vs yours which frankly, is not so important. It's more a general thing with those of us who have grown up listening to different music like this Opeth a lot more than those who haven't.

That is so closed-minded. I listen to all kinds of music and flat out dislike that album. Accept that without trying to tell me that if I don't like the album I'm just not cultured enough to appreciate it.

 

[wankerness]

Michael already lost me at Watershed...so Ive basically given up on Opeth before Heritage, which I disliked. I think that Akerfeld's problem lies in this: he used to be the musician that got away with combining multiple ideas into one song and it still sounded coherent, nowadays reaches the exact opposite, many ideas, no coherence.

I'm not sure if coherence is even the problem, Morningrise is in my top 3 opeth albums and I wouldn't say that most of those songs are particularly coherent, they're just sort of riff collages that somehow worked really well. Same deal with Orchid, which I also love. I just thought Watershed was dull and Heritage had too much...filler, or something. If someone gave me all the riffs separated I feel like I could copy/paste them into a great album that was about 1/2 as long. Ex, stick the first half of Devil's Orchard onto the middle of Famine and you'd have a badass song!

 

[Triple7]

Watershed took me a long time to get into. I liked the first half of the album a lot, but tracks 6, 7, and 8, I couldn't be bothered with.

Lately I've been listening to it a lot and I really dig the album as a whole though.


I don't believe that what music a person listens to has anything to do with Heritage being a good album or not...the opinion in majority here is that it is a sub-par Opeth record. I've tried real hard to like it. Real, real, hard.

 

[Dethyr]

COOL! this time I don't even have to waste time downloading it at all!!

 

[jehu12141987]

Opeth will always be a yes from me.

 

[ArtDecade]

Opeth will always be a yes from me.

 

[lucasreis]

Deliverance is still their magnum opus to me. But I like Opeth a lot

 

[SeditiousDissent]

I am a massive Opeth fan, and, like many others, have had a hard time with Heritage. It has some amazing tracks on it, for sure (Famine and Haxprocess come to mind), but I just haven't been able to embrace it like MAYH or BP. For one thing, I thought "The Devil's Orchard" was a TERRIBLE choice for the first single. I think the song is pretty cool, but IMHO not worthy to be a single. I felt they should have led with "Slither" or "I Feel the Dark" right off the bat. They had a style similar to some of the tracks on Watershed and I think would have been easier to swallow.

Granted, they are a PROGRESSIVE band in every sense of the term. Not least of which is their propensity toward stylistic progression. It just seems that Mikael is trying his hardest to turn the band into a Swedish version of King Crimson or Porcupine Tree instead of just coming to grips with the reason people love Opeth...because there isn't another band out there who sounds like Opeth.

The first Opeth song I heard was "The Moor" on Still Life. It blew me away. I had never heard a band embrace (and run with) the dichotomy between the dirty and the pristine. I know I'm not the only one to feel that way and I think it was something that Heritage lacked in a big way. It was like listening to an Emerson Lake and Palmer or Yes record. Guys, if I wanted to hear "Starship Trooper," I would buy "Starship Trooper!"

I'm sure the next Opeth album will be another jazz flute laden "masterwork." There will no doubt be interesting chord progressions, cool melodies, sweet ass drumming and great singing, but I think the truly heavy part of Opeth left us at Ghost Reveries. The good thing is that Mikael and Frederik still have PRS sigs, so at least we know there will still be electric guitars!

Will I buy the new Opeth album? Absolutely. Will I listen to it more than once? You bet. Will they get a free pass just because they are one of my favorite bands? Not a chance. I hope my pessimism is undeserved and they come out of left field with another killer progressive metal offering. I am looking forward to the next one, but I won't get my hopes up.

FYI - The best thing about being a pessimist is that you will always be either proven right or pleasantly surprised in ever situation.