A question, or a bit of research if you like...

[Graveless Soul]

This question has almost definately been asked before, but what the hell here goes anyway.....
What order would you put the 5 Opeth albums in in terms of greatness? I only ask because:

a) I'm interested to know what each album brings to the individual listener, therefore being which one they can associate with the most,

and b) There seems to be a lot of praise for Still Life on this forum, and although it is a superb album that many other bands would kill to create, I felt that it didn't have they staying power to lay roots in my stereo like MAYH did for instance (and still does for that matter)...What does anybody else think?

Anyway, here's my order:
1. My Arms Your Hearse
2. Orchid
3/4. Morningrise/Blackwater Park (these will alternate in order depending on my mood)
5. Still Life

 

[Protocol]

Not again... ¬¬

What is it, the fourth time this is brought up?

 

[Graveless Soul]

I'm sorry that I missed it the first time, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th for that matter....

But I'm still interested to know what is thought of Still Life's staying power...

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Eh, why not.

I basically consider Morningrise, MAYH and Still Life in a bit of a class above Orchid and BWP.

My reasoning is that although Orchid has some wonderful melodies and is easy to get yourself lost in the way it wanders, I feel as a result it isn't as intense or emotive as the records to follow. As for BWP, I've mentioned before that although the first 4 tracks are top notch, I feel Dirge is a step down on the Opeth scale of greatness. The beginning part is good, but the middle of the song gets very repetitive and I lose interest in it quickly. Not something that ever happened for me with Opeth before. Funeral Portrait is good (well, everything is "good") but just not as memorable as the three firstly mentioned records.

MAYH is probably the ultimate record. The way the tracks flow in their ever-changing, constantly-engaging way, the way the soft/heavy parts interweave (as opposed to, again, Dirge which goes soft/heavy/soft, the end) and just the mood of the record...

Morningrise was my hands-down favourite for a long time, only recently eclipsed by MAYH. I think it's how the dual-guitar work is so dark and beautiful... and again, it just has a sound, y'know? Even the silent air of the record seems to convey a feeling. And again, so many parts are just so memorable. Advent and BRI are full of them, and TBYF is nothing short of magical, never mind the rest of the record.

Still Life. Still Life just presents good epic songs. The clean vocals of Godhead's Lament, the soaring guitarwork in Moonlapse Vertigo, the brutal anger and melodic touches of Serenity Painted Death... it's probably Opeth's most prog-oriented work with the highest percentage of clean vocals and two "ballads", if I may call them that.

That's my two cents. Or, 3.08 cents Cdn.

 

[warsofwinter]

Well ,

My arms your hears
Morningrise
Still Life
Blackwater Park
Orchid

 

[luke]

Have to agree that Still Life just didn't last in my stereo for that long.
My first Opeth was MAYH, and I listened to it everyday for 1 year. I still listen a few times a week.
I got Still Life and Orchid around the same time, while I was living in Taiwan, and to walk around Taipei in the steaming hot summer nights listiening to the running melodies on Orchid was about the only thing I could do to cool down. Orchid always is good to listen to when it's hot. Still life just didn't have the flow to it that made MAYH, Morningrise and Orchid albums you can listen to for months on end and not tire of. I think it has to do with the ability to digest and memorize the song patterns. I find that once I have every bit of the album memorized, I don't listen to it as frequently. BWP and Still Life have more of a layered sound to their recordings, but the song patterning makes them easier to digest.
Like someone said about Meshuggah in another thread, it can be a bit much all at once if you're not used to this kind of music. But you can listen to it over and over again, because itt's so hard to capture.

For me: MAYH
then Morningrise
Orchid
BWP/Still Life

and Hoser
I would agree with you about Dirge, but the beginning always reminds me of Led Zepplin's 'Baby I'm gonna leave you' which somehow makes it incredible all the same.

 

[Soul Forlorn]

Morningrise
Orchid
Still Life
MAYH
BWP

Actually, for me, it's always a tough choice concerning Still Life. I think it's superb. It contains a massive amount of variety, great melodies, solos, great storyline. I guess the only reason I put Morningrise and Orchid above it is that I prefer their old sound and writing style(probably cause Orchid was my first Opeth cd).


www.mp3.com/soulforlorn

 

[Sadistik]

Well:

Morningrise
Still Life
BWP
Orchid
MAYH

Morningrise is just such a gorgeous album. Everyting is arranged perfectly. While Mike's vox do sound a bit....timid, I guess... on the clean breaks they still work well. Black Rose Immortl is the greatest thing ever recorded in my opinion. Still Life is just so damned well done. I know it may not be as "deep" as some of their other work, but it just fucking rocks. BWP is good, and maybe over time it will move on up the ranks, though it loses steam toward the end, but picks back up with the title track. Now Orchid is great, but I feel that Opeth benefitted from the experience of the years in refining and polishing their appraoch, and lets face it, music such as Opeth's benefits greatly from being polished, and working out the small imperfections. MAYH, on the other hand is my least fave Opeth. It just doesn't do anything for me. It gets listened to less than any other of my Opeth CD's. Still great, just rather boring for an Opeth release. Demon of the fall and Amen Corner rock though.

 

[LEJ]

In my heart are:

1. Orchid/Morningrise
3. Blackwater Park
4. MAYH
5. Still Life

Orchid is the album I've been listening most in the last 5 years and Morningrise comes in a perfect sequence.
I find BWP really innovative, with new strange sounds and riffs.
Still life is IMO technically and musically great, but I find it boring if compared to the others. Every song is progressive, but all the songs have the same structure, (excluding Benighted and FOM) and so I have the impression of being listening 5 times to the same track.
Don't misunderstand me! My mark for Still Life is 10 out of 10, but the other albums are 11 or 12/10!

 

[Raining Blood]

How about this?

1. Orchid
1. Morningrise
1. MAYH
1. Still Life
1. Blackwater Park

Yea, that's what I thought.

 

[brightoffski]

This is tough. I will be as non-committal as some of the existing posts by adding:

1. Still Life / My Arms, Your Hearse
3. Morningrise / Orchid
5. Blackwater Park

There is a subatomic gap between the first four choices, but regardless, I think Still Life and MAYH are just a *slight* class ahead of Orchid and Morningrise. Still Life for the silky smooth prog journey that it is, and MAYH for it's beautifully complex brutality and moods. And the storylines are so unbelievably engaging!

Orchid and Morningrise are two epic dark and dreamy emotional catalysts that have more of a tendency to induce me into a trance. It is hard to pinpoint exactly why they have been placed so.

Blackwater Park is, again, a *slight* class below, only because I agree with Hoser that the album drops a little between '...Drapery...' and 'Patterns...'

That is my current opinion, it is dreadfully hard to be critical of Opeth.

 

[Villain]

My order:

1. Morningrise
2. Still Life / Blackwater Park
4. My Arms Your Hearse / Orchid

I must say I'm rather surprised at how much praise MAYH gets over here, for I think it is a sub-par Opeth-album, especially when compared to the majestic Morningrise. Without a decent bass-player on that record, the resulting sound lacks mood and depth. Considering how much better the bass sound is on Still Life, I feel that Mikael should have let Mendez play the bass for MAYH as well, no matter how "untested" he was at that time. Also, the drumming of Lopez isn't as good as it is on the later records. Still life also has a better "concept-album" feel to it. Nevertheless, MAYH is a good album, just not as great as the others.

About Orchid, some songs on it just aren't as great as they could be. A great debut-album, but the later albums (except MAYH) are just better.

-Villain

 

[Nowlbags666]

1. Morningrise
2. Orchid
3. My Arms Your Hearse
4. Still Life or Blackwater Park (I'm not really sure which one I like better)

Pretty much, I enjoy anything Opeth writes, but as you can see, I'm more a fan of thier older material. And another side note, I had a difficult time choosing between Orchid and Morningrise as my #1. I think Black Rose Immortal clinched it.

 

[Equiron]

1)morningrise
2)orchid
3)still life
4)mayh
5)bwp

 

[Demonspell]

Still Life
Morningrise
Blackwater Park
My Arms Your 'earse (the British version)
Orchid