1928 - I've never been able to get into Opeth, but I'd like to as my brother wants me to go see them with him in November. Any recommendations for a good album to persist with? My bro isn't a fan either, he's going for Pain of Salvation - another band I don't really rate!
Not a fan of Pain of Salvation so I can sympathize there, but Opeth is a bit tricky. If you're not a fan of growling vocals, check out Damnation - it's a very mellow, relaxed album with very soft vocals, almost lullaby-ish at times. All acoustic, it's not a very heavy album. Also, their new album, Heritage, will have no growling vocals. Check out the songs Windowpane (from Damnation) and The Devil's Orchard (from Heritage - it was released a while ago). No growls but they're proggy, dark songs... especially The Devil's Orchard.
If you're into growling vocals, check out Blackwater Park. It's metal, it has soft stuff, it's consistently rated as one of the best metal albums out there in fact. Mikael's growling is some of the best out there.
If you're somewhere in the middle, get Watershed - it has some growling but a lot of clean singing, and it's their latest album before Heritage. Lots of mellotrons and 70s prog stuff in it, which is the direction Heritage is going in.
I highly recommend all three of those albums, but definitely check out Damnation, because it's almost always the album that people start with when they want to ease into Opeth.
