Borderline Black Metal?

[Defluo]

Hello people,

Even though I'm a bit of an Opeth fanatic and have been so for years I haven't followed things as closely as I should have online, didn't even know about this forum until a couple of years ago.

I ask this not only for myself but for quite a large amount of Opeth fans in my city, it keeps getting mentioned so I thought maybe the regulars here could help out...

Has there been any further word on the melodic borderline black metal idea Mikael was musing?

 

[Kalabalik]

Wow, that is old If I remember correctly that was even before Mikael had started writing for Ghost Reveries.. I don't know, you would have to ask Mike!

 

[in_my_time_of_disease]

Nothing really other than whats said on the Lamentations doco. Other than that musical influences and ideas flowed away from what he originally intended before writing. Which is fair enough when you set out to create something it more often than not will turn out different to it's original concept.

 

[Defluo]

Well, The Usurper, if Mikael finds the time and thinks it's appropriate to speak about it then that would be ideal. If not, hopefully someone's heard something.

And of course, in_my_time_of_disease, but I do wonder if Mikael's either forgotten/scrapped the idea or put it away to brew until the time is right.

 

[Kalabalik]

Well, it is interesting to think about it. Either he wrote something that didn't get used on the albums or it changed and evolved to something that has little resemblance to black metal.

 

[chrisdoig24k]

I'd VERY much like to see this!

 

[in_my_time_of_disease]

Well, The Usurper, if Mikael finds the time and thinks it's appropriate to speak about it then that would be ideal. If not, hopefully someone's heard something.

And of course, in_my_time_of_disease, but I do wonder if Mikael's either forgotten/scrapped the idea or put it away to brew until the time is right.

Perhaps. Although from what Mike has said about his writing process, he can't control where things come from. He did say when he started writing GR he intended to come up with a lot of heavier riffs, but ended up with a lot of ballad material. Hence no bordering bm. Personally I only hoped for Watershed to be more consistent than GR and back to that other wordly level of song writing they had on bwp and previous. While Deliverence is a great great album, It is not as consistent as bwp IMO. And IMO each album after BWP was a little step down from the previous Until now. Watershed is very much back to that master song writing level and is a lot more consistent than GR and a little moreso than Deliverence. And no I'm not bagging out D1 or GR they are still fantastic albums. But yeah I got what I hoped for. I don't want to hope for something specific (musically) as the chances of it happening are very slim. But yeah to each his own, but in terms of hoping for newer styles Watershed sounds like we are still in for a lot more progression.

 

[daimonion]

Theres a little bit of black metal in Heir apparent from Watershed.

 

[Defluo]

I personally can't hear much in Ghost Reveries that could have been originally designed to work within a borderline black metal framework unless the changes made were extremely dramatic, The Usurper, but I'm no expert.

So would I, chrisdoig24k! And that's not to say I'm disappointed with Opeth's more recent sound, I just think Mike could come up with something absolutely brilliant and really special if he worked on an exclusive album of this nature.

Yeah, in_my_time_of_disease, I understand that artists like Mikael mustn't limit their creative output to conform to an idea but in this case a particular style was mentioned so maybe he already had written some material at the time. Or perhaps he'd go on a writing spree and wind up with something consistent both intrinsically and with the original idea like BWP's lyrics, for example.

And what could be more progressive (and more of a fist in the face to those who say Opeth "sold out") and characteristically Opeth than playing this card at this point in the band's career?!

 

[SerenityNow!]

The only black metal I hear in Opeth is on the first 2 albums.

Not much of a black metal fan anyway...:Smug:

 

[leprecon]

It's BORDERING not borderline. For christ's sake.

 

[liquidcow]

It's 'bordering on x' or 'borderline x', both make sense.

 

[Cerberus III]

Black Metal is crap, in my opinion.

Opeth is better than black metal.

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

Black Metal is crap, in my opinion.

Opeth is better than black metal.

You must have not listened to any good bm then. Akercocke, Negura Bunget, and Deathspell Omega are easily just as good as Opeth. So are Enslaved and Emperor.

 

[Cerberus III]

You must have not listened to any good bm then. Akercocke, Negura Bunget, and Deathspell Omega are easily just as good as Opeth. So are Enslaved and Emperor.

Well, I mean the satanic crap from Norway sucks.

 

[SerenityNow!]

I think it's the corpse paint that really kills me. Not much into bands that wear make-up, including Kiss (Klowns)...

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

Well, I mean the satanic crap from Norway sucks.

Which would be? Burzum, early Mayhem and Gorgoroth perhaps? They're hardly good representations of current black metal (even though I do enjoy all of them). Check out some DSO, Negura, Akercocke, newer Mayhem, and Code. They're all good representations of current bm, imo

I think it's the corpse paint that really kills me. Not much into bands that wear make-up, including Kiss (Klowns)...

If Opeth started wearing corpse paint, would you not like them anymore? Concentrating on the image of the band instead of the music is pretty stupid imoafaik

 

[Cerberus III]

Black Metal just isn't something I like.

Also, corpse paint is pretty gay.

 

[Distrusted]

lol, the sentence "Borderline Black Metal" makes me think about "Silencer" and the album "Death - Pierce Me".

Now that's what I call borderline black fucking metal right there.

 

[SerenityNow!]

If Opeth started wearing corpse paint, would you not like them anymore? Concentrating on the image of the band instead of the music is pretty stupid imoafaik

No, smart-ass, it's the band concentrating too much on their own image. Why wear make-up to prove some kind of point? Make-up, masks, loin cloths all annoy me. Of course I'd still like Opeth if they started painting themselves up, but I'd say, "Hey girls, lose the make-up!!"

Now I know all BM bands aren't Kiss look-a-likes, but the whole satanic thing is another dumbass idea. Why go against a religion with another religion? Actually, it's the same religion. If you believe in God, you believe in Satan too, am I right? It's all just choosing sides. Why aren't there anti-Buddhist bands out there? How about an anti-Scientology band (actually not a bad idea, but may turn more into a comedy act)?

Point is Satanism and corpse paint does absolutely nothing for me. I don't like poor production for the "vibe" it may give off either.

Just my opinion, though.