Burden Ending - Out of Tune Guitar

[hibernal_dream]

Why on earth would you play the songs on shuffle?

 

[Lewiji]

Why on earth would you play the songs on shuffle?

Not the songs, but songs in general, ie on an mp3 player. I don't, personally, but if someone did I understand why the ending would be annoying to them.

 

[Defluo]

My drummer has his mp3 playing stereo permanently on shuffle and it drives me mad!

 

[duncang]

I love it.

 

[Vivören]

I haven't even heard it and I love it.

 

[griev0r]

I don't know if its been mentioned - haven't read through the whole thread, but in a video interview with Mike he said the purpose of the detuning was "to turn this beautiful song into shit."

 

[Lenni]

I don't know if its been mentioned - haven't read through the whole thread, but in a video interview with Mike he said the purpose of the detuning was "to turn this beautiful song into shit."

He surely said this afterwards to cover up that it was unintentional:
He recorded with the acoustic guitar and then Fredrik came in and turned the knobs because he was jealous of his finger-picking skills and Mikael didn't notice and BAM - there you have the ending.

 

[Lothlorien]

He surely said this afterwards to cover up that it was unintentional:
He recorded with the acoustic guitar and then Fredrik came in and turned the knobs because he was jealous of his finger-picking skills and Mikael didn't notice and BAM - there you have the ending.

lol. what a prick that Fredrik is.

 

[Frosties]

I've only heard it once, and I liked the idea - but I can also imagine it getting on my nerves in the future. We'll see about that, I guess...

And this isn't the first time Opeth are doing something weird to a song just to fuck with the listeners (Serenity Painted Death ending, for example).

 

[liquidcow]

Now that I've heard it... I like the idea, and it kind of works, but I think the detuning bit goes on for too long. I think they should have let the acoustic part play normally for a bit longer, then detuned it but made it a bit quicker. It goes on for like a minute and after about ten seconds I just thought 'alright, I get it, enough'.

 

[Annihilat0r]

^^ I agree. Plus, it could have been done to a more "extreme" and weird song, such as Hessian Peel. Burden isn't the right song to do that, I think.

However I appreciate its creativity.

 

[Kalabalik]

It goes on for like a minute and after about ten seconds I just thought 'alright, I get it, enough'.

I'm a huge Opeth fan, but to be honest, that could be said of many Opeth parts...

 

[dwoakee]

i'm not sure yet, whether i like the detuning part. i've only heard it once. it's definitely interesting, and although it carries on for quite some time it is interesting to hear how the melody/riff changes when different strings are detuned. but you'll have to listen real closely and pay attention.

canadian acoustic guitarist antoine dufour has a song ("song for stephen" from the album "existence") where he downtunes one string intentionally for a certain section of the song and after that section he tunes it up again. mind you, he does it by himself, and he does it while he continues to play and he doesn't detune, he downtunes to a certain note and hits it immediately. it's a jaw-dropper:



maybe opeth should do stuff like that more often. maybe next time they could re-arrange axe's drumkit while he's doing a solo

 

[Simskre]

Ever heard Victor Wooten do it?

EDIT:

 

[soundave]

I found myself sort of bummed by it at first because I thought the guitar part was pretty, and I was enjoying it and wanted it to go on. But then, I grew to appreciate it. It reminds me of the inscription to the book, "House of Leaves": this is not for you. I don't have Opeth in my pocket. And when I accept that, and sort of follow their lead (or Mike's), I'll get it.

What I get from it is disintegration. It's like a still life of rotten fruit. Not beautiful, but it tells a story. All beauty fades. Innocence is corrupted. Aren't these the kind of themes Watershed is built around?

Furthermore, Fred does a great job of detuning, so that as it falls apart, there are moments where it sounds nearly like it's morphed into some new tonality. Kind of a cool listen if you let yourself go.

Kind of reminiscent of the end of "Friends" on Led Zep III, actually.

 

[BringMeTheCalm]

I wish the classical guitar solo was a bit longer before the detuning started. I really love that part...

 

[liquidcow]

I wish the classical guitar solo was a bit longer before the detuning started. I really love that part...

Yeh that's what I think, he only plays the part once before it starts to detune. If they'd played that for a bit longer, then detuned the guitar more quickly it would have been better.

This reminds me of the fuss over the ending of Closure when Damnation came out.

 

[BringMeTheCalm]

Or Serenity Painted Death...

I don't mind the detuning and it's different and much less abrupt than other Opeth endings.

 

[dwoakee]

Furthermore, Fred does a great job of detuning, so that as it falls apart, there are moments where it sounds nearly like it's morphed into some new tonality. Kind of a cool listen if you let yourself go.

Yeah, that's what I had in mind, too. I'm curious if they will be able to reproduce this live.

Also, kudos to Mikael for being able to keep on playing while Fred detunes his guitar. I would be so confused, I would always have the impression I made a mistake so that I would eventually stop playing. :zombie:

 

[Frosties]

I found myself sort of bummed by it at first because I thought the guitar part was pretty, and I was enjoying it and wanted it to go on. But then, I grew to appreciate it. It reminds me of the inscription to the book, "House of Leaves": this is not for you.

Haha, never thought of that. Great point!

Weird book btw. Interesting, but weird - like the end of the song.