D Mullholand
[project closed]
Life is also a journey. And you do came back to where you've been, lots of times, but with a different perspective.
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NP: My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World
Criticizing Still Life
- Thread starter E V I L
- Start date
Life is also a journey. And you do came back to where you've been, lots of times, but with a different perspective.
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NP: My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World
Morningrise
...I am just thin air...
I hope your only making a generalization on just most teens, not all of them in your comment, Satori... I am a young teenager, and very young for most to be into Opeth. I have been an Opeth fan since My Arms Your Hearse, first came out. I am not taking what you say offensively, but just hope your not talking about all teenagers. Most teenagers that listen to Black Metal, Death Metal, and the like, get placed into this category of being a poser or not a true fan. That perception realy angers me and I hate to be placed there.
D Mullholand
[project closed]
I should also add that there is a big part of us in our favourite albums. I've done some analyzing of some music which I find to be closest to me (Anathema "Judgement", Opeth "Blackwater Park", Pink Floyd "The Wall", MDB "34.788% Complete" and "The Light At The End Of The World", The 3rd and the Mortal "Tears Laid In Earth" and many others), and I have realized that most of the feelings come from me, not from the music; music serves only as a catalyst. So for me "Blackwater Park", "34,788%" and even partially "Judgement" are concept albums - I have a story developing in my head for each of them, and even if a story is already there, I add a huge part of imagery and associations from my own imagination.
To sum it up, maybe there's more of Satori in Satori's MAYH, and maybe there's more of me in my BWP.
D Mullholand
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NP: Genesis - Foxtrot
To sum it up, maybe there's more of Satori in Satori's MAYH, and maybe there's more of me in my BWP.
D Mullholand
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NP: Genesis - Foxtrot
HoserHellspawn
Pixel Manipulator
Hey, all.
The non-repetiveness thing was what initally attracted me to Opeth (after getting over the coolness of the cover of Morningrise), my reaction to Advent was "this is a cool riff... now, this is a cool riff... and... WOW! Cool acoustic thing there... another great riff... another great riff..." and on that basis Opeth seemed to be so much more music than verse/chorus/verse/chorus for a few minutes like most "songs".
So, this was very important to me in my definition of Opeth and it is on this basis I have felt compulsion to put down some of the tracks on especially BWP (mostly Dirge and Funeral Portrait). Still Life repeats some sections as well, but I just like them better - I find them far more emotive (see "chorus" clean vocal parts of Godhead's Lament for reference).
Morningrise was my favourite for a long time, briefly usurped by Still Life shortly after I got it. However, a year and a half after buying it, MAYH has taken top spot and remains there today - it took a LONG TIME to completely "get". The variety is amazing... it's truly only conceieveable as an ALBUM... it could really have been one long track a la Crimson.
Repeated riffs don't degrade quality, uninteresting music does, and as long as the music remains emotional and involving then it is good. HOWEVER - music that is emotional and involving AND unrepetitive... DAMN. That's why My Arms Your Hearse is my favourite album ever.
The non-repetiveness thing was what initally attracted me to Opeth (after getting over the coolness of the cover of Morningrise), my reaction to Advent was "this is a cool riff... now, this is a cool riff... and... WOW! Cool acoustic thing there... another great riff... another great riff..." and on that basis Opeth seemed to be so much more music than verse/chorus/verse/chorus for a few minutes like most "songs".
So, this was very important to me in my definition of Opeth and it is on this basis I have felt compulsion to put down some of the tracks on especially BWP (mostly Dirge and Funeral Portrait). Still Life repeats some sections as well, but I just like them better - I find them far more emotive (see "chorus" clean vocal parts of Godhead's Lament for reference).
Morningrise was my favourite for a long time, briefly usurped by Still Life shortly after I got it. However, a year and a half after buying it, MAYH has taken top spot and remains there today - it took a LONG TIME to completely "get". The variety is amazing... it's truly only conceieveable as an ALBUM... it could really have been one long track a la Crimson.
Repeated riffs don't degrade quality, uninteresting music does, and as long as the music remains emotional and involving then it is good. HOWEVER - music that is emotional and involving AND unrepetitive... DAMN. That's why My Arms Your Hearse is my favourite album ever.
Vortex
Oh, Beth...
Hoser has a point about repetition...me, I don't even like to compare albums like MAYH with your ordinary stuff. If you are going to not repeat, go all the way. I also like to consider MAYH as an example of a "perfect" album, though that doesn't mean to me every note being perfect..
I sometimes have a problem with Still Life repeating parts. Now SL is an album I'd like to consider "perfect" note-for-note, but not necessarily in the other way. The big picture just isn't as refined as in MAYH. I understand repeating parts are an expression of love and hate strugging in his mind (i.e. Moonlapse Vertigo verse-chorus), though... You can listen to SL as pure brilliant music (and you bet I do), but not throw yourself into it as with MAYH. SL portrays some really movie-like scenes, but the repeating parts always throw you back in a way not suitable for storytelling really. The emotion in SL is really heartfelt IMO, period. I understand the observer approach though.
This pondering has nothing to do with the quality of the music itself, just its external qualities. SL is in my top five all-time for sure.
Well, I just came up with this which I believe sums it up: SL is like looking at a director's sketches of the scenes in the movie. MAYH IS the movie.
I sometimes have a problem with Still Life repeating parts. Now SL is an album I'd like to consider "perfect" note-for-note, but not necessarily in the other way. The big picture just isn't as refined as in MAYH. I understand repeating parts are an expression of love and hate strugging in his mind (i.e. Moonlapse Vertigo verse-chorus), though... You can listen to SL as pure brilliant music (and you bet I do), but not throw yourself into it as with MAYH. SL portrays some really movie-like scenes, but the repeating parts always throw you back in a way not suitable for storytelling really. The emotion in SL is really heartfelt IMO, period. I understand the observer approach though.
This pondering has nothing to do with the quality of the music itself, just its external qualities. SL is in my top five all-time for sure.
Well, I just came up with this which I believe sums it up: SL is like looking at a director's sketches of the scenes in the movie. MAYH IS the movie.
MetalManCPA
Papa Opeth
I think EVIL portrayed his emotional connection to Still Life quite nicely. And before I comment, this is totally subjective reasoning, and my taste in no way reflects that of any other human on this earth (I've seen so many disclaimers, I felt it was my time to come up with one).
This to me proves that Opeth from a musical standpoint incites more deep emotion than most other bands. Try having this conversation with a Limp Bizkit album.
BWP was my 1st entrance into this Opeth world, and to date, it is still my favorite Opeth album. This statement is not based on the "entire" album concept - only that there are 3 songs on BWP that totally envelope me, and keep me in the 4th dimension while listening to them - The Funeral Portrait, Bleak, and Blackwater Park. On my favorite song list, these 3 are in my top 10 of ALL songs I like (30% - best average).
There are only a handful of albums that I can admit I love from cover to cover. BWP is one of them, along with Grip Inc-Power of Inner Strength and The Tea Party-Edges of Twilight. Opeth is my favorite band, if not for the 3 songs I mentioned, it's for the musical talent on most of their works. These albums contain at least one amazing song on them, and even though I don't necessarily like every song, these albums work from beginning to end.
As far as Still Life, I haven't listened to it enough to form a concrete opinion, other than if I only heard that Opeth album, I would still consider them one of the most talented metal bands on the planet.
This to me proves that Opeth from a musical standpoint incites more deep emotion than most other bands. Try having this conversation with a Limp Bizkit album.
BWP was my 1st entrance into this Opeth world, and to date, it is still my favorite Opeth album. This statement is not based on the "entire" album concept - only that there are 3 songs on BWP that totally envelope me, and keep me in the 4th dimension while listening to them - The Funeral Portrait, Bleak, and Blackwater Park. On my favorite song list, these 3 are in my top 10 of ALL songs I like (30% - best average).
There are only a handful of albums that I can admit I love from cover to cover. BWP is one of them, along with Grip Inc-Power of Inner Strength and The Tea Party-Edges of Twilight. Opeth is my favorite band, if not for the 3 songs I mentioned, it's for the musical talent on most of their works. These albums contain at least one amazing song on them, and even though I don't necessarily like every song, these albums work from beginning to end.
As far as Still Life, I haven't listened to it enough to form a concrete opinion, other than if I only heard that Opeth album, I would still consider them one of the most talented metal bands on the planet.
Lina
kickass elizabethan style
It's funny -- this is the reason why BWP isn't my favorite album -- I'm ONLY in love with three or four songs on it. To me, Opeth is supposed to take you somewhere for the ENTIRE album. But if I had started with BWP, it would definitely be my favorite album above all other bands. A testament to how amazing this band is.
MetalManCPA
Papa Opeth
Actually, you bring up an interesting point. I think for the most part, music is "song" based, thus, the listener doesn't even think of judging the merit of a band based upon the album concept. Yeah, I've heard the words "that is a good album", but I think it's been a shallow thought. For the short time I've known Opeth, I agree that they approach an album as an album, not as a collection of songs. I think Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Queensryche also took this approach, as probably many other bands also do. Most people get their music from the radio, thus, we listen to a collection of single songs by various bands. We buy the album for the song we heard, then find a few more songs we like (and usually find a better song than what the radio plays).
I think it takes an educated listener to look beyond the song concept to the album concept. I'm still a relative Opethian rookie, so give me some time. But until then, BWP will rule my Opethian roost.
HoserHellspawn
Pixel Manipulator
Bingo - you pretty much exactly state my feeling on BWP here... except that it wouldn't be my favourite above all other bands, not with albums like Crimson and Ocean Machine out there, however, I would definately be looking into that band to FIND my favourite album above all others (which the 3 albums previous would all soon achieve).
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