Death or melodic? Which one brought you to Opeth?

[Akahn]

Entirely an impulse buy for me. I had Demon of the Fall on compilation but had never truly listened to it. I recognised the band name while I was in a store one day, and bought the album I saw, which was Blackwater Park. I think the monochrome picture of a misty forest with dark humanoid shapes in the distance was the main reason for getting it.
I'd love to say I bought it because there was some shining (un)holy light lifting it out of the rack for me, or I suddenly had this psychic episode that this album would be wonderful .... but no. I bought it because of the piccy on the sleeve and got lucky. Ahh well.

Bleak hooked me after about five listens and that was that. Was a while after that I bought MAYH and found that I'd been underappreciating Demon of the Fall for a long time too.

There you go: Not melodic, and not Death. It's all about the Art, baby. It's all about the Art.

 

[Tepheron]

Before Opeth, the only bands I really listened to were Pain of Salvation and Dream Theater. Got introduced to Opeth by my brother, first album I listened to was Damnation. Didn't really want to listen to anything else at the time, because I couldn't stand the growling. Luckily, I changed my views when Ghost of Perdition was released, and now I love all that Opeth has produced.

Opeth changed my taste in music quite a bit, and I started listening to bands like Porcupine Tree, Tool, Katatonia, Anathema, Three, The Mars Volta etc. Lately I've become more and more interested in stuff like Stevie Wonder and John Mayer, and more classic stuff like Pink Floyd.

The one thing I believe Opeth has done for me is to rid me of prejudice when it comes to genres. Nowadays I listen to music, and I don't care about the genre at all - as long as it sounds good, I listen to it.

 

[Lina]

It was "When".

For me too. In 1998, I was in my boyfriend's car, and he was playing Opeth yet again. And for the first several listens it just sounded like noise, and then one day I realized the melodic part of the end of When was gorgeous. So I started listening to Opeth in spite of the growls, and I think it was only a matter of weeks before I needed those growls like crack. I listened to nothing but Opeth for about 6 months, consuming the 4 albums they had. And then of course that opened the door to lots of other bands.

 

[Hedon-]

i first heard moor/bleak/leper/funeral and thats it for like 2 months and then i realized its actually a decent band




kidding, its the best band in the world

 

[jrsh92]

I first found BWP through a friend because I was looking for death metal... but then I heard it and quickly became obsessed because of the melodic aspect of Opeth. That said, Morningrise and Deliverance (or at least parts of Deliverance) that are closer to death metal, or in some cases (Eternal Soul Torture) somewhat like Black metal are some of my favorite Opeth works.

 

[Nightmare_Heaven]

I remember hearing them when I was still quite new to Death Metal (and thus opposed to anything that wasn't "br00tal"), around 3 years ago, and apart from the odd moment I didn't like them much at all. I didn't actually pay much attention and the song lengths really turned me off for some reason (I love long songs usually) Then sometime late last year (think October) I was really getting into the stuff I'd heard off Morningrise, and it was really really good. I bought the album and it was amazing. Then for a while that was the only one I liked, then after that I began seriously trying with their other stuff, and after a while it just clicked and I was loving every song I heard by them. Took long enough, but there you go, they're now one of my favourite bands. Talk about "growing on you". I'd say it was the melodies that attracted me to them, cause it was when I was starting to get into much more melodic metal (Katatonia for example) late last year that I began appreciating Opeth much more, so I'm gonna have to say the melodic aspect drew me in.

 

[KjeXXXer]

I heard Windowpane on the tv. I soon downloaded that along with Harvest. Odd download though, Windowpane had some strange techno crap in the beginning, and Harvest was called Blackwater Park, supposedly off of the 'Harvest' album. That's the internet for ya.

I listened to that for a while, then the following fall I got a metal compilation of loads of hard rock, hardcore, and metal, apparently compiled by Satyr. On it was a short edit of Deliverance, which I immediately adored. It was basically just half the song, about four minutes or something.

Then on to GR.
So yeah, melodic.

 

[RoadKing]

The one thing I believe Opeth has done for me is to rid me of prejudice when it comes to genres. Nowadays I listen to music, and I don't care about the genre at all - as long as it sounds good, I listen to it.

Great point! I've never understood being narrow-minded about music, or art in general for that matter. If you close your mind to all but one specific sound or concept, you miss out on sooooo much of what makes life truly worth living. I try to give most anything a chance, at least. (with varying degrees of success...)

I actually got into Opeth relatively recently through being a HUGE Porcupine Tree fan. I pretty much wanna check out anything that Steven Wilson is involved in, and after I found out he'd worked with Opeth I decided to finally check 'em out. Much like with PT, I then became rather obsessed and had to buy everything I could get my hands on by them, which is really saying something, because until that point, I really just couldn't get into what I refer to as the "Cookie Monster-on-Crack" vocal style. For me at least, Mikael and Chuck Billy from Testament are just about the only guys that actually pull it off sounding more menacing than muppet. Most of the time it just sounds silly and puerile to me. I found the beautifully crafted balance of the brutal and the melodic greatly appealing with Opeth, however. Skillfully composed contrast makes any kind of art interesting, and in the metal world, few have ever come as close to the total mastery of this concept as Akerfeldt. Mikael and Steven both have an uncommon gift for composition and texture, combined with the balls to take chances that most musicians can only dream of, all of which makes them two of the most groundbreaking and important musicians in rock music today, in my personal opinion.

 

[Kristopher]

Hope Leaves and In My Time My Needs were the first Opeth songs I heard and encouraged me to explore further so I think you all know what my answer is.Early sings I did enjoy shortly after getting into Opeth however were the likes of The Drapery Falls,Under The Weeping Moon,The Moor and Bleak.

 

[Meanspark]

I knew Opeth before I was born.
Seriously, Blackwater Park. good album

 

[Stilgar]

Both. I used to listen to Edge of Sanity, who also used both growls and clean even before Opeth released their first album.

 

[GT2000]

In 1998, I was in my boyfriend's car, and he was playing Opeth yet again. And for the first several listens it just sounded like noise, and then one day I realized the melodic part of the end of When was gorgeous. So I started listening to Opeth in spite of the growls, and I think it was only a matter of weeks before I needed those growls like crack. I listened to nothing but Opeth for about 6 months, consuming the 4 albums they had. And then of course that opened the door to lots of other bands.

... Like so many Opeth fans I know!
Most on first listen are repulsed by the growls, but at the same time a seed is planted. They go on to rethink the band, revisit the band and slowly the lights start to turn on. Then, it's all over and the band OWNS you!

 

[BarackObama]

Blackwater Park, then worked back and got even more into it. I got into them because of the loud/soft dynamic, not one or the other. Well...ok, maybe more of the melodic, if i had to choose. But without the chaos, the melodic parts wouldnt be as striking. Hard to say.

 

[demon of the moor]

i Love it all, i suppose i got into them initially from the metal tag.
But when i delved deeper i realised that opeth are much more than just a death metal band (did i steal that quote from steven wilson?) they have a certain amount of sophistication (now i know i did )

But i love both sides of opeth.
One without the other, would mean opeth wouldnt be opeth

 

[Ninfix]

Actually, The Grand Conjuration was the first song I heard from Opeth, and I got really hooked on it. After that, I listened to Reverie, Ghost of Perdition, Masters Apprentices and Blackwater Park. Then I bought Ghost Reveries, then it all started from there. It's weird how my least favorite album was the first album I heard.

 

[DarkBarrage99]

first metal band I ever listened to, and before that when i was younger I just listened to classical music, classic rock and radio.