For those who are not happy with Opeth's recent direction.....

MetalManCPA

MetalManCPA

Papa Opeth
May 19, 2001
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...and I NOT being one who feels that way:

Are you at the point where you don't care if Opeth comes out with another album? Or, after hearing Ghost Reveries, are you already hoping for their next release to be something you've been waiting for from them?

I'll reiterate my position on Opeth (my opinion only) - I feel they have matured over the years, and have done what they've wanted to do. For the naysayers, I believe BWP was the beginning of the end for the love of Opeth. One of the reasons was the much improved production of BWP, well, improved from my standpoint anyways. It seems to me that those who hold onto the "older" Opeth feel there was some sort of rawness to SL, MAYH, Orchid that their more recent works have left behind.

I love all of the Opeth albums. BWP is my favorite. Deliverance/Damnation was not their best albums, and Ghost Reveries is now my second favorite Opeth album. But, with ALL of Opeth's albums, I hear the beauty and talent of Opeth. I don't feel they've lost anything. And, in my personal rankings of Opeth albums, the difference between my favorite and least favorite album isn't much of a margin.
 
I agree too. They may not still make albums with the same folk/classical acoustic sound as before, the production quality may be different, they may be more prog influenced, but they're still incredible. They've just altered their style, not gone downhill.
 
They've changed, that's for sure.

But I really feel they have "lost the magic".

What music they make now is not metal anymore, it's a prog-fusion of some kind. But not metal.

Their new work has nothing dark about it, and lyrically it's gone to crap. Any poetic beauty about their work is gone.

Good luck to them, they're doing well and they DO deserve it for all their hard work, but it's not the direction myself (and probably other older fans, I could be wrong) are looking for.

In my opinion, with GR, things which once made Opeth unique is what they have not included into the album.
 
I'm at the point where I almost don't care that much. When a new one comes out I'm sure I'll want to hear it- but to me much of GR is very stale sounding(which I think might be the fact that I'm so used to Mike's playing style.) There are only three spots on the album that really struck me as being great- the latter part of reveries/harlequin forest before the shit breakdown ending, the interaction of the keys and guitar in ghost of perdition after Mike sings "you have to live before you die young" and "isolation years."

Almost every metal moment on the album feels forced or stale, the exception being(and I'll get crucified for this) a few moments from the grand conjuration. I kind of feel like they're reached a creative peak and unless they take a completely different direction I'll totally lose interest in anything new. Mike is certainly still capable of beautiful fresh melodies- I think Isolation years basically beats out every mellow thing they've done so far, which gives me some hope that maybe in the future they'll put out an album that just completely blows me away.
 
i dont think its too much of a change in direction (BWP along with morningrise are probably my two favourites) but simply that the last 3 albums are in my opinion the worst 3. its still early days in judging GR but ive listened to it a hell of a lot. all that said, id still call GR the best album ive heard this year, as with deliverence and damnation the best of 02/03, its just i feel they're bellow the usual standard.
 
^ Word brotha... ;)

Even now I await their next release with anxiety! For me, they're certainly evolving in a wonderful direction... Their first two albums, although badly produced (sorry Morningrise-wankers but that's a fact...) were quite good musically... But then each new album was better and better IMO... I know I may be the only one here but Deliverance was for me as good as BP, I couldn't decide which is my favorite... Now, since GR was released, I don't have that problem luckily ;) You don't think so - fine with me...

One thing though... Where's the 'rawness' on Still Life?? I don't hear any...
 
Well that's a good point is guess isn't it?

I suppose Still Life wasn't really about rawness... It was more of a change in style than MAYH was! Almost a refinement in some ways. Without a doubt, it comprised heaviness, prog AND folk. I think Still Life was their most complete and most skilled record, to me it's just about flawless (and that includes the dents in the production as well).

I think to me, Still Life was about refinement. While the record sounds polished, it still sounds somewhat natural, whereas Ghost Reveries sounds like... A Mac G5?
 
The Hubster said:
Their new work has nothing dark about it, and lyrically it's gone to crap. Any poetic beauty about their work is gone.

.
Click to expand...

Isolation Years is the best song Mikael has written lyrically.
 
I think it's fantastic that Opeth keep finding ways to reinvent themselves. I personally think the D&D era was a bit of a slump, but they've definately made a fitting return to form with the new album.

Ghost Reveries sounds nothing like MAYH and Still Life, yet I wouldn't hesitate to rate it up next to them. I do still preffer Still Life, but that's more of a personal thing.
 
Personally I think you've gotta admire any band that can show so much diversity and yet still retain their own unique sound - something I think that Opeth have always done. For me, Ghost Reveries is their best album to date, simply because I've always been a big fan of 70s prog rock, which is the direction that this album seems to have gone in. I can however understand how some people don't like it - if you love Opeth for their death metal roots, Ghost Reveries is going to be a bit of a disappointment.
 
Austin said:
Isolation Years is the best song Mikael has written lyrically.
Click to expand...

there is no 'best'.

I was disappointed with this direction because everyone kept on about how evil it was gonna be, so I thought that it would be closer to MAYH in terms of darkness/heaviness than the other albums....which is a good thing.

It wasn't like that at all. If this is the direction they are going in, they are eventually going to turn into a heavier Porcupine Tree.
 
The Evil Toucan said:
If this is the direction they are going in, they are eventually going to turn into a heavier Porcupine Tree.
Click to expand...

Well if you're a Porcupine Tree fan, I guess that's no bad thing...

To be honest I don't really think Ghost Reveries sounds anything like Porcupine Tree though. There are moments on Damnation in particular that do, but that's because Stephen Wilson was so involved in the album.
 
I have to say that MAYH is still my favourite Opeth album. While the new stuff is still very good, it doesn't have the same intensity as the earlier stuff. And although there is still plenty of technical brilliance, the Orchid style for me is far more emotionally involving, and enthralling through to the end. The more recent albums seem to slump in the second half, and I know looking at my playcounts that I barely listen to the closing tracks off any of the past four albums. I'm pleased for them that they are still evolving, it means that every album stands alone and sounds very different to every other. But I'm also pleased because it means that maybe they'll move around to a style that I can get more involved in listening to in a couple of albums' time.
 
[KOTNO]Narrot said:
...good to see some of you guys here again! :wave: nice to see you too metalmancpa :)
Click to expand...

Hi back at you :wave:

I got tired of SOT/SOT2. I came back to what brought me to Ultimate Metal - Opeth and music.
 
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