Getting others into Opeth

[Static]

I've been obssessed with Opeth for about half a year now, and out of the people I hang around with I am the only one who has any respect for metal. One of my good friends loves Sublime, drum and bass and that sort of thing, I lent him my Blackwater Park CD in the hope he would see its brilliance, only to have him return it a few days later stating it was "trash metal", as if it was some Cannibal Corpse or Mortician band.

Why it is so hard to make non-metallers see the light? I thought one of my friends who loves Tool (probably the worlds most fanatical fan) would enjoy it, but he said much the same thing about it. I know its wrong to try and force music upon others, and it rarely works, and why am I the only one out of anyone who can see its brilliance?

I think Still Life is the best Opeth album to start with, but its so frustrating when people blindly condemn Opeth for the dark lyrics, I'm just venting my anger here. Thats probably the whole reason Opeth don't get the credit they are due: they use death metal style vocals. Tool is pathetic compared to them.

 

[OneFootBlaster]

Some people just dont get it... Ive seen idiots post shit like Opeth is Gay, and untalented... If my friends ask about Opeth: and have never heard them- I usually tell them its like An amazing amalgamation of Led Zeppelin and Death Metal.... That usually piques their interest! haha Its hard to describe such an amazing band, but that description at least gets them interested....

 

[Static]

Yeah, I've found describing as "melodic death metal" doesn't work for shit, most people just say: "what? the word 'death' is part of that description! It must be brutal gore infested trash!"

 

[Id]

Yeah, most people really seem to hate metal for some reason. As if listening to metal summoned out satan himself or something. I got my parents to listen to Morningrise though...I started with To Bid You Farewell because I thought they'd like it, and they just listened to the whole CD. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

[Static]

My father is a moderately well known composer (well, here in New Zealand anyway) with an extremely deep theoretical and practical knowledge in composition and music, he heard 'Black Rose Immortal' and stated: "They just sound like a band taking the current conventions of rock music and trying to expand it and take it further than other bands might attempt to do so, they're just trying to be more epic and intelligent".
I actually quite like that description.

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

My band plays and listens to mostly rock and 70's rock, I played Opeth for them and they all really liked it. I lent them some CD's etc. I also played Cryptopsy, Celtic Frost, Vintersorg, Hollenthon, and some other stuff for them, Celtic Frost and Opeth went over the best.

 

[bleedingskeptic]

i've actually gotten a lot of people into opeth. of course, they all don't worship it like i do, but they still like it.

my uncle is a musican, he plays irish folk music (mainly he plays the flute) and he really knows music, he's even being considered for a college position to teach music theory. one problem is that he's REALLY religious, and i hesitate in showing him my death metal stuff. so he came over and wanted to hear how my guitar playing was coming along. so i played a couple songs like blackwater park, the night and the silent water, and the castaway (on of my fav amorphis songs...you better know it!). he really loved the stuff i was playing (which goes to show that people just can't get past death vox) so i burned him morningrise, printed out the lyrics and a couple days later he called me back and had nothing but good things to say about opeth. he loved the balance between distorted and acoustic gutiar, he loved the lyrics, and he said after a while he the vocals sounded so natural he doesn't even notice that they're growls.

and all my friends that i've showed opeth really like it. they can see its not cannibal corpse wannabe death metal, because 1) its not fast and 2) its melodic and has acoustic parts. i think my luck in showing people opeth is that i know who will appreciate it and not label i noise right away.

 

[Parasite]

I think I was lucky, I have been able convert five people into Opeth fans, but they weren't your run of the mill trendy idiots either. It seems It's easy for me to convert Tool fans into Opeth fans. Since they are both very cerebral bands. I don't know, maybe I just got lucky. I always recomend "Bleak" and "Harvest" first, so they can get both the mellow and harder Opeth.

 

[NaTaSMAI]

I haven't even tried getting my friends to listen, they're more into "nu-metal". I know one of my friends might like it, but then again, he likes everything I show him, and goes by everything I say. So, I don't know if he'd like it because he thinks it's good, or because I say it's good. Oh well.

 

[Ermz]

Most of my friends I converted to just strictly metal a while back, and now as I've grown and my taste has progressed into music like Opeth, I find it hard to suggest that to my friends... they seem stuck with the simpler form of music. I think it takes a certain kind of person to get this kind of music, so it just doesn't go over their head. Most people just look for a good beat, rhythm or some good shit to mosh to... it's not all emotionally relating to music and totally getting into it.

 

[Blood On My Hands]

I have been unsucessful getting others into Opeth, except maybe one person. He's a good friend from work who is big into Tool, and so I gave him Still Life after work one night. He kept it for a few days and burned it, then gave it back. When I asked him about it, he said he really liked it. I asked him to go into detail, but he didn't...so I'm starting to wonder if he ever listened to it at all. Earlier tonight I had my friend Jesse in the car with me while we were on our way to IHOP rock: ) and I had MAYH playing, and he seemed to be getting into it. Whether or not he'll go out and buy any albums, is doubtful. Getting my friends into other metal seem to be much easier (Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Nevermore, In Flames, etc.)

 

[Static]

Yeah not to sound pretentious or anything, but Opeth is definately a higher form of music that can easily go over the head of "nu-metallers". I formerly thought Tool was the be all and end all of intelligent music, but now I see they barely skim the surface of melody.

My friend however is so deep into Tool that I think if I tried to introduce him to Opeth he wouldn't like it regardless. People who like nu-metal are often unaware they are listening to extremely simplistic music (not that Tool is nu-metal), but hey, whatever keeps the masses happy...

Since getting into Opeth I only occasionally listen to Tool, I think the problem with Opeth is that it forces you to look at your previous like in music with distaste, I have trouble handling almost any popular music these days, particularly the alternative surferboy genre consisting of Blink-182 and Good Charlotte.

 

[_Transparent_]

patience. not everyone has it. :sigh:

 

[CAIRATH]

I don't know anyone around me that likes or even really respects metal at all. Most people seem to think it's just a bunch of noise made by unskilled people.

I did let my mom listen to some parts of Blackwater Park and she sort of liked it though. She's into classical music (plays the piano pretty well) and she doesn't like the growling but she did admit that it seems very skillful music and she liked the more tranquil parts.

My father just thinks most of my music is garbage. But then he isn't musical at all and doesn't even really listen to music that much himself.

 

[IcemanJ256]

I havent tried to get any of my friends to listen to Opeth yet, most of them listen to Linkin Park and Weezer and shit, and they think the heavyest music in the world is Drowning Pool and Mudvayne... I tell them to download songs often, even if it's anathema or dredg or something, and they never listen to me. Oh well. My friend asked me to put like 100 mp3s on a cd for him and i put some select opeth songs. Actually I got my little brother into Opeth but that's cause he follwos everything I do.

 

[samoniac]

I was playing some Children of Bodom shit, while my mom was visiting in my room. I was astounded, when she said that it sounded good to her. After a month or so I played her some Opeth. She liked Harvest yes, but disliked anything with growls. I can't understand her, how can she like CoB with its horrendous spits, but dislike Opeth's very talented and sophisticated deep-throat growls.

This was sligthly off-topic. Sorry!

 

[mindflesh]

I don't even try to get any of my closer friends into Opeth. There's one who basically appreciates metal (Slayer & some of the heavier nu metal stuff), but I guess he won't like Opeth since it's not really music for the mosh pit

I guess the reason why people have a general aversion towards metal (not nu metal, that seems to be a different story altogether) is that most metal bands that get mainstream attention are pathetic and often quite ridiculous (Manowar, for example, who are currently number one in the rock charts of the german music channel viva plus afaik). And those people who dare take a look into the extreme metal section are immeadiately pushed back by bands like Cannibal Corpse - both content-wise and music-wise. Just think - what do you see more often, metalheads running around in Opeth shirts and looking thoughtful, or metalheads running around in, say, Cradle Of Filth shirts, trying to look evil but ending up looking stupid? (I don't want to offend anyone here who happens to like either of those bands, but I guess you get what I want to say)

 

[Dvoters]

Originally posted by Static
I've been obssessed with Opeth for about half a year now, and out of the people I hang around with I am the only one who has any respect for metal. One of my good friends loves Sublime, drum and bass and that sort of thing, I lent him my Blackwater Park CD in the hope he would see its brilliance, only to have him return it a few days later stating it was "trash metal", as if it was some Cannibal Corpse or Mortician band.

Why it is so hard to make non-metallers see the light? I thought one of my friends who loves Tool (probably the worlds most fanatical fan) would enjoy it, but he said much the same thing about it. I know its wrong to try and force music upon others, and it rarely works, and why am I the only one out of anyone who can see its brilliance?

I think Still Life is the best Opeth album to start with, but its so frustrating when people blindly condemn Opeth for the dark lyrics, I'm just venting my anger here. Thats probably the whole reason Opeth don't get the credit they are due: they use death metal style vocals. Tool is pathetic compared to them.

I had the same problem with my best mate, who also loves metal, and also loves Opeth now. This was with Still Life, he just ignored the album because of the 'dark lyrics'. I kept on him though, and he eventually realised that Opeth are gods. He and I are heavily into them now, and have been for about 2 half years now.

 

[Belial]

I'm not interested in getting my friends or family into metal. They all listen to pop, reggae, r&b, rap, and some very select nu-metal thanks to one of my bro's constant pushing of his music. I was interested in getting the aformentioned brother into REAL metal once because he got me into music in the first place and for a while I borrowed his nu-metal tastes before I discovered real metal.

It never worked, he openly admits that the guys I listen to play their instruments very well but he gets turned off by the vocals and refuses to listen to anything with growls. He is also convinced that all metal is Satanic and only about being depressed and hateful and angry, and he says he doesn't want any part of that. I found out later that he was a Cannibal Corpse fan and he still thinks they're awesome. He claims "Cannibal Corpse do just sit there and growl, but they do it good". I just want to slap him because I think Cannibal Corpse doesn't growl nearly as good as other bands. If he likes Cannibal Corpse's vocals why can't he like any other death metal vocals? He even hates Novembre vocals.

And forget about Opeth. According to him, Opeth are pathetic trash because they change between heavy and soft parts instead of keeping a steady, predictable rythm throughout their songs and he doesn't hesitate to make fun of it.

I gave up. He is a nu-metal worshiper who thinks Metallica are the most talented musicians alive. He thinks Creed is original, thinks Mudvayne are the heaviest band alive, and that Drowning Pool has some of the best instrumentals out there.

 

[_Transparent_]

i gave up awhile ago, well actually i lie, i made someone 2 mix cds of heavy and mellow metal, with stuff like Behemoth, nile, cryptopsy, then katatonia, lacuna coil, the gathering etc, she wanted only one, but in the end opeth needed a seperate cd, and the others too. she likes opeth, and various other stuff, keeps borrowing cds of me. im not as enthusiastic about it though, some people are just impatient and ''good'' (quote, unquote) music isnt for them.