Ghost Reveries IS a masterpiece

[Ikil]

Yeah I understand. I guess this album has a more 'positive' sound to it than the others. Though lyrically, I wouldn't say this is a happy album. The 'sadness' is still in the lyrics, even if not as sad as the previous efforts. And no, HoW doesn't sound depressing, but it does sound deep and the sense of sadness is there. It does have its 'dark' feeling to it as well. By no means is the song a happy one.

Though the type of emotion it seems you want, I don't think that has been shown on the last 4 albums. It seemed to have stopped at Still Life for me.

And I know what you mean about wanting albums with the same emotion as found on the first 3 albums. How many albums I have come across in my time where I wish there were other albums with similar emotion to it but I can't find another album with it anywhere else. Its like these certain albums just hit a certain point where no other band will be able to match it no matter how hard they try. The album is its own and nothing will come close to what it has.

Why can't I find another album that matches the depressing emotion and painfully depressing vocals of Katatonia - Dance of December Souls?

 

[Saturnist]

There is no way Ghost Reveries is a masterpiece, it has some moments, but by no means is it a complete piece.

 

[:Wreath:]

bitch bitch bitch bitch...

 

[the opeth affinity]

Oh i have it, and i've been listening to it daily since i bought it. It's a good album. I just really don't find anything make me well up inside like past Opeth did. It's a FUN album, not an emotional one. it makes me bop around, it doesn't make me sit wide eyed, overwhelmed by what i am feeling. They are VERY distinctly different feelings, and Opeth just can't do the "emotional" one like they used to. There's moments of brilliance, no doubt (particularly the middle section of Harlequin Forest) and they sort of give me those feelings, but there is NOTHING at all even close in any way, shape, or form to "...AND I CRIIIEEEDDD", "just one second, and i was left with nothing", or "I don't know how or why, and i'll... never... know WHEEEENNNN" *cue most epic and awe inspiring riff ever*, all of which are from MAYH. Then there's nothing that moves me like "it will set ablaze, and vanish", "why can't you see that every tear i shed is for you?", and innumerable other moments on Orchid or Morningrise. They just AREN'T present. No matter how subjective you want to make this, those kinds of hugely epic and emotional parts just ARE NOT THERE. The new album is a fun, not serious album. For listening to any time. It's not introspective, it's just NOT got any of that kind of emotion. I don't know how else to explain it, but i know what i mean, and to those who can decipher this babble will absolutely agree. The feel of newer stuff, especially the new one, is just... not emotional...

Youve hit the nail on the head mumblefoot, morningrise/still life/orchid, all masterpiece albums from a musical, lyrical amd emotional point of view, im glad someone feels the same way i do about the new album, its not a masterpiece, like the albums i mentioned, and its unemotive, a few fun, and well written songs but not a touch on previous works

 

[Korlich]

I´m glad to see all this constructive criticism for a change. I just have to say I felt the same as many of the ppl posting, here about the lack of emotion but I must say now I just love every moment on this album, and I find LOTS of emotion on it, especially "Isolation Years", but also lines like "Lost love in a holocaust scene memory", "Drown in the deep mire" etc.

 

[fuscous]

don´t say this record would have sounded different had it been released on a diff record label, we all know that´s a lie.

Youre right - the album was finished as they signed RR.

 

[Korlich]

^ I know, but some ppl still blame RR, I almost feel sorry for RR

 

[Miller High Death]

I think Ghost Reveries is pretty good and has put Opeth back on track. Hopefully the next one will be even better. I think the problem with deliverance was that the riffing on a lot of the songs sounded like other bands out there and not Opeth. Like the beginning of (I think) Wreath sounded like Morbid Angel. Anyway, it sounds like they put more effort this time into making better songs with more progressive style chords. I just wish that there was 1 or 2 more songs on the cd like the first 3.

 

[Kir-ir-Bannog]

I think Ghost Reveries is pretty good and has put Opeth back on track. Hopefully the next one will be even better. I think the problem with deliverance was that the riffing on a lot of the songs sounded like other bands out there and not Opeth. Like the beginning of (I think) Wreath sounded like Morbid Angel. Anyway, it sounds like they put more effort this time into making better songs with more progressive style chords. I just wish that there was 1 or 2 more songs on the cd like the first 3.

masters apprentences sounds more like MA. I dont care about this....its better than pretty much every MA track ever written....and i really like MA....

 

[Miller High Death]

masters apprentences sounds more like MA. I dont care about this....its better than pretty much every MA track ever written....and i really like MA....

Thanks for the correction. I haven't listened to that album for a long time.

 

[Detric]

Whats the concept behind GR?

 

[Eleventeen]

Ghost Reveries is really good, not quite Morningrise or Still Life, but it's still up there.

 

[Caesar Metallius]

I really like GR as well. I don't think anyone has a right to criticize Opeth for anything they have done.

People should expect something different from every Opeth album, because they are a progressive band, in many aspects. It is a sign of a true musician to make what they feel, and not what people expect.

Opeth has not sold out at all. Once Mike starts rapping in his songs, then you can say they sold out, but you cannot say it yet.

 

[Taurui]

Maybe it's just me, but...

I've never really "loved" Opeth albums from the start. I was enjoying them, but all of them needed a lot of time, they needed to progress together with my life to show what they're made of. Ghost Reveries is in this stage right now, like every other Opeth album I've heard to date.
The first time I heard "Deliverance", the probably most disliked album here, I thought it was fun and heavy, but boring. Some time has passed since then, and now I could cry every second of it cause it emotionally moves me.
I'm not sure what exactly happened there, but it was similar to my experience with Damnation, BWP, Still Life, MAYH, Morningrise and Orchid (although Deliverance needed more time than any other).

OF COURSE a new album won't be such emotionally satisfying as the old ones. Some of you might have lived many years with an early opeth album engraved in your hearts.

I'll give it time, as usual, to develop. If that doesn't happen, then I'll still enjoy it, cause it's a very solid album with a lot of great ideas. The "emotional" aspect is as personal as music gets, so it's kinda pointless to argue about that aspect

-Taurui

 

[pac1288]

Who knows guys. GR could turn out like MAYH. When That album first came out(MAYH) a lot of people did not like it. Many would say how bad it was, and how it did not compare to the others and so on. Now Mayh is consisdered to be one of the best and has reached the status of countless acclaim. Maybe the samething will happen to GR?

 

[Hubster]

Since I first acquired GR, I've listened to it a number of times, and each time it's failed to move me. I just find the record really uninspiring and boring overall. In my opinion it's far from a masterpiece and quite easily forgettable (which I've already done).

The only emotional song on the whole album is Isolation Years, and that's really about it. Even then, it's a mere shadow of the emotional power Opeth have achieved in earlier parts of their career... the darkest thing about the whole album is the CD sleeve.

The crushing emotional storms and subtleties of melancholy Opeth once created so beautifully are now simply, a memory: from being THE band, they've now become "another" band.

 

[Ermz]

Just because they don't presently cater to your tastes in music doesn't mean they've been absorbed into the faceless masses. In terms of publicity, Opeth are currently more of *THE* band than they've ever been in the past. Not necessarily saying that's a good or bad thing, but regardless, to say that their standard of songwriting has degenerated simply because it doesn't click with you is just being careless.

 

[Ikil]

Well said Moonlapse. Hubster, for someone as open minded as you are, its disappointing that you can't get into this cd. Oh well, each to their own.

I must say though, I never found Opeth to be 'emotional' so to speak. I only found them to be emotional in some moments.

Ikil

 

[in limbow]

I think GR is great, especially when compared to all the shitty music today. But it just isn't as emotional or moving as Still Life or Morningrise...

 

[The Warrior of Modern Death]

GR is in my opinion one of the best or even THE best opeth record yet. It incorporates everything Opeth, and then some.