GMD Poll: Opeth’s Discography Ranked
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jimmy101
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- Sep 19, 2018
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Moreso cause you ranked Morningrise, but for some reason didn't rank Orchid, MAYH nor Still Life, which I found to be odd. Overall it's not so different from my opinion on them, I also don't care much for Watershed/Heritage.
I think Opeth, the genuine musical concept and identity of "Opeth", really starts with Blackwater Park, everything before that is fairly interchangeable and negligible. Every song has 50 parts, some clean some distorted... it's just Akerfeldt finding himself as a composer. It's vague, melancholic but mushy, on the epic side but forgettable... There were other such Scandinavian melodic/prog bands like Edge of Sanity, easily more interesting. The definitive entity that we've known as Opeth doesn't start until after the new millennium.
I think the albums after Ghost Reveries are better composed than the earlier ones but equally irrelevant (bar a few good tracks) because again they're indulgent subjective musical wanderings from Akerfeldt and lack the focus and greater inspiration/purpose of music such as Blackwater or Deliverance.
Phylactery
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Allfader
Kvelding
Considering Lindgren wrote around half (if not more) of Orchid and Morningrise, their songwriting style as a band was always pretty much the same: writing 238462834 short sections and pasting them. When you also consider the fact that Lindgren wrote the main riff in Demon of the Fall (0:50), which ultimately became their signature sound, it's obvious that they always went for that style.
Akerfeldt probably wrote his best riffs somewhere around MAYH/Still Life. BWP onwards they got a bigger budget for production, which made a huge impact in their sound. If they had the BWP production on MAYH, it would probably be considered their best.
no country for old wainds
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and yet you didn't rank two of the four albums before BWP, almost like you haven't heard them. one of those happens to be their most coherent and focused album, and both are far closer to BWP than to the style of the first two albums. i think if you took a poll from opeth fans albums 3+4 would probably win out as being considered their definitive records, along with BWP anyway, but personally i think it's kind of silly to call any of their albums definitive representations of their sound given they've always changed pretty substantially from album to album. BWP was definitely the beginning of a transition into a more 'mature' (read: boring, soulless, pompous) sound though.
EspaDa
Damage Case
By no means is Deliverance Opeth's best. The last song feels excessively overlong and drags for a long fuckin' time. The title track, however, is in top 5 tracks written by them. Songwriting at their best
The first four albums> BWP
BWP has some great tracks but also some tracks that drag. Say what you want about the hodgepodge structures of the first few albums, they never drag. Drapery Falls and Dirge for November have amazing moments but also drag at times. Harvest is easily weaker than any of the ballads on the first few albums and Patterns in the Ivy is filler. Of course, the title track is a masterpiece, Funeral Portrait slays and the first two tracks are also excellent. However, everything on the first four albums is masterful.
BWP has some great tracks but also some tracks that drag. Say what you want about the hodgepodge structures of the first few albums, they never drag. Drapery Falls and Dirge for November have amazing moments but also drag at times. Harvest is easily weaker than any of the ballads on the first few albums and Patterns in the Ivy is filler. Of course, the title track is a masterpiece, Funeral Portrait slays and the first two tracks are also excellent. However, everything on the first four albums is masterful.
Phylactery
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“Nectar”, “Karma”, “Serenity Painted Death” and “White Cluster” masterful you say?
“Dirge for November” crushes all of these songs imo.
“Dirge for November” crushes all of these songs imo.
Nectar is one of Opeth’s best songs. Karma works perfectly for where it’s placed on the album. Love SPD as well. White Cluster is probably the weakest on Still Life, but it is significantly better than DfN.
Vegard Pompey
ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO YOU
no country gets very petulant when you like his favorite band wrong.
no country for old wainds
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EspaDa
Damage Case
Allfader
Kvelding
It's a mess. There are very few decent moments but it's mostly really mediocre and incoherent as never before.
Coil is filler.
Heir Apparent is more or less decent but the whole middle section is awful and the last section is repeated ad nauseam.
The Lotus Eater's first half is good, but after the clean break, it goes to the toilet.
Porcelain Heart is just terrible.
Burden is cheesy as fuck and that ending is a joke. Is around as bad as Atonement or Hours of Wealth, if not worse.
Hessian Peel's first half is mediocre but it gets better on the heavy section, which is probably the best moment in the whole album.
Hex Omega sucks cocks.
Phylactery
Active Member
I dunno, “The Funeral Portrait” is pretty awful.
Terrible.
no country for old wainds
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EspaDa
Damage Case
Hmm, and whats your opinion guys on Ghost Reveries? Some consider it the apex of Opeth's musicianship, with their opinions based mainly on the opening track. I reckon it's pretty incoherent. But still quite good. Might want to revisit it tho.
Allfader
Kvelding
GR opens strong with Ghost of Perdition and Baying of the Hounds. Both are easily the best tracks on the album and both still sound like Opeth.
Beneath the Mire is awful, just awful.
Atonement and Hours of Wealth are ATROCIOUS. Worst Opeth tracks up to that time.
Harlequin Forest is decent, the second half is actually really good.
The rest ranks from mediocre to terrible.
Lopez' drumming is easily the highlight of the album. The production is a bit too clean and compression is a bit too hard on anything, which hinders the atmosphere. Keys are absolutely useless. Opeth never needed keys to create any kind of mood. I would say it's a 60/100 album, being generous.
I see. Perhaps I should give it a chance again but I really never saw much quality in any 90's Opeth music.
EspaDa
Damage Case
What do you think of the new Opeth track, gentlemen? Also, I dont know what to think of the album format. I mean, both Swedish and English lyrics? What for?
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