GMD Poll: Opeth’s Discography Ranked

[jimmy101]

Eh, Deliverance is a bit of a nothing album. It followed up their commercial breakout album in BWP, but just doesn't have all that much going for it. Wreath drags on for a while without doing too much of note. Deliverance, A Fair Judgement & Master's Apprentices are all good songs. But then you have For Absent Friends, which is unremarkable, & By the pain I see in Others, which kind of gets spoiled by the vocal FX & doesn't really have that many memorable moments. Lopez's drumming is the best part of the album.

 

[Allfader]

Deliverance makes it in at 6th eh.
Sorry but lol. Just lol. That someone would have it at 2 or 3, why not. But there are 5 Opeth albums better than Deliverance are there, wow, what a fkng band.

Wreath and By the Pain are not up neither to the best tracks of the album, nor the best tracks of the previous ones.

Deliverance also suffers from the clinical production, which don't fit Opeth at all (and they repeated the mistake on GR). Deliverance and Masters are the highlights, especially Lopez' drumming on those songs.

 

[Phylactery]

Don’t understand the love for “Deliverance” (except the “CHOKING ON DICKS” line) or “Ghost of Perdition”. Some of their most ham fisted metal riffing to me and not even close to their best songs.

 

[Allfader]

Don’t understand the love for “Deliverance” (except the “CHOKING ON DICKS” line) or “Ghost of Perdition”. Some of their most ham fisted metal riffing to me and not even close to their best songs.

The drumming is incredible.

 

[Bruticus]

Wreath and By the Pain are not up neither to the best tracks of the album, nor the best tracks of the previous ones.

Deliverance also suffers from the clinical production, which don't fit Opeth at all (and they repeated the mistake on GR). Deliverance and Masters are the highlights, especially Lopez' drumming on those songs.

Comment that makes sense to me. I wouldn't have thought of it as clinical although it's of course a lot more accurate than the previous records, which just come across as mild and ordinary to me.
I don't see much difference in the production betw Deliverance and BWPark though, the latter which definitely garnered a fairly unanimous opinion generally. And Deliverance still sounds organic, and the song writing is incomparably superior to previous records where Akerfeldt and co. reached a peak of maturity (after which they gradually declined I'd say). I can understand the opinion BWP is their peak, but I maintain those two records are the ones where Opeth become Opeth officially, there really isn't a whole lot musically in those previous albums that is that unique or unparalleled. But around the BWP and Deliv years, NOBODY sounded like Opeth, they were entirely unique. There are pretty weak songs on BWP too, not just Deliv., but I'd say those weaker songs fit the tone of the albums anyways.

 

[Allfader]

BWP was way better produced than Deliverance. It just sounds far better and fitting.

 

[Bruticus]

BWP was way better produced than Deliverance. It just sounds far better and fitting.

I suppose. I can agree with that. Although the production wasn't brilliant on Deliverance, I'd say it benefited from sounding plain. There are no superfluous studio tricks or anything, there's a natural simplicity in the sound. You can hear each instrument perfectly, in some parts the bass is playing a very distinct line, the drums are totally separate from the rest of the rhythm section, the vocals also... it's plain and clear. Ghost Reveries had a bigger production, sounded wider.

So I guess even from a production standpoint one could consider BWP to be the magnum opus, over Deliverance, although that isn't my sentiment.

 

[Bruticus]

here's an example of the clarity on that record:


Outro at 9:05. You can clearly distinguish three separate melodies occurring simultaneously. The rhythm gtrs playing the chords, the octave chord melody, and then clearly the (brilliant) bass. Three totally separate melodic lines. Drums are crisp, they don't form a mess in the background despite the melody-heavy foreground.

 

[jimmy101]

Nothing really special about that. Orchid is full of interlocking counterpoint melodies.

 

[Allfader]

here's an example of the clarity on that record:


Outro at 9:05. You can clearly distinguish three separate melodies occurring simultaneously. The rhythm gtrs playing the chords, the octave chord melody, and then clearly the (brilliant) bass. Three totally separate melodic lines. Drums are crisp, they don't form a mess in the background despite the melody-heavy foreground.

Deliverance is too clean for its own good. BWP was clear enough, yet the mix was more atmospheric oriented, which helped the album to be better received.

Even if Lopez' drumming was certainly spectacular in every album, both Deliverance and GR hindered some of his sound due heavy compression. Jens Bogren in particular compresses the snares and overheads way too much.

 

[Bruticus]

Nothing really special about that. Orchid is full of interlocking counterpoint melodies.

give me an example of the same caliber as that link.

 

[jimmy101]

All you need to do is listen to what Akerfeldt, Lingdren & DeFarfalla are doing on the first two albums.

 

[Allfader]

give me an example of the same caliber as that link.

Orchid and Morningrise are far more melodic than the rest of their albums. It's a matter of listening.

 

[Bruticus]

All you need to do is listen to what Akerfeldt, Lingdren & DeFarfalla are doing on the first two albums.

No, give me an EXAMPLE please not the vaguest possible instruction. I've listened to the stuff before and naturally gravitated towards early 2000's Opeth rather than 90's Opeth. Give me a specific example.

 

[Allfader]

No, give me an EXAMPLE please not the vaguest possible instruction. I've listened to the stuff before and naturally gravitated towards early 2000's Opeth rather than 90's Opeth. Give me a specific example.

Second half of The Night and the Silent Water
Ending harmony on To Bid You Farewell
Around 0:30 in Under the Weeping Moon
Folky harmonic riff around 3 and half minutes on Forest of October

Pre BWP:
Verse riff on The Amen Corner
Verse riff on Demon of the Fall
Around 4:30 and last riffs on When
Every heavy riff on The Moor
Around 1:00 in Godheads Lament

and so on.

 

[Bruticus]

Second half of The Night and the Silent Water
Ending harmony on To Bid You Farewell
Around 0:30 in Under the Weeping Moon
Folky harmonic riff around 3 and half minutes on Forest of October

Pre BWP:
Verse riff on The Amen Corner
Verse riff on Demon of the Fall
Around 4:30 and last riffs on When
Every heavy riff on The Moor
Around 1:00 in Godheads Lament

and so on.

difficult to make a relevant post answering this as there's too much to reply to.
Lsnd to each reference listed. I'd reiterate my sentiment for the early Opeth stuff posted here: it's romantic prog metal with a mildness about it, it's pleasant but rather if not totally forgettable, interchangeable composition. I would say it's evident to me Akerfeldt was searching, reaching for sth but not there yet, and the song-writing improves tenfold in the later records.

The stuff from 'My Arms, Your Hearse' is closer to the definitive/ripe Opeth sound that would be displayed on BWP/Deliverance/GR. I'll be lsng to that one over the week.
But the individual parts are generally much catchier and more mature musically on those latter albums to me. I don't see anything definitely better than the stuff on Deliverance, the parts there are nearly all memorable.

 

[jimmy101]

Dude, just fuck off. You have such shitful opinions on everything.

 

[Bruticus]

Dude, just fuck off. You have such shitful opinions on everything.

Nah sorry Mr. Communist, you fuck off on this one. I'm going to go ahead and exercise my freedom of opinion. You and Putin can make nice and have fascinating talks on who and how you'd like censor, but me, I'm going to just lay out my thoughts on this online discussion forum. You're welcome to contest, but take the rest of that shit and shove it up there.