Hindsight: Life Before and After Opeth

[S4R]

Looking back at my life and music prior to Opeth the word incomplete comes to mind. I was missing a band that I could never see myself growing tired of, even those bands I called my favorites, such as Pink Floyd, I would take breaks from certain albums of theirs. Prior to Opeth I had plenty of music I adored, but nothing that in every way possible blew my mind and ears away. And then I came across this little gem called My Arms, Your Hearse and my musical world was now (conversely) complete. I had found the band that I KNEW growing tired of would be unfeasible. There are probably around ten albums I could not live without and all five of Opeth’s albums are among them. Last but not least, since I’ve been listening to Opeth I’ve been getting a lot more action Thank you Opeth!

 

[Wolff]

Holy shit. Post this as a review in amazon.com, some old lady might just find her calling.

 

[Lina]

That was beautiful, S4R. EXACTLY how I feel.

 

[Ethereal Sage]

I must agree, S4R.

Ever since I first got Morningrise, after staring it off several times in the CD shop, I knew Opeth would be a band I would listen to until I die....a musically satisfied being.

Intense, relaxing, thought-provoking....what more can you ask for?

 

[Demonspell]

Opeth has hada great influence on my listening habits, they encouraged me to to get into the more experimental and progressive side of extreme metal. Before Opeth, I didn't know such tendencies existed in the genre with a few exceptions. And of course, this fourm has introduced me to a number of great bands...

 

[moonchild]

my musical world will never and can never be "complete"

 

[Demonspell]

I feel the same way. Always seek out new artists, don't fight progress and avoid stagnation at all costs.

 

[YaYo]

yeh music has changed heaps for me since Opeth
i used to be in one of those "All the best music is behind me" type moods, i mean megadeth and metallica were past their great years, and everything i listened to seemed to be old.

But then Opeth came along and well.... no words needed. They also got me into the entire extreme metal scene. I never liked much of the heavier commercial metal like Machinehead/Slipknot.... so i always figured id hate anything that was more extreme, but then of course with opeth i was introduced to it all and realised that music is alive and well and im glad to be starting my band in this time.

And boy did finding opeth help with my songwriting, i finally saw that what i was trying to do could actually be done. No longer would i spend days worrying when people told me how my songs needed to be more headbanger friendly, or that they needed to be shorter. And finally i was able to escape the damn 'intro-verse-prechorus-chorus-prechorus-chorus-interlude/solo-chorus-outro' structure that id been stuck in for years.

after i first got into Still Life (my first opeth, took a few listens to really like) i couldnt see how id ever grow tired of it, and here i am approaching 2 years later and still loving every second, and still discovering more and more.

 

[MetalManCPA]

Look at us here - Opeth's existance created this forum, and we "found" each other because of them. And we've all agreed that this place is something entirely different than any other cyber-world.

Their music? I still remember when I heard Bleak - totally changed the depth of my music experience. But they've done more, as is testiment to the discussions we have here. They are deep - we are deep. Their music is intelligent and intellectual - we're intelligent and intellectual (although some would probably challenge us on that).

S4R - the word "complete" is perfect in the musical sense. Before Opeth, I never realized that in listening to music all my life, I was actually searching for something. When Opeth arrived - all the sudden I felt I found something.

Cool

 

[ricochet]

Before I discovered Opeth, I just listened to music and really didn't pay attention to every detail. Opeth has allowed me to look deeper into the music and appreciate it more. Their music has allowed me to broaden my musical horizon and listen to many different bands and styles of music(when I am not listening to Opeth, which is rare).

Also, like metalmancpa said, we wouldn't be here now if it weren't for Opeth. I have learned so much about everything from the discussions here. I love you all!

 

[D Mullholand]

Opeth are one of the Key bands in my process of discovering music, like a new starting point.

 

[Liquid Tension]

Before Opeth I wouldn't listen to ANY band with growling vocals and now my collection is full of great bands with growlers!

 

[moonchild]

they didnt really change my musical world at all, i was already listening to cryptopsy, in flames, dark tranquility, carcass, emperor, children of bodom, anathema, katatonia, amorphis etc. before giving them a try, but saying that opeth has become my standard to compare other bands against, fairly or unfairly so....

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

They made me do a 360! ! And then a 180 to get me going in a different direction. I had been listening to numetal . I was already getting kinda bored of it, and so I was on a napster chat room and this guy goes "Opeth rules, download Opeth from me, my upload queue is full, but i'll gladly boot him off to let you get Opeth, I must spread the word." So he persuaded me to get "The Moor". I was interested at how someone could get so excited over music. So he makes me promise to listen to it more than once, I did, and he was off. I listened to it the first time, I had mixed feelings. Why was this song so long, why are they growling I kept to my word and gave it a go two more times that night, still wasn't sure how much I liked them, maybe i'd toss it on my MP3 player, maybe i'd get more songs, no big deal. The next day at school I had a distinctive sound playing through my head, the intro to the moor. All throughout the day I'd hear "A SARRASERVA UPON MY BLUHBLUH" (I had no clue what he was saying, but I remembered what the growls sounded like ) By the time I got home I knew I needed to listen to it some more. I listened to it a few more times, started getting more Opeth songs too. So I added Opeth to my MP3 folder (I was an MP3 bum if you couldn't tell already). Time went by, I still listened to my numetal with some Opeth thrown in. I decided to see what else sounded like Opeth, I ran across Therion, liked them, added to MP3 folder. Came across some other death metal/blackmetal, didn't do much, but the basic idea was I was hearing new stuff. More time went by and I realized that I wasn't listening to numetal at all, all my MP3 lists were Opeth, Tool, or Therion. I shrugged it off and considered it a phase. I went back to listen to my favorite Slipknot song a while later, and I realized that it was boring, and it was nothing compared to Opeth. I looked at my folder, listened to all my numetal, and none of it really floated my boat. I decided, screw this, and deleted everything but Opeth, Therion, and Tool. A few months later I decided I wanted to hear the actual albums and not random songs, so I ordered all three Tool albums (Lateralus wasn't out yet) and all Four Opeth albums (BWP wasn't out yet) I got them and began to appreciate the music a lot more. I also started searching for other music online, I was finding other stuff I liked, and buying the CD's. A year or so went by and I decided to see if Opeth was up to anything and browsed over to Opeth.com. I saw something like "Join the Opeth messageboard to chat about music with fellow fans at ultimatemetal" something like that, decided to give it a go, read it for a few weeks. Then I realized I liked it a lot and made Oyo, and here I am I think that was a bit excessive, but realize if it weren't for Opeth I probably would have lost interest in music in a few months and just decided there wasn't much good music out there.

 

[Lina]

Originally posted by Oyo
I was already getting kinda bored of it, and so I was on a napster chat room and this guy goes "Opeth rules, download Opeth from me, my upload queue is full, but i'll gladly boot him off to let you get Opeth, I must spread the word." So he persuaded me to get "The Moor". I was interested at how someone could get so excited over music. So he makes me promise to listen to it more than once, I did, and he was off.

Wouldn't you love to talk to this guy again?! I assume he's not here, but who knows...?

All throughout the day I'd hear "A SARRASERVA UPON MY BLUHBLUH" (I had no clue what he was saying, but I remembered what the growls sounded like )

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

I'd love to talk to him again and tell him how much he changed my life. But I don't even remember his name on napster, nor do I remember what my name was even
It was actually funny when he came in, all the numetalers were telling him "All that stuff you listen to is just noise and growls, it sucks!" I didn't know if it were true or not but I assumed it was, stupid assumptions.