How did you discover Opeth and what was your first-impression of Opeth?

[Dark_Karma]

I was into metal but never death metal (cookie monster vox etc.), but Mikaels death growls have never bothered me at all. Opeth has such great melody - my first impression was "where the hell have these guys been all my life?!".

Now I'm well and truly hooked!

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

I can't remember really, I believe I read on musicansforums about them. I then got Damnation and I fell in love with it by the time Windowpane was over, but for about three months that's the only Opeth I listened to. About two months into those three, I started listening to Death and I fell in love with them, I gave Opeth's other albums a chance. I'm now a fanboy.

 

[Hypnos]

back in 1995 i went to the local cd store looking for something new to discover. i saw a cd with a strange flower on the cover. took the album out of the shelf, listened to it at the store and was blown away by 'In Mist She Was Standing'

 

[credence]

I was talking to this guy online and was on my out to go buy some cd's and asked him if he had any recommendations...and he said Opeth-Blackwater Park. So I bought it w/out even listening to it in the store, put it in when I got home and played it over and over for a month or so...then I got Morningrise....then all of the others. They completely changed my entire outlook on music. I hated death metal prior to hearing this band. They are infallible.

 

[Valerie]

Well

 

[TattooAnt]

A friend introduced me to Opeth with BWP. The Leper Affinity and Bleak totally blew me away (I had to immediately learn how to play them both on guitar). Funnily I thought they had two singers - I couldn't associate Mike's marvelous singing voice with his DM vocals.
Despite being into death metal for years, Opeth seemed heavier than anything i'd previously heard. More importantly they seemed more complicated and clever at what they did. I'd been into Camel for a long time before Opeth and noticed a vague connection when I heard Opeth, which was a pleasant surprise. I then had to obtain all their other albums quickly.

My first impression was of forests...

My first impression of Opeth was also of nature (forests, lakes, etc) but I really don't know why (maybe the cover of BWP lead to this vision?). I remember sensing something pagan about their music.

 

[mylovedenied]

I was at my grandpa's 80th birthday party, actually. I was really into nu-metal at the time, like SOAD and Taproot and DIsturbed. Ironically, I'd always wanted something heavier (ever since I was a little kid) although I never really realized it.

Anyway, I was talking to my 2nd cousin, and he liked some of the same music. I told him all my favorite bands, and he said something like "Not, bad, but you should hear some of the heavier stuff". So, then he pulled out some Opeth and played "Deliverance".

I thought it was amazing. I only had 1 headphone on, but even then, It had my attention like nothing else ever had. I LOVED the guitars, they were really amazing. I thought the vocals were kinda cool, but I had trouble hearing them too well. It was just amazing for me.

 

[Apostle In Triumph]

Well, I had a listen to harvest, didn't like it much. Then I got Morningrise and then I started to really like it, and then I got all of their cds, and now I like all of them.

 

[Towedwart]

Me and a pal traded music a lot a few years ago, and I burned him a CD of Children of Bodom and some live stuff. He asked me if I had heard of Opeth or Dream Theater. I hadn't, so he burned me a CD of a bunch of each band's songs (CD in like data-storage not music CD). I copied everything to my harddrive and just looked through the file names. Saw "Forest of October," and, being born in October, decided to listen to it. I thought it was absolutely amazing. And then I listened to all the rest of the stuff on the CD.

Now I proudly own every CD of theirs. It's just such awesome music.

...I'd always wanted something heavier (ever since I was a little kid) although I never really realized it. .

Same here. I've listened to progressively heavier stuff until I found the beauty that is metal.

 

[A fair judgement]

My friend was talking about them, so I decided to find out what they were like. I think I first listened to Demon of the Fall, I was impressed, they were different. I then listened to all the albums, and the first album I bought was Still Life.

 

[Riryoku]

I guess I've always wanted heavy music ever since I actually started listening to music (lol). I went through a nu-metal phase and a pop-punk phase before trying out progressive metal, namely Dream Theater. It was pretty life-changing for me to hear music of that caliber, but this thread isn't about Dream Theater, is it? Anyway, I wanted more of that kind of prog stuff, so I stumbled about until I found Opeth. I heard the stuff on the internet, and even though I found the death growls to be a bit unnerving, I was like "What the heck" and proceded to the shop to buy Blackwater Park. Much to my disappointment, they didn't have Blackwater Park in stock, so I picked out Deliverance instead. The first time I listened to it, I thought it was intriguing and pretty much perfect. That pretty much got me hooked on death metal, and metal in general.

 

[Voodoo Child]

Well I talk to this Danish dude who is an Opeth-freak and he kept telling me to check them out so I still had Limewire on my computer and I searched Opeth. The first one I listened to was Master's Apprentices. My first reaction was "HOLY SHIT!" and then I closed it because I wasn't into the whole very heavy stuff then, I was/am listening to thrash like Megadeth and Metallica and Exodus, Heathen, all that, and I didn't really like death metal but about 5 minutes later I gave it another chance, and when the vocals came in it was like "wow, a growl I can understand?!". Then I got alot more of their songs, and eventually Still Life, and I've been a huge fan ever since.

 

[gatedropper]

Was on the Hevydevy forum list and they were talking about how great Opeth was. I blindly bought Still Life over the internet and the first time I heard it I thought "Oh no, death metal vocals/cookie monster vocals"
Well, after two listens I was hooked and bought MAYH. Then BWP came out and I bought Morningrise too. Of course I bought the two D's and at the same time Orchid. Now I own GR and I love most and like the rest.

 

[Powers]

Me and a friend were talking about bands. He said i should download some stuff by a band called Otep. I got the name wrong and automatically fell in love them after listening to "The Funeral Portrait", what a riff.

 

[Forest-of-October]

I discovered Opeth while looking for some different music on HMV.com. I came across Blackwater Park and was kind of drawn to it's cover art. At that time I never really paid attention to it however. Later that month I went into the actual HMV store and went to their metal section where I saw BWP again, so I gave it a listen, and it knocked me off my feet. I hadn't heard anything like it before... That day I went home with Lamentations, SL and Blackwater Park

 

[Maggot9]

I've been on metal message boards, and for the longest time, i kept hearing "Opeth" and "Blackwater Park" repeated i dont know how many times. Ive ALWAYS loved BWP's cover art whenever I go to HMV, id notice it. I decided to download some random Opeth tunes on Limewire, and honestly i wasnt THAT impressed. It sorta grew on me, and the next day I found myself at HMV buying Slaughter of the Soul and Blackwater Park.

 

[Oxyn]

Well, about a year ago few guys in IRC we're praising Opeth, so I asked one of them to send one song to me. Well, that song was Demon Of The Fall.

Before that, the heaviest band I listened, was Dragonforce. I had tried to get into Emperor, but it was just one big chaotic soundwall for me, and I couldn't listen to it, without getting a headache. After DOTF had been on my playlist for a few months, I started to notice that hey, this sounds good! Well, then I decided to download (I feel bad about this.) Blackwater Park, because I heard it was good.

I liked Blackwater Park, so I downloaded (I feel bad, again.) the rest of the albums. I've been hooked ever since Nowadays Opeth is one of my favourite bands, right up there with Led Zeppelin, Neil Young etc.

I can listen to Emperor now too

edit: I've bought Orchid, My Arms, Your Hearse and Ghost Reveries. I'd own the other albums too, if I'd find them somewhere ;P

 

[Powers]

Nothing wrong with downloading so long as you intend to buy the album.

 

[xXBraveMurderDay]

I bought Blackwater Park when it came out because people told me they were the new Black Sabbath.

I heard it and I thought it was one of the best albums ever recorded. From then, I've been hooked.