i am an opeth newbie..please help me

[nemzy]

hi, there is no doubt there opeth are talented musicians, but i cant stand the growling voice..however his clean voice is nice...

when he growls..it makes opeth sound demonic....is this a demoinc band??

i dont nkow much about death metal..

the only metal bands i listen to were dream theater and metallica....

can any1 explain to me opeth's history? thanks

 

[ViCyniC]

Listen to more Death metal and you'll get used to it. Or you can just listen to Opeth and get used to it. Either way, get used to it.

I can't imagine Opeth without growls anymore. Well...actually I can...Damnation. Meh.

 

[nemzy]

hi, there is no doubt there opeth are talented musicians, but i cant stand the growling voice..however his clean voice is nice...

when he growls..it makes opeth sound demonic....is this a demoinc band??

i dont nkow much about death metal..

the only metal bands i listen to were dream theater and metallica....

can any1 explain to me opeth's history? thanks

are they any good metal bands with good riffs like opeth without the death growls, i am not a fan of growls...i'd prefere clean...like damnation..thanks

 

[Celestial-Voyage]

hi, there is no doubt there opeth are talented musicians, but i cant stand the growling voice..however his clean voice is nice...

when he growls..it makes opeth sound demonic....is this a demoinc band??

i dont nkow much about death metal..

the only metal bands i listen to were dream theater and metallica....

can any1 explain to me opeth's history? thanks

Go buy yourself a Gorguts Album. That should be the end of all your troubles.
Again, that GORGUTS.

 

[x3x opeth x2x]

yea if u want a band similar to opeth without the growls definitely go get a gorguts cd theyre very good and soft

 

[nemzy]

yea if u want a band similar to opeth without the growls definitely go get a gorguts cd theyre very good and soft

nice sarcasm...

 

[Land Of Grey And Pink]

He likes Opeth's music, not the growls. It seems silly to suggest he listens to more "Death Metal" for several reasons...

A. HE DOESNT LIKE THE VOCALS!
B. Opeths music isnt very death metal anyway, so listening to standard death metal bands isnt going to have anything hes interested in probably.


if you want, i suggest listening to a band called "In Flames"...preferably their album titled "colony" or "whoracle". The melodies are solid, the compositions are mature for a metal band, and there are indeed harsh vocals, but theyre not very bad at all...this is typically the introductory band to things like Opeth (assuming opeth isnt your introductory band).

if you dont like them, then probably just steer clear of most underground metal, for most of it contains harsh vocals. But if youre willing to overlook that, there are some quality bands out there.

Also check out arcturus...progressive and fairly wicked advant garde metal with Chris Rygg (garm) on vocals, who in my opinion has maybe one of the best clean vocal aproaches in the scene. nothing you cant handle being a dream theater fan as you stated before.....only a lot better than snooze theater.

 

[Episteme]

listen to it more. The reason why Opeth is good is because they have a complete balance of brutality and beauty. Without the growling, it wouldn't be Opeth. You may say, what about Damnation? Damnation is a softer side of Opeth and Mikael said he mightn't be doing that type of thing anymore. The dynamics make Opeth who they are.

Some bands you might want to check out, Maudlin of the Well, Orphaned Land, Extol, Green Carnation, Winds, In the Woods..., Agalloch, Ulver. Trust me you'll probably get used to Opeth's use of death vocals.

 

[a7r0phy]

Ulver, more specifically the Bergtatt album. and i'd suggest listening to Opeth more. they're one of the easier bands to get used to with the growling. give it 3 or 4 months, and if you don't like it then the death metal is probably not for you. in that case check out Testament. Chuck Billy's a damn good singer.

and no, Opeth is not a demonic band. and for history just go to www.opeth.com and read the bio if you have half an hour to spare. there's multiple chapters, so it's fairly detailed. and try reading the FAQ on this forum.

 

[Chinaski]

This seems to be a point made by most "new" ears I turn onto Opeth. They can't understand the mixture of the clean/growl.. I must admit even for myself the FIRST time I listened I just wanted him to pick a vocal style and get on with it.

There is so much potency beyond your intial dislike of anything in life let alone Opeth's vocal arrangements. Every single person that I have introduced Opeth to, which didn't at FIRST like his growling, and eventually moved beyond their initial dislike.. now LOVES the band and their love pivots around that brutal/beauty element.

Uhh.. All I'm saying is keep digging. You'll get what it is that you enjoy from his more aggressive element of vocal arrangements in due time.

 

[Rose Immortal]

It took me awhile to get past my dislike of the growling. What I did was, I started with "The Drapery Falls" (any other song that is more clean vocals than growling will do for this), and because I liked the other parts of it...the clean vocals, the music, and so on, I ended up looping it over and over...and after awhile I discovered I was pretty much desensitized! Actual liking took a bit longer...that didn't really come about until I owned BWP, Deliverance, and Damnation. I think it was MAYH where I enjoyed it the most, though...that's where I think he got the right balance between the most guttural growls (like on BWP/Deliverance) and the really shrill ones (Orchid/Morningrise). That's his most "effective" one in terms of growling vocals. Tastes can vary on that, so don't base what you do on that...but do recognize that the tone of it definitely varies from album to album and you may like one way better than the other.

I suggest not writing off every song that has the growling--but start gradually...it's an acquired taste if you're not used to death metal.

 

[Nico]

I still dont get the dislike for growls thing. It seems like everyone hates them 'at first' it's the story of this bands life. Doesnt anyone listen to brutal death before finding Opeth?

 

[Land Of Grey And Pink]

I still dont get the dislike for growls thing. It seems like everyone hates them 'at first' it's the story of this bands life. Doesnt anyone listen to brutal death before finding Opeth?

IM sure some do, but you bring up a good point here. It seems for some reason Opeth is often the first semi-brutal sounding band many people have heard. Now i understand Opeth is getting more popular, but its odd that people can introduce them to Opeth and have the heaviness be that mind blowing to some people. I myself had liked a lot of extreme stuff before i got into Opeth, mainly bands like Bathory, Venom, Morbid Angel, Carcass, Emperor, Deicide, Burzum, Ulver, etc...so it was nothing new to me, all i knew was that Mikael had some of the best growls i had heard up till then. I was quite pleased with the dynamics the band had, and am quite sure that was the main draw for me initially.

 

[Rose Immortal]

My first exposure was through a couple of Pink Floyd fans. I wonder if Opeth is the most heavily-promoted (current) metal band in prog circles like that...? If that's the case, it could explain why there are so many fans whose first introduction to extreme metal was Opeth.

 

[demon ethereal]

listen to it more. The reason why Opeth is good is because they have a complete balance of brutality and beauty. Without the growling, it wouldn't be Opeth. You may say, what about Damnation? Damnation is a softer side of Opeth and Mikael said he mightn't be doing that type of thing anymore. The dynamics make Opeth who they are.

Some bands you might want to check out, Maudlin of the Well, Orphaned Land, Extol, Green Carnation, Winds, In the Woods..., Agalloch, Ulver. Trust me you'll probably get used to Opeth's use of death vocals.

Extol...did I hear Extol?? As in... The Christian Death Metal band Extol?? oh my god... in my personal opinion I think Extol sound like they are performing their music while at the same time glancing every few seconds at a book called "How to be a Hardcore Metal Musician"... i'm trying to say they sound waaay too stiff, I don't know how to express what I'm thinking... it just sounds like there's something not quite right about them...and plus their lyrics are so damn christian which i don't think has any place in metal music

 

[Land Of Grey And Pink]

For anyone who thinks extol is good....check out the band "Schaliach"...

a rare and mostly unknown gem of a record by the members of extol in a atmospheric and melodic doomy death metal vein. think of old katatonia with an occasional in flames - jester race flair. absolutely fantastic and blows extol out of the water. however, the record has been long out of print, and very hard to come by typically. perhaps i could post some MP3s somewhere though for those who are interested.

 

[ChrisEmerson]

hmm i got into in flames first (my first death metal band - before they got shit), and that band is what got me used to death vox. Listening to opeth was no big deal after that, i liked a lot of death metal bands before that.

 

[Ermz]

Yeah, I guess if you can put up with Anders' shitty vox, you can put up with just about anything, haha (yeah, In Flames are the band that got me into the Scandinavian scene too).

 

[Demilich]

Opeth was the band that REALLY got me into the metal scene, but before that I'd been listening to a bunch of bands like Meshuggah, Emperor, In Flames, Dark Tranquility... the vocals didn't really bother me, I just never payed much attention to them as I couldn't understand them anyhow. It wasn't until I started reading lyrics along with Opeth's music that the death vocals started to distinguish themselves, and that led to me liking them, then loving them.

 

[Dhalaren]

In Flames were the band that got me into Death Metal also, I found his vocals were good on The Jester Race and Whoracle, but every album after that has gotten worse and worse. Look where he is now for Christ's sake. Well after listening to In Flames for a while Opeth was not a problem getting into.