Hear me out here, I'm not saying they're awful now, I think they're great. Just not as good. I'm not trying to flame or anything, just voice my opinion.
When I listen to Still Life, I'm completely caught up in it. The music itself has such an atmosphere that's still unlike anything I've ever heard. It has a real organic feel to me, like I'm listening to the sounds of nature. A lot of that comes from the large amount of higher-pitched sounds, and a lot of that also comes from how well some of the riffs flow. "The Moor", "Moonlapse Vertigo", "Serenity Painted Death", and "Benighted" are all songs that get me incredibly wrapped up in the music, and don't even get me started with how powerful "Face of Melinda" is. The whole album is very solid and continuous, and to me it's really more like one single song than seven.
Moving on to Blackwater Park, a lot of the songs have a 'natural' feel, but not in the same way as Still Life. "Bleak" and "Blackwater Park" are exceptional at giving me that feeling, and other songs on the album do it for a bit too. Even though I like Still Life more than Blackwater Park as a whole, my favorite individual songs are actually on Blackwater Park.
Deliverance was a great album as well. The self-titled song, "Master's Apprentices", and "A Fair Judgement" are all strong tracks in their own right, all of which could be considered in the Top 10 for me. But when I listen to the album, I don't feel as much coherence as I felt from Blackwater Park, and definitely not as much as from Still Life.
Damnation is different for obvious reasons so I don't really include it, but I do feel that it is more coherent as a whole than Deliverance. Just in a different way than the others because, obviously, it's not a heavy album.
As for Ghost Reveries, this for me is where the difference becomes more obvious. Even though most of the songs relate to each other, they still feel very individual in their own way and I don't get the same flow. Within themselves, the songs have a great flow, but as a whole I really don't pick up on much.
And finally, with Watershed I really don't feel much coherence at all. For me, the album is less (for lack of a better word) eargasmic and more about being impressed with Mike's writing and vocal abilities. I don't get nearly as caught up in the music as before, it's more just "oooh this sounds cool!". At first I thought I just wasn't giving it a good chance, but after it finally 'clicked', I realized that it just wasn't what I was looking for.
Again, I'm not knocking Opeth's albums. I love them and they're great music, and even though Watershed currently isn't as much of a favorite of mine, it's still a great album and I love listening to it. Just not as much as others. I'm just wondering if anyone else notices this or feels what I feel?
When I listen to Still Life, I'm completely caught up in it. The music itself has such an atmosphere that's still unlike anything I've ever heard. It has a real organic feel to me, like I'm listening to the sounds of nature. A lot of that comes from the large amount of higher-pitched sounds, and a lot of that also comes from how well some of the riffs flow. "The Moor", "Moonlapse Vertigo", "Serenity Painted Death", and "Benighted" are all songs that get me incredibly wrapped up in the music, and don't even get me started with how powerful "Face of Melinda" is. The whole album is very solid and continuous, and to me it's really more like one single song than seven.
Moving on to Blackwater Park, a lot of the songs have a 'natural' feel, but not in the same way as Still Life. "Bleak" and "Blackwater Park" are exceptional at giving me that feeling, and other songs on the album do it for a bit too. Even though I like Still Life more than Blackwater Park as a whole, my favorite individual songs are actually on Blackwater Park.
Deliverance was a great album as well. The self-titled song, "Master's Apprentices", and "A Fair Judgement" are all strong tracks in their own right, all of which could be considered in the Top 10 for me. But when I listen to the album, I don't feel as much coherence as I felt from Blackwater Park, and definitely not as much as from Still Life.
Damnation is different for obvious reasons so I don't really include it, but I do feel that it is more coherent as a whole than Deliverance. Just in a different way than the others because, obviously, it's not a heavy album.
As for Ghost Reveries, this for me is where the difference becomes more obvious. Even though most of the songs relate to each other, they still feel very individual in their own way and I don't get the same flow. Within themselves, the songs have a great flow, but as a whole I really don't pick up on much.
And finally, with Watershed I really don't feel much coherence at all. For me, the album is less (for lack of a better word) eargasmic and more about being impressed with Mike's writing and vocal abilities. I don't get nearly as caught up in the music as before, it's more just "oooh this sounds cool!". At first I thought I just wasn't giving it a good chance, but after it finally 'clicked', I realized that it just wasn't what I was looking for.
Again, I'm not knocking Opeth's albums. I love them and they're great music, and even though Watershed currently isn't as much of a favorite of mine, it's still a great album and I love listening to it. Just not as much as others. I'm just wondering if anyone else notices this or feels what I feel?
