Is Opeth the best metal band at this moment?
- Thread starter Despot
- Start date
Armageddon's Child
New Metal Member
They're not even close to being the best.
Windham Hell
Sigh
Maudlin of the Well
Solefald
Pain of Salvation
Skyclad
Atrox
Aghora
Gordian Knot
Spastic Ink
Bethlehem
Nile
Abigor
Desaster
et al.
And that's just among current bands. When you start including long dormant or dead acts like Atheist, Cynic, Disincarnate, and Demilich...
Windham Hell
Sigh
Maudlin of the Well
Solefald
Pain of Salvation
Skyclad
Atrox
Aghora
Gordian Knot
Spastic Ink
Bethlehem
Nile
Abigor
Desaster
et al.
And that's just among current bands. When you start including long dormant or dead acts like Atheist, Cynic, Disincarnate, and Demilich...
HoserHellspawn
Pixel Manipulator
Yeah, let's recognize that this thread is 100% opinion and can never be anything but. I'll say yes, simply 'cause I like Opeth the best and currently doubt I'll find another contemporary band that I will like better (could happen, tho).
I vote yes with this proviso: It's true Opeth is not flawless, and it's true they can be better- they're not immune from criticism, they're are far from perfect.
I am occasionally dashed by the song writing and the overall intelligence of new albums I hear from old and new bands, but, amazingly, I always find myself appreciating Opeth more. the more I learn and familiarize myself with the terrain of metal, the more I'm able to properly contextualize Opeth's music. It becomes more beautiful.
The thing is many of the more ambitious bands out there, those who come out with these amazingly cohesive albums and sounds, with amazing musicianship, with songs that hover above 7 min, blow me away. But, frankly, pass and beyond the novelty, the beauty starts to fade quickly. I begin to tire of the music. Whatever existed in the music has been absorbed or something-- used up, dried up-- and the music loses its impact. For instance, I really love the band Andromeda. But already I'm beginning to tire of the music. Its effects are wearing off. Opeth, on the contrary, strange thing about it, I'm continually discovering something more, uncovering a vigor here, and a beauty there. There are dozens of ways one can perceive the music, contextualize the music, understand the music. The greatness in Opeth is that they are subtle-- the music are impressions, a series of vague symbolisms that almost defy being objectified into any "one" thing. I loved Still Life when I first got it. Then I started to dislike it- relative to their other albums, I had denounced it (I still have reasons to do so), but now I love it again. but now I love it again (yes i have echoed the last clause).
Agalloch is another band I'm particularly fond of. But, for one, they only have but one album- there isn't enough of them for me to love. Secondly, next to Opeth, their music seems so rarefied. Opeth has this thing about the strength about their riffs: MA writes music that is highly polyphonous. It's complex- there's always something to discover and yet there is always something alluring about the music in the first place- the strength of the muscianship, Mike's growling, their concept albums and lyrics, their strong emphasis on melody- that keeps me wanting to discover and sift through their music. Labor is involved in likeing band like Opeth, but it's always rewarding. One has a sense of promise- a guarantee that they'll like it, if they keep listening. I can't say this of other bands.
Other Progressive bands. Symphony X's V is a great album- but it lacks the emotional, the "existential" if you will, depth of Opeth's music. Moreover, many prog bands don't have a very clean idea of what "melody" is. Wailing and exercising as many notes as one can does not count for emotionally meaningful music. Evergrey, their album isoft, cool but somehow it's tedious. the music doesn't captivate and mesmerize me instantly and in the long run as Opeth does. Dream Theatre: Well I have more than once derided these guys on this board. Labrie is a guy I'd like to choke every time I hear him sing. He's the single factor why I can't get into their music. (but then again Liquid Tension Experiment doesn't awe me much beyond "Acid" and other songs.)
Death Metal Bands. I love In Flames, DT, Arch Enemy etc-- but I find the very genre of the music boring. 3 min songs of loud angry music are good when I need a quick pick up, but for my intellect at least, the effect of their music hardly lasts. Though I admit I don't think I can ever tire of In Flames' instrumentals (eg. wayfaerer, man made god etc-- beautiful and awesome!).
Doom/goth bands, such as Katatonia. I love their albums. But I tire of all art rather quickly. And 3-5 min songs of repetition and song structures consisting of repeating sections won't hold my interest for long-- i listen and enjoy them but esteem in the sense of esteem an art? Not really. It just doesn't last long, though their music is good to munch on every now and then.
hmm, I can keep going, until I show in what ways most of metal is crap. I like atmospheric metal, metal that incorporates new sounds into metal. Maudlin of the well., awesome- but boring- too mellow. Their first album is a keeper. The Summoning and all the other trance metal-- boring after a while, but the novelty inspires. Sigh, japan's groovy metal band- awesome! but they lack the scope and diversity of Opeth.
It goes on and on. There are only a handful of bands that get. have gotten, my blood stirring. Many of the bands I mentioned above are included. But i have to say. like despot, that *overall* Opeth is probably the best band now, or certainly among the best bands. Who can beat the rock n roll vibe of BP? the gigantic strength of MA's vocals on the album? the cohesiveness and ghostly (compact) beauty of MAYH?
Opeth is not perfect, but I find it difficult to deny that they're one of the best out there. Just an opinion...
I am occasionally dashed by the song writing and the overall intelligence of new albums I hear from old and new bands, but, amazingly, I always find myself appreciating Opeth more. the more I learn and familiarize myself with the terrain of metal, the more I'm able to properly contextualize Opeth's music. It becomes more beautiful.
The thing is many of the more ambitious bands out there, those who come out with these amazingly cohesive albums and sounds, with amazing musicianship, with songs that hover above 7 min, blow me away. But, frankly, pass and beyond the novelty, the beauty starts to fade quickly. I begin to tire of the music. Whatever existed in the music has been absorbed or something-- used up, dried up-- and the music loses its impact. For instance, I really love the band Andromeda. But already I'm beginning to tire of the music. Its effects are wearing off. Opeth, on the contrary, strange thing about it, I'm continually discovering something more, uncovering a vigor here, and a beauty there. There are dozens of ways one can perceive the music, contextualize the music, understand the music. The greatness in Opeth is that they are subtle-- the music are impressions, a series of vague symbolisms that almost defy being objectified into any "one" thing. I loved Still Life when I first got it. Then I started to dislike it- relative to their other albums, I had denounced it (I still have reasons to do so), but now I love it again. but now I love it again (yes i have echoed the last clause).
Agalloch is another band I'm particularly fond of. But, for one, they only have but one album- there isn't enough of them for me to love. Secondly, next to Opeth, their music seems so rarefied. Opeth has this thing about the strength about their riffs: MA writes music that is highly polyphonous. It's complex- there's always something to discover and yet there is always something alluring about the music in the first place- the strength of the muscianship, Mike's growling, their concept albums and lyrics, their strong emphasis on melody- that keeps me wanting to discover and sift through their music. Labor is involved in likeing band like Opeth, but it's always rewarding. One has a sense of promise- a guarantee that they'll like it, if they keep listening. I can't say this of other bands.
Other Progressive bands. Symphony X's V is a great album- but it lacks the emotional, the "existential" if you will, depth of Opeth's music. Moreover, many prog bands don't have a very clean idea of what "melody" is. Wailing and exercising as many notes as one can does not count for emotionally meaningful music. Evergrey, their album isoft, cool but somehow it's tedious. the music doesn't captivate and mesmerize me instantly and in the long run as Opeth does. Dream Theatre: Well I have more than once derided these guys on this board. Labrie is a guy I'd like to choke every time I hear him sing. He's the single factor why I can't get into their music. (but then again Liquid Tension Experiment doesn't awe me much beyond "Acid" and other songs.)
Death Metal Bands. I love In Flames, DT, Arch Enemy etc-- but I find the very genre of the music boring. 3 min songs of loud angry music are good when I need a quick pick up, but for my intellect at least, the effect of their music hardly lasts. Though I admit I don't think I can ever tire of In Flames' instrumentals (eg. wayfaerer, man made god etc-- beautiful and awesome!).
Doom/goth bands, such as Katatonia. I love their albums. But I tire of all art rather quickly. And 3-5 min songs of repetition and song structures consisting of repeating sections won't hold my interest for long-- i listen and enjoy them but esteem in the sense of esteem an art? Not really. It just doesn't last long, though their music is good to munch on every now and then.
hmm, I can keep going, until I show in what ways most of metal is crap. I like atmospheric metal, metal that incorporates new sounds into metal. Maudlin of the well., awesome- but boring- too mellow. Their first album is a keeper. The Summoning and all the other trance metal-- boring after a while, but the novelty inspires. Sigh, japan's groovy metal band- awesome! but they lack the scope and diversity of Opeth.
It goes on and on. There are only a handful of bands that get. have gotten, my blood stirring. Many of the bands I mentioned above are included. But i have to say. like despot, that *overall* Opeth is probably the best band now, or certainly among the best bands. Who can beat the rock n roll vibe of BP? the gigantic strength of MA's vocals on the album? the cohesiveness and ghostly (compact) beauty of MAYH?
Opeth is not perfect, but I find it difficult to deny that they're one of the best out there. Just an opinion...
Lutz
Member
Opeth: Not even in my top 20 list of bands. But I like them.
I'm a huge fan of these guys also!
Yeah they only have one album, but they have a mini-cd also which is great, and thier new album is coming out in January!
I'm a huge fan of these guys also!
Yeah they only have one album, but they have a mini-cd also which is great, and thier new album is coming out in January!
MetalManCPA
Papa Opeth
SentencedToBurn
Dubbs
id have to say yes. they are the band i listen to most nowadays. im always in the mood to put any of their albums on. its very hard to choose between metal bands but i say they are the best right now.
Lakestream
Member
~Zeanra~
Tandtroll
Patric
Member
To tell you the truth, the only times I listen to Opeth is when I'm not in the mood for extreme metal. A little variation without being less heavy, you know?
samoniac
Member
Opeth is still quite a new band for me, so my opinion can change in time. But I have listened to Morningrise almost every day for six months now and I'm not even near getting tired of it. No other album I own have ever done that so there must be some magic in Opeth. The other albums are very close to MR, but now I think it's the best album I own or have ever heard. That makes Opeth also the best band I've ever heard.
Qsilver
Heathen Terrier
Armageddon's Child
New Metal Member
Opeth suffers from two major flaws that have kept them perpetually short of the elite level.
1. Many of their songs are not conceptually realized, for whatever reason. It's almost as if Mikeal has an idea about where he wants to go with his music, but that the idea never got beyond a sort of nebulous brainstorming stage, the end result being tenuously coherent pieces badly in need of a more defined vision and some significant editing. To the discriminating listener, Opeth's albums come across as unfinished. An unfortunate waste of considerable talents.
2. Mikeal seems to rely on the Opeth arrangement formula to carry his songs, eschewing the effort to create really memorable riffs. Instead, he churns out a lot of perfectly servicable but often rather generic riffs, hoping that the patented terraced dynamics and distorted/clean tradeoffs will be pleasant and distracting enough to draw attention away from the rather ho-hum riffs themselves.
Until Opeth fix these problems, they'll remain nothing more than a fairly interesting band with good ideas and flawed execution.
1. Many of their songs are not conceptually realized, for whatever reason. It's almost as if Mikeal has an idea about where he wants to go with his music, but that the idea never got beyond a sort of nebulous brainstorming stage, the end result being tenuously coherent pieces badly in need of a more defined vision and some significant editing. To the discriminating listener, Opeth's albums come across as unfinished. An unfortunate waste of considerable talents.
2. Mikeal seems to rely on the Opeth arrangement formula to carry his songs, eschewing the effort to create really memorable riffs. Instead, he churns out a lot of perfectly servicable but often rather generic riffs, hoping that the patented terraced dynamics and distorted/clean tradeoffs will be pleasant and distracting enough to draw attention away from the rather ho-hum riffs themselves.
Until Opeth fix these problems, they'll remain nothing more than a fairly interesting band with good ideas and flawed execution.
samoniac
Member
Originally posted by Qsilver
If you're not deaf you do hear
I heard only MY laughing. It overwhelmed everything else.
