isn't it great when...

[huevo]

..when you're able to listen to an entire album and relate it to events taking place in your world?

Ususally i go for walks around midnight almost daily, and I always find myself listening to Opeth during said walks. For a while I've been listening to My Arms, Your Hearse, never catching the meaning of the album. But recent events led me to personify (for lack of a better word) the album's concept and meaning.

A melancholic love story perhaps, where the protagonist is in a state where he doesn't want to live, then crosses paths with a woman who loves and yet scorns him (perhaps indirectly) at the same time. The entire MAYH album seems to chronicle this, with the protagonist pursuing the woman, while detailing his thoughts about the situation.

The best part about my understanding of the album is that it happened so suddenly.. I was on a walk one night and boom.. it all just came together.. and I find myself enjoying MAYH 100x more now. Whether it was sudden enlightenment or just some silly interpretation, it felt great.

This is just my interpretation, it's very personalized.. but isn't that the way it should be? I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on this gem, feel free to post away

btw.. this is my first post. i'm a senior at colorado state university goin for a degree in computer science.. got into the whole scandinavian metal scene with In Flames (a few years ago by word of mouth) and slowly discovered Opeth's music. It's a shame more people don't listen to this stuff, it's aboslutely wonderful.

Take care
andy

 

[BillowOfZeal]

I agree, the interpretation of music or art should be personal....if not, why record music or sell paintings?.........And welcome to the board....
Jay

 

[_Transparent_]

Originally posted by huevo


This is just my interpretation, it's very personalized.. but isn't that the way it should be? I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on this gem, feel free to post away

btw.. this is my first post. i'm a senior at colorado state university goin for a degree in computer science.. got into the whole scandinavian metal scene with In Flames (a few years ago by word of mouth) and slowly discovered Opeth's music. It's a shame more people don't listen to this stuff, it's aboslutely wonderful.

Take care
andy

welcome, and yeah i know what you mean about the clicking, i love it when someone doesn't like a song that you completely click with and love, it shows i suppose that you must conect with it and i feel sorry for those who dont feel what you are.

i also think that its more important when you feel the lyrics are personal even when you know the real meanings to them.
anyway, welcome to the board, your one of the many new wave of October members

 

[Demonspell]

Yeah, some songs that I had already loved, like Iced Earth's Melancholy and Symphony X's A Fool's Paradise became personal anthems after the WTC attack. And also my personal battle cry, Katatonia's We Must Bury You.

 

[SentencedToBurn]

after the terrorist attacks, dying fetus's song "fornication terrorists" became really meaningful to me. also in times of war means something now. Dying fetus has some kick ass lyrics.

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Isn't MAYH like that? I had that record for over and year and always thought it was pretty good and then BAM! One day It just became the best record I had ever heard. I was overplaying Morningrise badly at the time, so this was convenient, heh.

Myself, I listen to MAYH when I'm driving around late night/early morning looking for my fog pictures. It's just so perfect.

Welcome! (...to zombo.com. You can do anything... at zombo.com. The only limit is your imagination. http://www.zombo.com)

 

[Russell]

I don't know why, but I usually do that immediately, the music reminds me of something, then i can relate it to that... and usually it ends up with me being reminded every time I listen to the album. And welcome That was a cool first post

 

[Nico16]

I had an experience like that this summer (July or August). It was a semi-warm and foggy night, but the sky was clear. I went out of the town into the moor-landscape we have here (it's a really flat land, maybe comparable to the landscape in finland ). I was listening to Orchid through my earbuds and during these "astral-like" sounding passages in 'In the Mist She Was Standing' I looked into the sky...it was unbelievable- since there were no streetlights & stuff, I could see millions of stars and galaxies and everything , the music seemed to be composed just for moments like that one...
That's why I love Opeth (or similar bands): you won't have experiences like that while listening to N'sync.

 

[Kem]

October members
I like the way that sounds
October members...

 

[Alucard]

I always figured that there are two ways to interpret lyrics. You can try and figure out what the author's actual intentions/feeling were when writing it, or you can concentrate on what the lyrics mean to you and how they apply to your own life. Sometimes the two will be the same and sometimes not. The only way to know the answer to the first way for sure is if the author says it himself, but the answer the second way is limitless.

Two songs that became more personal to me after the WTC attacks:

The Sorrowed Man -- Nevermore
Song For the Innocent -- Pain of Salvation

"We dreamed of a world in peace
But killed for a life of ease
Now we leave the wounds for you
What else can the dying do?"

 

[Kushantaiidan]

It felt wonderful when I discivered the concept in Still life, a few years ago, The story made me ball my eyes out, and the whole moral of the story, forced marraiges, old traditions getting in the way of true love etc.

Also, about a week ago, the Concept of Morningrise clicked for me. Tho not so much a story, but the whole album kinda has a single concept, the Character mourning a lost love of some kind. Tho even at the end, the Character still isn't at peace.

What are people's thoughts on the concepts of these two albums????