Listen To What The Band Has To Say

[MetalManCPA]

Here's a link to one of many interviews I've read over the past several months: http://www.newsfilter.org/antimtv/images3/interviewopeth.htm

I've read many interviews before hearing Deliverance or Damnation. Obviously, I judge an album on what I hear - if I don't like it, so be it. But as I've stated before - I had no pre-conceived ideas about either album (Deliverance or Damnation), except of what I heard from the horses mouth. I like to know what the band was thinking when they recorded - not what I or others think they should sound like. We could avoid so many different threads by simply stating you either like or dislike an album once you hear it. There is really no arguement about musical taste - it is just an individual thing. Personally, the last three releases (BWP, Deliverance & Damnation) are my favorite Opeth albums. Trackwise - The Drapery Falls is my #1, with Deliverance, Closure, Windowpane and Bleak rounding up the top five Opeth spots on my personal list.

The only sad part about this particular interview is Mikael basically saying Opeth will be taking a rest. He may do some side projects, but it sounds like it will be a while before they hit the recording studio again. I just hope time and side projects don't get in the way of Opeth.

 

[squarenothing66]

Damn... well, atleast they aren't breaking up.

 

[deathbearer]

Very good interview with Mike,,One of the best i've read, and I've read quite a few..I bookmarked the interview..Great perspective on the Scandanavian metal scene..
Read Lords of chaos, good book on the black metal scene..Thanks for the link..Hails..-l-

 

[estimate]

I'm sure I've read this before!

 

[Hondo]

Yeah, that's been out for a few months. Really good one though.

 

[DoReMi]

The only sad part about this particular interview is Mikael basically saying Opeth will be taking a rest. He may do some side projects, but it sounds like it will be a while before they hit the recording studio again. I just hope time and side projects don't get in the way of Opeth.

You would think so. However, recently I just haven't been able to take an Opeth CD out of my player. So I have more than enough to get me through. Also, even though Deliverance is one of my favourite Opeth albums, I still feel as though it isn't quite "Opeth"... I don't like the idea of splitting the two sides (sure, you have mellow moments in Deliverance, but it isn't the same), and disregarding the fact that I find Damnation somewhat disappointing, I hope that this break gives them the time they need to get back and record yet another killer album. No Opeth album has failed to impress me (granted, Damnation a little, but only because it isn't what I was expecting), and I would hate for this to change, if only because they felt a need to rush into things in order to please the fans. Let them do their own thing. They've more than earned it.

And does anyone else find Mikael's sense of honesty refreshing? I mean, not many frontmen admit to rushing the lyrics (and hence why we coulnd't have a conept album), not rehearsing enough for recordings, and breaking down and crying because an album isn't being recorded properly. Let alone mentioning his performances whilst sick, aswell as having a cold for the recording of MAYH... there are many other things, but I can't think of them. I just thought that this was cool... haha! I'll shut up now.

 

[Hondo]

Yeah. I like hearing all the gritty details. It's my part as an obsessive fan of any band to enjoy such things (like reading through all the Devin Townsend fan interviews in one sitting).

 

[Schism]

Well, it's impossible for me because I really can't tell them if it's good or not. If you don't understand the evolution of Opeth, then maybe you should simply stick to the first couple of albums, because I can't relate to them as much now as I can to Deliverance... they're old to me, that kind of music. I mean, if you like Morningrise, and I understand that's a lot of people's favorite Opeth album, then good for you; it's a fantastic record, I think, especially for the time it came out. But it's just a matter of moving on and doing something different, and even though there might not be such drastic changes as the one between Morningrise and My Arms, Your Hearse, it's still been a constant kind of progress within the songwriting. Then again, we have our own style and we're not going to abandon it just for the sake of change. So I don't know what to say to someone who complains about us not changing, except that maybe it's they who have changed. I know that's how my musical perception is: I can like some band to the point of being totally devoted to them for a few years' time, and then a few years later, I completely forget about them and think they're shit. That's just how people work and I'm not even gonna bother trying to sell Opeth albums to somebody who's being led by their own whims.


Well stated Mikael!!!