Mike, please don't pull a Swano

[jrsh92]

BWP was amazing on all counts, musical (other than vocals), growls, and quite good cleans-- although I wouldn't quite say the BEST clean vocals were on BWP.
Overall, Still Life is my favorite Opeth album, with the best growling, too. I'd say one moment on that album which really demonstrates how amazing Mike's growls are would be this:
"Outcast with dogmas forged below
Seared and beaten, banished from where I was born
No mercy would help me on my way
In the pouring rain nothing is the same"
Because... well, just listen to it. It is the most awesomely brutal bit of vocal work I've ever heard... except for other Opeth. There's plenty of amazing examples of Mike's vocals on all of their albums. Overall I'd say except for parts of Wreath, Still Life overall contains the best growls, in the highest quantity, of any Opeth album.
And overall, I like it the best. The heavy, angry and aggressive sound is really the most appealing to me-- meaning I wouldn't really like Opeth moving towards a softer feel as much as staying as they have been.
That said, anything on the level of Face of Melinda or Atonement is good in my books.

 

[HessianOmega]

Honestly, it's great to hear all different opinions. But as one person said earlier, and took the words right out of my mouth, The whole band should write what they wanna Write. I, myself, consider Watershed my favorite album. I never thought that Frederick would fit in, but somehow he made them better. They took a great shred guitarist and a death metal drummer, and put it in a band with tons of talents. My opinion is Opeth gets better as they move on. They've been through so many different band members to get to this point. And I don't know who Swano is, all I know is that he did drum work for Bloodbath on their EP and Breeding Death.

 

[Stimuli]

I feel like im the last person alive who hasn't heard anything from the new Opeth album. You guys sure are psyching me up though...

 

[jrsh92]

No, I haven't heard anything either

 

[Tumn]

For new Opeth fans that haven't heard of Dan Swanö, you guys should look into his stuff. Huge array of bands he's been in or worked with.

 

[The_Yeti]

I don't think we can go ahead and say Opeth is going to stop being heavy in a while. Peter Lindgren said on their Lamentations DVD that they'll probably end up doing what everyone doesn't expect them to do.

Opeth kinda does whatever the hell they want, and it almost always works (Atonement sucked )

 

[isolation_years]

why does everyone hate atonement, who else likes it? i know there are people out there, i have a friend who hates it too, i think its great, opeth can do no wrong

 

[Walls1441]

I, myself, consider Watershed my favorite album.

wat?

watershed isn't out yet :Smug:

 

[Advent1]

I think on the Lamentations DVD Mike said he wants to keep Damnation as the exclusive all clean vocals album, but who knows

 

[Tepheron]

why does everyone hate atonement, who else likes it? i know there are people out there, i have a friend who hates it too, i think its great, opeth can do no wrong

Atonement is great! I know people who think it's boring, but I dig it. I like the melodies, especially the mellotron/guitar, the use of drums, and there's a great clean vocal. Also, the guitar outro/intro to Harlequin forest is awesome, with the reverse guitar effect going on. But I guess you need a bit of patience and understanding of what's going on to be able to enjoy it.

 

[Advent1]

^ Yea man I love Atonement too, I feel its a good transition between Beneath the Mire and the Reverie/Harlequin Forest part... listening to it by itself, it doesnt really have the full effect of hearing it in the flow of the album.

 

[Tepheron]

^ Yea man I love Atonement too, I feel its a good transition between Beneath the Mire and the Reverie/Harlequin Forest part... listening to it by itself, it doesnt really have the full effect of hearing it in the flow of the album.

Definitely. It is a wonderful pause between two heavy songs. It's like a long and dragged-out transition, which I like.

 

[jrsh92]

On the subject of growling hurting the clean voice, I can't really argue with that being a possibility for many singers-- Mikael has the proper technique down, but I did real damage to my voice trying deep growling before I knew what I was doing. The one thing about it that I have personally noticed, and that makes me not worry about Mikael stopping growling any more than any one else who can do it well-- screaming and growling vocals is fun. Singing and performing is one thing but putting that much power behind your voice and getting the sound that you want, something that doesn't necessarily sound like a person "singing", but true metal vocals-- is just an amazing feeling. My voice is unreliable enough that I don't get to often but when I have a chance to growl in a song, I'd rather be doing that than singing, purely from the production point of view. Obviously, if you can get a better finished product with clean vocals, then use the clean vocals, but I find proper growling (NOT the kind that rips up your vocal chords) to be really enjoyable to record or perform.

I just looked up Bloodbath. Probably a better display of Mikael's growling than Opeth, though the overall effect isn't close.

 

[BefriendedUnit]

why does everyone hate atonement, who else likes it? i know there are people out there, i have a friend who hates it too, i think its great, opeth can do no wrong

Yo.

 

[PeeWee1473]

Dear OP:

Because I get all of my original ideas and musical input through random posts on the official Opeth forum, I have decided that you are right. I was foolish to ever think that the future of the band is up to me. Please forgive me.

-Mikael Akerfeldt

 

[Rogue Eagle]

I personally cant see Mike stop growling completely, he is influenced by too much black and death metal. I love his clean voice though so it wouldnt bother me too much, as long as thy keep the beautifuly brutal (beautal?!?) sound that is opeth

he did however take a break once

 

[BefriendedUnit]

Damnation doesn't count. It was recorded alongside Deliverance!

 

[mental_mercury]

Dear OP:

Because I get all of my original ideas and musical input through random posts on the official Opeth forum, I have decided that you are right. I was foolish to ever think that the future of the band is up to me. Please forgive me.

-Mikael Akerfeldt

Hail!

 

[The_Yeti]

Dear OP:

Because I get all of my original ideas and musical input through random posts on the official Opeth forum, I have decided that you are right. I was foolish to ever think that the future of the band is up to me. Please forgive me.

-Mikael Akerfeldt

that's so awesome

 

[Frosties]

Sure, it's not as heavy as it used to be back in the Ghost Reveries and Deliverance days, but that doesn't make it bad by any means.

Bwahaha.... these are the Ghost Reveries days... it's only been a couple of years.