My Opeth story and how I became a fan.

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ZiggyStardust

New Metal Member
Jul 29, 2004
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Just new guy here. Thought I would share some thoughts and stuff.
Seeing as how there are debates on here too, as to Steve Wilsons involvement and the "sound" of Opeth for the future.
Any thoughts are welcome!

I have alot of musical tastes, but never was really into "death metal" or anything. I just like bands that are complex, good musicians....where the music comes first. And Opeth fits that bill!

I discovered Porcupine Tree last year. I love them. Again, I love complex music and progressive rock. So last year, P. Tree was my discovery of 2003!
Opeth is my new fave band of 2004!
But it was because of P.Tree that I found out who Opeth were. Without it, I woudn't have discovered them.
So yes, I love Steve Wilsons work! And his production with Opeth!

I also love the Damnation album! I prefer the acoustic complexity and clean vocals personally. But it seems like most people (I assume the older fans), can't wait for it to get super heavy again!
I guess I just don't get the growling vocals. Is it just to make the song as brutal as can be? It is because he can't sing in a clean vocal, but yet sound deep and heavy like a James Hetfield for example?

Watching the Lamentations DVD, it's like he feels he has to apologize for the mellow tunes. They are so talented and capable of doing that style, it was just sad to see him making comments that would suggest - don't worry, this will be over soon...then we'll play heavy tunes!
It's too bad that Damnation was just an "experiment" too. Granted this sound shift may piss off older fans, but it has also created new fans! Such as me!
That being said, I can "tolerate" the heavier songs and the growl vocals, because of the complexity in the music, and how most of the growl songs have shifts and changes into melodic, acoustic and clean vocal passages.
So I am still a fan!

And even I can admit...a whole album with slow melodic songs can get a bit boring. So I hope their next album is a good mix of both! I just hope they don't totally abandon the ideas of melodic clean vocals, acoustic guitars!
I hope they either have full songs like that, or interludes in the heavy songs.
Again, it's not that I don't like the heavy songs.....I love heavy music! Just not growl vocals so much! Lol
Still, the band blows me away! :worship:
 
yeah dude, ALL their stuff (with the exception of damnation) has growls. nearly every song has both heavy riffs and acoustic interloudes. so..the next album will follow that trend. if you're not into the growling, then yer missing out, and furthermore, you won't like the new album either.
 
well, they have always had softer parts in their heavy material...so, they have kinda always had the damnation thing going. i also used to not be a fan of death vocals...but they grew on me...i must say though, mikael does them the best. and i am still only a fan of very few death metal bands. i'm glad you found opeth...give the heavier stuff a chance...he doesn't growl just to be brutal...like you said, he does it for the music.
 
I can only say one thing, or alot I forgot which......

They "growl" simply because they want to do it, and it's a part of their music, as much as acoustics, clean vocals, etc... is. I used to be all about the clean vocals. Mikael had such a great voice and I wondered why he just didn't sing the whole time, but you can sing over some of the riffs they do....

You should check out 'Still Life'. It uses half clean vocals, half growled, but the growls are at parts where the emotion in the story line is so intense it would be hard to emphasize it with sung vocals.

I'm glad that 'Damnation' was an expirement. It was a great album, but why would you want 'Damnation II'?
 
I can't fathom hearing Opeth w/o mikaels growling talent, well except for in Damnation, but you get my point :D . When I first heard their music (first song I listened to was The Moor), I was immediately drawn to them. The acoustic beginning with the awesome metal riffs, made me want to learn them asap. They're definitely one of my fav bands.

They're the first band that really got me into the growling vocals (I guess they were the first band that I could really understand what they're saying). And from there on, became a death metal fan.

BTW, I am also new here. Happened to find this forum while I was searching for Opeth stuff. Pretty psyched I did too :D .
 
Opeth needs some guest growls from another worthy vocalist, like Deftones or something, or perhaps a SiC hardcore breakdown. God, I amaze myself sometimes.
 
I love Damnation, and I am also disappointed by the unnecessary apologies. I also hope that they don't spit out a super-heavy album just to make up for it... I mean, come on, we had Deliverance five months before! Which was supposed to be their "heaviest" album anyway (although I think it failed to top My Arms Your Hearse personally). They should just keep doing what they've been doing - a mix of both.

I don't want a second mellow album, unless it's very different. Perhaps an acoustic album that is more similar to their past mellow songs (e.g. "Harvest", "Benighted"), seeing as Damnation was very different. I agree with Mikael though - Damnation should be kept exclusive.
 
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