Damnation is my favorite because his vocals suited the music perfectly. His voice is beautiful, but as a singer he's nothing. I'm not saying he should demonstrate amazing range and vibrato like Warrel, but he simply doesn't have the right voice to carry an entire metal album with cleans alone.
Though I doubt this will be metal at all. I hate Watershed with a passion, and I fear this will follow suit. Aimless songs that go no where because the man is starting to think he's some kind of prophet of art.
Bugger that drummer and new guitarist, too. I miss Martin Lopez and his jazz styled drumming. When the old members left, Opeth stopped being Opeth and became Mikaels hard-on prog fanboy experiment.
Did you even hear the song he made for the God of War game? Awful. Ghost Reveries was decent but that was only because the keyboard added a dreary atmosphere.
Funny you should say that, as Lindgren hadn't really contributed ANYTHING to Opeth in years and years (Supposedly aside from a solo here and there). I'm not saying I like Akesson more than Lindgren, I'm just saying that to blame the stylistic changes on him leaving is kind of invalid... And I also liked Lopez as a drummer way more, but Axenrot is amazing in his own way... And while Watershed wasn't my favorite Opeth album by far, I do not find myself disliking it as much as you, haha.. I still REALLY enjoy it.. I mean, tracks like Hessian Peel, Heir Apparent (One of their heaviest songs to date), and The Lotus Eater are pretty amazing...
I just read up way more about the new album.. It's supposedly going to be like nothing they've ever done before, but Akerfeldt DID state that there was a lot of heavy darker moments on the album as well...
And I must disagree again.. I liked Throat of Winter quite a bit.. Very different but that doesn't mean it' bad, haha... I think the guitar work on the track is especially unique... Especially coupled with the percussion later in the track, had a very Spanish Flamenco feel to me...
I'm not saying you have to agree with me, or even trying to persuade you in any way... Just giving you my thoughts, haha...
And the subject in which I must disagree with you wholly, is that he isn't a good enough singer to carry a metal album on cleans alone... Tracks like the first half of Hessian Peel, The first few minutes of Harlequin Forest, and A Fair Judgment, are good examples for me.. (And I mean, if those parts of the songs I mentioned were JUST by themselves, or part of a larger-whole with just cleans, I'd enjoy them, I'm sure...)
Guess we'll see come September... Honestly, I'm really excited to see what happens here... A bit troubled in some ways, as this seems to be a radical departure, and sometimes this can lead to me not liking the newer works, but I'm more excited than anything else... I'm never one for saying a band is "selling out" or writing off a band just because they try something new... I don't have to like it, I go into it fully aware of this fact... However, I ALSO go into it with a fully open mind... I'm not "expecting" it to be shit, or just because it's going to be different, it's them "selling out" or anything like that... As with an earlier thread, I forgot who posted this amazing line, but to paraphrase them (I don't recall the exact quote...), "A band who ceases to change, will cease to exist."
Something along those lines... Not that every change should be massive, or genre-defying... But I believe as musicians, artists, and just a PERSON in general, one should grow... And times have a way of changing a man...
