Opeth and the Studio Fredman sound.

[Nitronium Blood]

Opeth's latest effort 'Ghost Reveries' may be a testament to the virtue and gift of musical talent, but to me has much left to be desired in terms of tone.

Opeth and lot of its fanbase may consider this record their most 'sonically superior by far', but I am having a hard time finding so.

Sure, Jens is a mighty mighty co-producer for his age, no doubt about that, but this Fascination Street studio effort just does not cut it for me in terms of sonic ballsiness. There are isues with the Drums, the 'weak' snare in particular and a lesser sonic impact from the guitars.

It is of my own opinion that Opeth's 'best sounding' albums have risen out of Studio Fredman. I'm talking about Blackwater Park in particular.

There has just always been something 'tight' about albums that have been recorded in that Studio. Even with albums such as MAYH and earlier releases by a band such as In Flames where the recording may have sounded 'lo-fi' for whatever reason to some, there is still this certain 'crunch' and 'tightness' that is present.

Then again, I just don't know why I like the Blackwater Park sound the best. Perhaps it is the synergy of Studio Fredman and Steve Wilson? Both absent in this record. Perhaps it was the extra compression/clip on BwP that gave it that ballsy sound?

What do you fine Gentlemen think?

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

I really like the sound of still life personally, that was Frederik, but it doesn't sound like one of his regular productions much, which is cool.

edit: i wouldn't say GR sounds like shit, but the drums just aren't my bag at all, the guitars sound cool tho generally.

 

[EtherForBreakfast]

Hmmmmmm.. cant really read that above stuff.. but.. My Arms Your Hearse blew my mind many times.. especially the super clean track... im the worst cat in the world when it comes to song titles......

Credence??

Yes.. Credence from my arms....... love it.

 

[Ermz]

The production on GR is a tad weak, given the sorts of riffs it's presenting, but overall it's still very clean and balanced... considering the amount of elements on those tracks, I think a fantastic job was done mixing the record.

My favourite 'production' to come out of Fredman is still Nightrage's 'Sweet Vengeance'.

 

[SPLASTiK]

I really like the dark, almost cold feeling you get listening to My Arms or Morningrise.

 

[Nostalgiaplatz]

Fascination Street + Steven Wilson + Andy Sneap = Teh sex.

Seriously, I only like Deliverance and Damnation when it comes to production (recording, mixing, mastering)!

 

[A Gruesome Discovery]

I really like the sound of the new one, as a departure anyway. It's got such a classic rock sound, rather than the whole "wall of guitars" and "thunderous drums" thing; everything fits very neatly, and there's plenty of space around each element. It almost sounds sparse, except there's so much going on that "sparse" doesn't quite apply.
However, I do hope they get together with Steve again, because while I think GR sounds great, I don't think I'd want the next Opeth album to sound like GR... if that makes any sense.

 

[egan.]

With out getting way into this conversation...I've got to think that given the extreme amount of time and money involved in GR that the sound and mix went the way the band and/or label wanted it to. Jens can certainly do brutal ( http://www.bloodbath.biz/releases.html ) if that was what they were after.
IMO the production on GR leans toward prog (rock not metal) and I can't help but think that that was intentional.

 

[Kazrog]

I love the production of Ghost Reveries. Steven Wilson did some seriously amazing things on Damnation though that are worth mentioning...

 

[Lord Lurion]

I agree with AGD: the last album sounds neat and elegant. Opeth usually sounds that way. That's why I love them so much: no matter what they do they always sound neat and elegant, alwais in control.

 

[commandante]

Yeah, Steve Wilson was amazing, but I hope he doesn't come back. I wouldn't want them go back to Swanö either...

I know being "progressive" for the sake of being "progressive" is not necessarily a good thing, but I do think getting back to Studio Fredman, Wilson or Swanö is a step-back in this context. But hey that is just me, Opeth will make the decision...

 

[006]

As someone who has been an Opeth fan since their first release Orchid came out in 1995, I have heard their progression as a band and paid a lot of attention to it. You notice things over the years with each new release in terms of production quality, the band's sound starting to mature more and more as well as evolving, and also the direction that the band is trying to go in. When Blackwater Park came out I was blown away, I had immediately said, "that's their best album yet." Which I didn't mean.

I honestly think Still Life has to be one of their best albums as far as Opeth goes, but when you want to look for the album with the best production, songwriting, feel, ambience...it has to be Blackwater Park. Then Deliverance and Damnation came out, and at first I have to say I was very displeased. I really didn't like any of the songs at all. The production was a bit more "mainstream" than I had imagined it would be, not to say it wasn't good, but Opeth has never really been a "mainstream" band, yanno? The more I listened to the two albums I started liking them more and more...but never really ever thought of them as being their best effort.

With the release of Ghost Reveries, I was extremely disappointed. The production, the writing...just all of it was enough for me to declare (to myself) that if Blackwater Park wasn't their "retirement" album, then D&D definitely were. This is another post from me where I stopped to think about the next thing I was going to say and lost complete track of where I was. So I'll just leave on that note. Heh.

~006

 

[J the TyranT]

I dont see the vast difference in ANY of their albums, to be honest... whereas some bands in recent years have deviated loads from their previous shit [In Flames, Samael], Opeth, to my ears, has basically stayed the course... they're still writing 10 minute long songs with lots of breaks, lots of atmosphere, lots of aggression...

To me its not apples to oranges.. it's oranges to clementines... all of their albums rock... and I cant choose between Still Life and Blackwater myself, I dont think... I think those are my top two of them... but definitely cant say Im blown away, nor disappointed by GR... cuz GR kicks ass, but, that's what I expected... so, it didnt exceed, nor fail to meet my expectations... it just met them head on, so... there you have it, from my perspective =P

Im more on the new God Forbid shit, anyways... rockin CD

 

[metalkingdom]

"This Godless Endeavor" is the #1 metal record of 2005 - production and performance wise!

 

[Hapexamendios]

"This Godless Endeavor" is the #1 metal record of 2005 - production and performance wise!

I agree...hands down TGE is the best of the year in all phases.

 

[Torniojaws]

Heh, personally I feel the best album in production terms is Rotten Sound's Exit. That CD just crushes with the sound. And songwriting-wise, Ulver pulls ahead with Blood Inside.

 

[commandante]

Heh, personally I feel the best album in production terms is Rotten Sound's Exit. That CD just crushes with the sound. And songwriting-wise, Ulver pulls ahead with Blood Inside.

RIP Mieszko.

 

[Brooks]

All I gotta say is that Mikael's voice has never sounded more evil.

Jens must have used the Satan Plugin