OPETH Frontman: 'We've Never Jumped On Trends Or Chances To Make Money' - Sep. 5

[Austin]

Haha, I missed this comment the first time around. Holy shit, you need to listen to more music, there's hundreds of bands that sound like Opeth. Novembre, Farmakon, Darksuns, Rapture and Katatonia are examples of the more popular ones. Opeth are hardly pioneers.

And you need to get your hand off your dick for five seconds. You hate the band but post on their board? You have moved on to better bands? Really? Because moving on to me implies some actual movement. Yet here you are, posting your little heart out.

I've head all of those bands btw (with the exception of Farmakon?) and none of them sound like opeth. Fucking Katatonia? The vocals on BMD might hint of Opeth, I wonder why that might be.

 

[Austin]

i posted that i was expecting something much darker and heavier - based on *direct quotes from the principal writer of the music* - and what i got when i brought the album home after buying it was, in my opinion, well, not what was advertised.

Are you always this big a bitch when you don't get what you want?

 

[Manbient]

Ghost Reveries is DARK? No.

Just NO.

GR is not dark by ANY stretch of the imagination. Have you ever heard of, say, Emperor? THAT is dark, my friend. Despite the occult lyrics and pseudo-satanic imagery, GR is the lightest album they've done. Even Damnation is darker than this. Hell, Mikael has even ADMITTED that the album was positive.

Emperor isn't really that dark either. please, no hypocrisy. Good lord, the sept 05'ers are a whiny angry bunch. And probably all american.

 

[Austin]

Emperor isn't really that dark either. please, no hypocrisy. Good lord, the sept 05'ers are a whiny angry bunch. And probably all american.

Blame Canada.

 

[DreamingofUr]

cool. speaking of kansas, GR also conjures up images of dream theater, especially their terrible Falling Into Infinity album.

Falling into Infinity is a perfect example of progression and the album following it is a perfect example of regression. And its kind of funny that the first song on that album is called REGRESSION.

They started to really explore what they could do on that album with an amazing keyboardist that went on to do far better things for prog rock IMO. Everysong on that album with the exception of "Burning my soul" is absolutely brilliant! Hell's Kitchen + Lines in the Sand are just sonic fury unleashed on your ears. Trial of Tears is my favorite DT song because they showed they can write long songs without having to to showboat their technical skills through it and manage to create something very emotional and touching.

They even dumped Derek after the reaction from those loyal to the technical circus shows(basically everyone!). I mean really can anyone say DT has written good SONGS? I enjoy technical capabilities as much as the next guy but not if the music suffers for it. From Scenes to now it has all been cold and with no emotion. Thats just my IMO of course.

 

[DreamingofUr]

Emperor isn't really that dark either. please, no hypocrisy. Good lord, the sept 05'ers are a whiny angry bunch. And probably all american.

all american or not there is no point in saying that. it only pisses off those that are american and happen to be on the same page as you.

 

[L0bster]

Hardly the case.

Do more research and you will see there are tonnes of Swedish (Gothemburg) and Finnish (Rapture) bands, and also US bands (Farmakon) doing the same thing and in some ways much better.

What Opeth STARTED doing was new at the time. Now, there's nothing new about it. DM and prog combinations in music these days is about as standard as a purple wrapper on a block of Cadburys chocolate.

In my opinion, the next step in innovation is to go and step beyond the death-prog idea and go into a new direction, whether its musical or lyrical.

Throwing in keys and clean vocals is todays norm.

Bands like Farmakon cloned the MAYH / Still Life concept. Slow-minded fans are bound to find it "in some ways much better" since they have no abillity to explore the world of music in the same tempo as opeth releases albums. there's always some retards left wanting more of the very same.

Please, try to break free from this pattern. There is a world of music out there to explore (and I'm not talking about new opeth-albums here) and instead you pick bands copying past eras of bands you think evolved out of your understanding...sad!

 

[fuscous]

..since they have no abillity to explore the world of music in the same tempo as opeth releases albums.

 

[Birkenau]

Everyone thinks they sold out, but the new album isn't much different from any of the others. To me, the main difference is that it sounds darker. And what's wrong with signing to a more popular label so that everyone can hear your music? They still have long songs, they still don't use the typical verse/chorus set-up, and they still make music for themselves, not for the money. That's not selling out. Why don't you just leave them alone? Jeez...

It sounds emo to me actually. And they still use the typical verse/chorus set up.

And you need to get your hand off your dick for five seconds. You hate the band but post on their board? You have moved on to better bands? Really? Because moving on to me implies some actual movement. Yet here you are, posting your little heart out.

I still enjoy the earlier Opeth albums, but I realise now that they aren't the pinnacle of music, and there are other better metal bands.

Emperor isn't really that dark either. please, no hypocrisy. Good lord, the sept 05'ers are a whiny angry bunch. And probably all american.

Mmm, Wrath of the Tyrant and In The Nightside Eclipse are fairly dark, the others are fairly lighter though.

The album is just boring, they are repeating what they've already done before and added a couple of nu-metal/metalcore elements. Woo!

 

[Manbient]

all american or not there is no point in saying that. it only pisses off those that are american and happen to be on the same page as you.

The point only is that you don't see behavior like that very often at all by people from other countries. Really only america and canada. But mostly america. Arrogant whiny little brats is what north America is. why do you think everyone hates america? Well the way some of these people are acting is one of them.

Mmm, Wrath of the Tyrant and In The Nightside Eclipse are fairly dark, the others are fairly lighter though.

Well i guess so, in comparison to most music. But really, is emperor capable of actually unsettling someone? I think not. But there is music i've heard that has genuinely had me in cold sweats it was so dark.

 

[Hypnos]

Ghost Reveries is DARK? No.

Just NO.

GR is not dark by ANY stretch of the imagination. Have you ever heard of, say, Emperor? THAT is dark, my friend. Despite the occult lyrics and pseudo-satanic imagery, GR is the lightest album they've done. Even Damnation is darker than this. Hell, Mikael has even ADMITTED that the album was positive.

if you want DARK music, just get 'Human Antithesis' by Void Of Silence...

 

[Birkenau]

*coughdownloadSILENCERcoughcough*

 

[Goober]

Why doesnt every one just drop this whole subject? Its painful to watch cuz everyone is arguing about the SAME THING. OMG GHOST REVERIES IS SOO DARK !!!!!!! If you think it is...good for you. If you think its not....good for you. If you wanna argue about it to prove a point or something and possibly slug it out....Go on jerry springer or something, cuz all youre doing is cluttering up the forums.

 

[Saphira]

Everybody is chasing their tails. I thoroughly enjoy this thread and the thoughts people have to GR and the band. Its opening my mind to aspects on both sides that I hadn’t considered and thought ‘Hm, good point.’ Just let me quote this from someone else in the thread…

“THEY ARE ONLY OPINIONS. NOT FACTS.”

That has to be the most intelligent thing I have seen in this thread so far. Why are people getting so upset when somebody doesn’t agree their opinion?

 

[Birkenau]

My opinion should be considered fact at all times. kthxbi.

 

[Saphira]

Are you sure your not American?

 

[Goober]

Are you sure your not American?

are you saying im stupid too?

 

[Saphira]

are you saying im stupid too?

No... just arrogant..

 

[:Wreath:]

You know what, this isn't fun anymore...

I'm not going to argue with people who say Opeth compromised their sound and say Ghost of Perdition sounds exactly like... The Grudge

That above is the GREATEST load of horseshit I have ever read... So to you who state that... nah, I'm speechless... free speech for the dumb I guess...

Carry on whining and I'll carry on listening...

 

[atropos_project]

Some notes.....

Is GR thier best effort ever? That all boils down to personal opinion, and arguing it is somewhat pointless. Not every CD a band does is going to trump all previous efforts in chronologiical order. And if you expect a band to rehash the same styles as they've done previously, then its clear you've never written any material yourself. Bands grow and evolve....and when you practice / tour, and end up playing some styles so repetitively, you require a change. Fans be damned.

However, I do see a trend here. The video.

First off, what little I watched of it is utterly typical.

Second, the editing. If ever there was a telltale sign of comprimising yourself, here it is.

"I know that no one's going to play a ten-minute song and, as I said, I want people to hear us. Even if they hear a shitty three-minute edit, it's better than nothing. I'm probably going to hate it, but if that's the only way for a band like us to reach out to new people, then I guess that's the way it is"

If you feel that people won't want to hear a 10 minute song, then why write them at all? Answer: you write songs like that because its what you do. The following this band has is extremely loyal for some very valid reasons. Please don't go fucking with it to "reach a wider audience".

You've done fairly well as a band up to this point by not comprising. Being willling to edit your own material to fit some industry-imposed bullshit time limit speaks volumes more than anything else you may say in an interview.

Having been around quite a while and seeing this happen before, I suspect this is the last worthwhile CD the fans get from you. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Oh yeah, one last thing from this thread:

Black Metal was characterised by deliberate lo-fi production quality on recordings

Artsist dont do a shitty recording on purpose. Its done because the band lacks funds.