opeth listenability

dishcloth

Boozehound & metalhead...
Oct 14, 2005
303
2
18
Melbourne, Australia
the other day, after telling my friend for the past few months how great opeth were, i decided to let him borrow my copy of ghost reveries for a listen. he is in a punk/hardcore band and i didn't know what to expect from his opinion. he got back to me a few days later telling me this: "while they are very talented, the music is boring and unemotional". i felt like breaking his jaw. while i know opeth is amazing and definately emotional, i feel that there is something about them, i dont know what, that fails to win over the average rock/metal fan. is it just a lack of patience on the listener's behalf, or is there something else that prevents them from being instantly appreciated? i.e being distinctively different to 98% percent of all the other recycled trash out there

i know it took me a couple of weeks before i became hooked....
 
Well i dont think id give any respect to a punk/hardcore fan/musician straight off the bat and probably even if i got to know them.

I think those people only hear emotion when the bass is slamming root notes, the snare is hit on every off beat and the guitar playing is as loose as a french hooker.

Besides death metal and death vocals in particular are not easy listening, its somthing that grows on you.
And further more progressive music isnt liked much on the scale of things, it usually takes musical talent and patients to realise that some of the best music ever written was prog.

Either way man who cares if your mate doesnt like it. If your grooving to opeth and the new realese thats all that matters.
 
Well I know that I got hooked with Damnation. At some point I didn't like growls or screams of any kind, but In Flames changed my mind about the screams and (after a while) Opeth changed my mind about brutality in the music and growling vocals.

Opeth are ultimately my favorite band. They combine savage riff playing with mellow melodies and do it better than anyone on earth.

I gave all their songs to a friend of mine, and he's a Manowar listener...so it's gonna be hard to transform him but I'll make it :P

He's already admiring Mikael's voice. He just isn't used to the whole proggy/10minute song thing that Opeth has going on.

I, on the other hand, love it and I don't care if no one else on earth likes Opeth. I know that they rule :rock:
 
My friend said Still Life was boring and I felt like killing him. :tickled: He prefers straight up songs where I prefer stuff that you really have to listen to to get.
 
My wife doesn't give a damn about Opeth, despite all my propaganda. She just likes the more stereotypical song structures, the whole verse/chorus/verse thing, dislikes the satanic growling and can't tolerate the song lengths. What can you do? The love of my life would rather listen to Korn. :Puke:
 
I heard a couple of punk/hardcore addicts say that they saw Opeth play and it was boring and theatrical ...
I think that they want music that is easy listening and is music with a high "party" vibe in it, wich isn't that strong in opeth (occasionally yes, but then it is altered with mellow stuff or other kind of music, it's not like you can mosh or headbang through an entire gig of opeth).
this is the reason that lots of people can't get into opeth (or other bands for that matter). I for one love them, and more and more I can't stand normal songs of 3 minutes with predictable structure or "party" vibes ... I need music I can really listen to and has that emotional, dark sound to it.
 
Heckelgruber said:
My wife doesn't give a damn about Opeth, despite all my propaganda. She just likes the more stereotypical song structures, the whole verse/chorus/verse thing, dislikes the satanic growling and can't tolerate the song lengths. What can you do? The love of my life would rather listen to Korn. :Puke:

Same here. :(
 
I always find it hard to choose an Opeth song to play to someone who I am trying to convert, I always worry that if say I choose the Moor they'll get bored 'cos of the long intro, or if i choose something straight of heavy then they'll miss the prog stuff. When I heard Opeth for the first time it just clicked and I knew straight away they would become my favourite band, and make almost all other bands obsolete, but I can see how this wouldn't happen to everyone.
 
NickFBM said:
I always find it hard to choose an Opeth song to play to someone who I am trying to convert, I always worry that if say I choose the Moor they'll get bored 'cos of the long intro, or if i choose something straight of heavy then they'll miss the prog stuff. When I heard Opeth for the first time it just clicked and I knew straight away they would become my favourite band, and make almost all other bands obsolete, but I can see how this wouldn't happen to everyone.


Moonlapse Vertigo.
 
Everyone likes their own shit, face it you don't like hardcore, your friend dosen't like opeth. Maybe he is pissed you don't like his music too. So what.
 
..Strangely not all people like Opeth :o! lol
I instantly loved them, but it took me a while for them to be my favourite band. I've personally never had a problem about long songs .. I think it's just down to who you are. A lot of my friends either liked them immediately or they grew on them.
 
FUBAR said:
My friend said Still Life was boring and I felt like killing him. :tickled: He prefers straight up songs where I prefer stuff that you really have to listen to to get.
:grin: Kudos to your friend! :grin:
 
It always took me a few listens to get into each and every Opeth album. I never once liked an Opeth album on the first listen. I think that's what makes them so great though. I enjoy music a lot more that takes me longer to get into because that means it's going to leave a lasting impression, as Opeth has done for me. Normally structured songs, while appealing on the first listen, bore me after the 3rd or 4th time. I've yet to be bored with any Opeth album and I've listened to each one countless times.