Opeth Lyrics

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Jackehh

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Oct 9, 2007
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Hi, first of all I want to apologize beforehand if this has already been discussed, I've just lingered here for about 4 months.

Anyway I was wondering if you people have some favorite lyrics with Opeth? You know how people tend to brag about how good the lyrics are for bla bla bla specific band, this is something I've never seen here in the opeth forum. When I try to bring up the fact that metal bands also can have impressive lyrics with poetry or whatever, I am usually frowned upon because, in my opinion, people have so biased views on metal lyrics out there.

So what makes good lyrics? Well I supose it's up to yourself to decide that, but it would be intresting to see if we have any shared views.

I haven't really engaged Opeth from this point of view before but if I would to answer this straight away, I think that closure and TNATSW have some really impressive lyrics, face of melinda is pretty awesome as well, especially the first 4 lines.

So what are your opinions?


P.S: Why not recommend (metal) lyrics from other bands as well? Well then I would mention Dissection - Where dead angels lie/the somberlain


Jakob
 
Opeth's lyrics are good for the most part, though I have to admit quite a few of the times I don't get Åkerfaldts "message" if he has one. I think he works best in the contents of a story (a la MAYH or Still Life).

My favorite vocalists would either be Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity (The Gallery is mindblowing lyricwise) or Warrel Dane from Nevermore.
 
Mike has a great way with words. I like the way his lyrics tend to be rather ambiguous and classy.
 
hours of wealths lyrics paired with the bluesy singing is pretty much the best thing ever recorded by opeth
 
Frosties said:
Opeth's lyrics are good for the most part, though I have to admit quite a few of the times I don't get Åkerfaldts "message" if he has one. I think he works best in the contents of a story (a la MAYH or Still Life).

My favorite vocalists would either be Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity (The Gallery is mindblowing lyricwise) or Warrel Dane from Nevermore.
Click to expand...


I kind of agree with you that the concept albums are really great, its very compelling and exciting I think to follow the songs through the whole album ESPECIALLY on MAYH. I have to agree that Mikael stanne makes some good lyrics, too bad dark tranquility is so underrated nowadays. I used to compare them to in flames but oh well we all know what happened to in flames :p

This godless endeavor by nevermore is high on my top-album list btw, cheers, also underrated band
 
Many metal bands can make impressive and meaningful lyrics. The bad reputation comes from the fact that this usually isn't the case.

I like many Opeth lyrics and Wintersun has some really great one's imo. Symphony X, one of my favourite bands, also writes some good lyrics.
 
Personally i think the lyrics are quite bad. Probably my least favorite thing in Opeth. I dont mean bad as in grammatic bad or cheesy or anything like that,i just dont get anything from them. But now i´m splitting hairs because i´ve never been that overly interested in music lyrics anyway. The few lyrics i´m interested in are mostly from Atheist and maybe some Wilson stuff.

Benighted and To Bid You Farewell are exceptions for me btw,i think they´re a bit more universal and easier to connect to than most of the other stuff.
 
lyrics are probably 70% of what i like about music. I really like to "read into" a song. i see the music as an expression of the lyrics, not the other way around.

i dont know if that even makes sense?
 
I like their lyrics, well most of the time I don't understand all of it but it's not that bad since they're not a political band or anything, they don't have a real purpose or whatever, and the lyrics fit the music quite well I guess.

Actually, since English is not their native language, I still don't understand how they manage to put so many words that I've never seen anywhere else. :erk:
Alright, it's not my native language either, but still, there really are a lot of words I just cannot understand.
 
HoursOfDebt said:
lyrics are probably 70% of what i like about music. I really like to "read into" a song. i see the music as an expression of the lyrics, not the other way around.

i dont know if that even makes sense?
Click to expand...

I kinda agree... lyrics and music are equally as important to me, or unimportant, as long as both are there to further the song and its meaning/story/idea/atmosphere.

I think Nevermore is a great band, but the lyrics, themes and imagery are so stuck on top... the music doesn't "say" the same thing as the lyrics MOST of the time in my opinion. You could replace the lyrics with some Cannibal Corpse death-prose and it wouldn't really bother a lot of people. I'm talking about their "heavy songs", it wouldn't work so well with every song of course (Dreaming Neon Black for example) and they'd still be a very good metal band without any vocals or lyrics. I think Warrel adds a LOT of character to an otherwise just impressive metal band. Which there are loads of... :rolleyes:

Opeth... it depends. Lyrics are probably less relevant to Mikael... more of an after thought. Unless he has a strong theme or idea, like MA,YH and Still Life etc...

But MOST Opeth songs would be just as good with other/no lyrics on top I think... but those songs where the lyrics are really personal to him, especially the more recent emotional songs... I don't think they'd be half as good without the lyrics (and vocals).

Basically, anyone can write impressive widdly metal music... but to me that isn't a good song. A good song is when the lyrics (or lack of) and music (or lack of) give you some kind of image or story or atmosphere and is 100% about the song rather than 60% music, 30% ego(/solo) and 10% lyrics/theme/atmosphere...
 
I read somewhere that Mikael to some extent tries to make his lyrics hard to understand,he thinks it sounds cool with complicated sentences and said that that was more important than the actual meaning of the lyrics. But i´m pretty sure that that interview was made around the Orchid or Morningrise days,probably not very representative for what he writes today.
 
I give Mike so much credit not only for his amazing lyric writing, but also for how well his words always interact with the music. There has never been a point in any Opeth song where I've absolutely loved the lyrics but felt that the vocals/vocal lines failed to deliver them effectively. It's just amazing to me how everything always seems to be placed so perfectly.

Moving on... my current favorite Opeth lyrics are any part of The Moor, Bleak, or Reverie/Harlequin Forest (though, like every other living person, my opinion changes depending on my mood.)


Props to the guy who mentioned Nevermore, they're a band whose lyrics very rarely let me down.
 
Rezard said:
I like their lyrics, well most of the time I don't understand all of it but it's not that bad since they're not a political band or anything, they don't have a real purpose or whatever, and the lyrics fit the music quite well I guess.

Actually, since English is not their native language, I still don't understand how they manage to put so many words that I've never seen anywhere else. :erk:
Alright, it's not my native language either, but still, there really are a lot of words I just cannot understand.
Click to expand...

Most swedes and norwegians know better english than native speakers haha
 
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