Since I first heard BWP, it was obvious to me that this band had an unique sound.
At first, the blend of acoustic/electric guitar plus clean voices and growls were very "new" to me.
But everyday I appreciate more and more the songs, the structure of the songs, the riffs, solos, vocal melodies (which are some of the most important things of Opeth in my opinion), the harmony, the drums, bass, just everything.
One of the things that I've always wondered, is how Mikael comes with such awesome ideas. I mean, he knows some theory, but at the same time he doesn't know part of it (remember that video of drapery falls guitar lesson where he didn't knew the name of the A-add9 chord?).
I've analyzed sections of Opeth songs, and there some great things, for example, a lot of the vocal lines are based on the arpeggios of the chords being played, not only he sings the chord tones, but the entire arpeggio a lot of times, sometimes he sings it over a chord, and then the chord from the arpeggio comes later.
Of course, there are a lot of odd meters such as 9/8, 5/8, etc. And 6/8 on heavy songs it's like an opeth signature.
Obviously, he has a really great ear.
The new songs have new ideas, he just never stops being creative, that for me is awesome, it's so hard these days to create something new and he doesn't seem to have problems with that.
This thread may be a little weird, but I just had to express my admiration for Mikael as a composer.
Also, maybe I will post a complete analysis of an Opeth song if I have enough time, maybe somebody would like to do the same?
At first, the blend of acoustic/electric guitar plus clean voices and growls were very "new" to me.
But everyday I appreciate more and more the songs, the structure of the songs, the riffs, solos, vocal melodies (which are some of the most important things of Opeth in my opinion), the harmony, the drums, bass, just everything.
One of the things that I've always wondered, is how Mikael comes with such awesome ideas. I mean, he knows some theory, but at the same time he doesn't know part of it (remember that video of drapery falls guitar lesson where he didn't knew the name of the A-add9 chord?).
I've analyzed sections of Opeth songs, and there some great things, for example, a lot of the vocal lines are based on the arpeggios of the chords being played, not only he sings the chord tones, but the entire arpeggio a lot of times, sometimes he sings it over a chord, and then the chord from the arpeggio comes later.
Of course, there are a lot of odd meters such as 9/8, 5/8, etc. And 6/8 on heavy songs it's like an opeth signature.
Obviously, he has a really great ear.
The new songs have new ideas, he just never stops being creative, that for me is awesome, it's so hard these days to create something new and he doesn't seem to have problems with that.
This thread may be a little weird, but I just had to express my admiration for Mikael as a composer.
Also, maybe I will post a complete analysis of an Opeth song if I have enough time, maybe somebody would like to do the same?