Some unfortunate similarities between Metallica and Opeth:
First Album(s) - Raw, Emotional, Loud, Under-produced. In one word - heavy. Instrumentals on the bass and piano - as opposed to the typical guitar - are featured.
Second Album(s) - A little more mature, but still unforgivingly heavy. The first ballads appear. The theme of death is very prevelent, both in terms of being killed and killing one's self.
Third Album(s) - Arguably the best album for both bands. These albums are complete, and showcase many of the bands' strengths. From beautiful ballads (Orion, Credence) to slower-paced, but heavy as hell (The Thing That Should Not Be, When) to head-banging monsters (Damage Inc., April Ethereal) to ubiquitous concert favorites (Master of Puppets, Demon of the Fall).
Fourth Album(s) - Still a very good album, probably the second best for each band, but there is a noticable difference here. Both bands had new bass players and the albums lack continuity. The production on Justice is obviously low quality and, of course, several mistakes have been pointed out about the production on Still Life.
Fifth Album(s) - For Metallica, the beginning of the end. By sacrificing traditional methods for teenage-girl-pleasing chords and family-friendly riffs, the boys created an album which many feel was the downfall for the band. For Opeth, certainly not a sell-out album, but still, their most popular. Most fans probably end up listening to this album first, or at least early on. Some of the songs are simpler in format, and Harvest sounds mysteriously radio-friendly. Even The Drapery Falls got a radio edit.
Sixth and Seventh Albums(s) - Metallica wiped its collective asses and came up with a pair of albums Load and Re-Load. Filled from stem to stern with crap, crap and more crap, both albums ensured that the Bob Rock era was not a horrible nightmare, but an unfortunate reality. Opeth attempts to write two dichotomous albums, Deliverance and Damnation. While I think that these are good albums (certainly not as bad as Load 1 & 2) I see them as being experiments that may have caused the band to lose focus. Instead of writing an album as per usual, Opeth actually took the time to worry about layered vocals and guitar harmonies. The result seems like an overcorrection; like Opeth were trying to write "the perfect album". Is Steve Wilson becoming the Bob Rock of Opeth??
Eighth Album(s) - I certainly hope that Opeth's next creation does not sound anything like Metallica's (though, the Red Sox just won the World Series, so I guess anything's possible...). St. Anger is the lowest of the lows for Metallica. I remember mowing my lawn about 6 months ago while listening to it and thinking the whole time: This. Album. Sucks. The production sucks, the lyrics suck, the music sucks. Even the stuff that's moderately cool, still sucks. This shows that an aging, happily married, rich, family-life, SOBER Metallica does not create good music. Mikael is now married with child. Could he be mellowing in his old age? Will the next album all leave us scratching our heads? I hope not.
I do not think for a minute that Opeth will fall as far as Metallica did. I was just attempting to show some similarities based on the original post. :hotjump:
