Opeth's first 3 albums are their best.

[nemesis_outlawed]

IMO.

Orchid, had alot of potential, was a very 'magical' album, but I think it needed some patching up. I liked the overall editing though, but some of the guitar solos were pure shit (sorry guys)...and I really hated it when a song was about to go into a beautiful acoustic procession, when it busts out with some shitty solo instead. Arg. But overall, it's a great album. Silhouette was a great idea, I love it, being a pianist of 8 years.

Morningrise was my first Opeth album. It's fantastic, I can't complain about it other than I wish there was more. You know? It's such a perfect album with a perfect, erie sound to it, and it's over after 5 songs.

MAYH was my last Opeth album (not including Damnation), and it's simply fantastic. I love albums where the songs connect musically, because it gives it a great sense of being complete, or wholeness. This is IMO what Still Life lacked, besides some other things but this isn't about Still Life. MAYH is a great album, and Madrigal is perfect in it, it was very nice. And (I love Karma, despite how it seems most people don't), I love the way Karma ends. The album could have been over then, but no, they decided to let a nice little song called Epilogue fade in. How wonderful. *creams pants*

Now, I love their other albums, and I'm not implying at all that they're selling out or anything (I heard a bit of Damnation and I LOVE it, reminds me of 60's/70's/80's prog), but it seems to me that their first 3 were the defining point of the band. Thoughts? Comments?

 

[Slipknot_isn't_metal]

Overall i agree ...but the 4 that followed all have their charms too heh.

 

[John Gargo]

I disagree... I think Still Life is the best thing they've ever done, both from a conceptual/artistic standpoint and a musical standpoint... The songs on that album are nothing short of brilliant, and the whole thing flows together wonderfully... The three preceeding albums are brilliant in their own ways, but there's just something that makes Still Life something special...

1. STILL LIFE
2. Morningrise
3. Orchid
4. My Arms Your Hearse

Not to undermind the later albums... They're also absolutely stunning... It's hard to rank them like this since there always has to be a last choice, but I wouldn't dream giving any of these releases anything short of five stars...

5. Deliverance
6. Blackwater Park

From what I've heard, Damnation would fit in just above Deliverance, but I'll wait until I get used to all of the subtleties of that wonderful album before I start placing it somewhere on the list...

Anyway, my two cents...

 

[nemesis_outlawed]

I disagree... I think Still Life is the best thing they've ever done, both from a conceptual/artistic standpoint and a musical standpoint... The songs on that album are nothing short of brilliant, and the whole thing flows together wonderfully... The three preceeding albums are brilliant in their own ways, but there's just something that makes Still Life something special...

I'm interested in your opinion, why do you think that? For me, Still Life, I love it, but there seems to be something missing...

 

[John Gargo]

I'm interested in your opinion, why do you think that? For me, Still Life, I love it, but there seems to be something missing...

Hmmm.... well it's simply because I think all the songs are absolutely perfect and I think the "concept" behind the music is fascinating... Take "The Moor," which effortlessly switches between great heavy sections and very catchy soft sections. The first half of "Godhead's Lament" is incredible, and "Moonlapse Vertigo" is the forgotten-masterpiece, since they never play it live anymore. The secret to this album's success, though, are the clean vocals I think... They're my favorite in any Opeth album (the intro to "Face of Melinda" is irresistable). Also, it contains my all-time favorite Opeth moment in the last song, "White Cluster," when Mikael sings "This is forgiveness, so I know... Once I repent I seal the lid..." Then there's the chorus-riff in "Serenity Painted Death..."

 

[nemesis_outlawed]

Haha, I completely agree with you. I guess my main thing is I'm used to having concept albums joing the songs together.

 

[Slynt]

I wish they did "The Moor" live. What an outstanding piece of fucking great death metal. I love the three first Opeth albums, but I love 'Still Life' equally, and *Deliverance' almost as much. 'Blackwater Park' means almost nothing to me, and 'Damnation' I'm purposely waiting for.

 

[no country for old wainds]

I prefer the first three albums also. I'm not entirely sure why, I just prefer the mood they set.

 

[diso]

I tend to see the songs on the first 2 albums as parts. For example I love BRI from 9 mins on. I blame this mostly on the production that robs the songs of any atmosphere. The sound is almost purely guitar, now being a guitar player I adore the riffs; however, the songs feel less whole than every other album.

1. MAYH, BWP
2. Deliverance, Still Life
3. Damnation, Orchid, Morningrise

All better than all other albums by everyone.

 

[R.I.P.2]

The first three are obviously superior, particularly Morningrise.

 

[Duvall]

The first three Opeth albums I bought were their first three releases - though in reverse order. I'm not sure what it is about these albums, but they definitely do have an edge - Still Life aside, I rarely get the newer songs stuck in my head. I'm always humming parts from Advent, The Apostle in Triumph, or When. I don't find myself doing that as much with Master's Apprentices or The Funeral Portrait.

However, Damnation seems to have captured some of that.. jenesaisquoi that some of the newer work seems to be lacking.

Now, is it just me missing the point? I love SL, BWP and D1, and listen to them all the time. Why don't they sink in as much?

Do any of you out there have any Opeth as a theme song? Like "your song" for yourself and significant other, or a song you like to fall asleep to, or wake up to. A song you drive to school with, etc etc?

Feedback.

np: silence after to bid you farewell

 

[mac]

That's just about exactly what I think.

 

[Morgour]

i can say without a doubt that 'my arms your hearse' is my fave Opeth album, it has such an amazing erie atmospherei cant describe it, still life, blackwater park and morning rise are joint 2nd, orchid and damnation are joint 3rd.

 

[TheBigJones47]

i think i'm the only one here who places morningrise 6th (possibly 7th, no damnation yet)... i don't know, it just doesn't seem to go together well, there's too much shifting around, it's like they pulled riffs out of a hat and played each of them for 20 seconds... don't get me wrong, i like that album more than just about anything else by another band, but it's my least favorite opeth. bwp and mayh are probably my 2 favorites, i think the death vox on bwp are absolutely incredible, and the riffing on the last 5 or 6? minutes of the title track is sheerly mind-blowing...

The secret to this album's success, though, are the clean vocals I think... They're my favorite in any Opeth album

right on, man, i totally agree. it's weird if you look at opeth's albums, each one there's a certain part that stands out (for me at least)... deliverance has mass percussion, bwp has amazing death vocals, still life has amazing clean sections, mayh has awesome riffs and heavy sections throughout, morningrise has a lot of atmosphere/emotion... orchid is just kinda there, i'm not sure why it's one of my favorites, really. but you see what i mean with each album having its strong points.

 

[no country for old wainds]

I certainly prefer the clean vocals from the first 4 albums.

 

[Duvall]

I like the hollow, porcupine-tree like effect frequently used on Mikael's clean singing. It's evident long before Steve Wilson entered the picture as well (unless he had some hidden behind-the-scenes involvement I'm unaware of..)

I still can't place it, but if I needed to introduce someone to Opeth, I'd likely pick something from the first three albums. Others may disagree, and The Drapery Falls has converted many in its time (my most successful convert among them. Maybe I feel that the earlier albums best represent my emotions toward the band when I first discovered them and made them a far-too-important part of my life.

It can't be the musicianship, because though I love the old drum & bass combination, the new stuff appeals to me just as much. For some reason, i'm unable to wrap my head around this, and if a whole bunch of people weren't home, I'd blast the albums from start to finish (in correct chronological order, of course) to get some closure on this matter..

NP: I take too long to post so the songs always end.. it was Epilogue

 

[Nugent Goes AOL]

BWP is the pinnacle of Opeth, IMO...

 

[nemesis_outlawed]

BWP is the pinnacle of Opeth, IMO...

Why do you think that?

 

[IcemanJ256]

i agree 10000% that the first three are their best... not that i dislike any of their albums really...

 

[Ermz]

Orchid

Most likely my favourite. It has a certain fire, a passion that isn't there on any of their other albums. It's completely raw, old-school and the whole feel of the music just leaves me feeling good, because if you listen the melodies are quite upbeat and 'happy' yet they form to create this kind of heavy masterpiece of metal... take In Mist She Was Standing... that is just one of the most 'old-school' songs I have ever heard and I love it with all my heart.

I understand some may not like the solos, and that's fair enough, they're not added for emotional effect in Orchid.. they're added because its the 'metal' thing to do and they're quite standard, so there's not as much of that Mikael blues touch.. this could also be because 50% if not more of the solos were written by Peter who seems to be a fan of that arpeggio kind of metal soloing. Personally I have no problems with the solos on Orchid... even after hearing and playing them so so so so many times the first 2 solos in Forest of October still give me boners... there is just a kind of passion for the music, something fierce and aggressive that doesn't show itself on the others.

Also I mean if you listen to it, it's one of the most 'moshable' albums... just about any melody you can bang your head to. Also, if you wanna hear a 'new' Orchid, just play only the left channel or only the right channel, and voila (sp?) brand new melodies .

Overall, the musicianship you can hear is so ameteur, because it was their first album, you can hear the little experience they had with everything, and that just adds and shows you that everything that went into that album is pure passion and love for music... Also it's great for learning guitar on, and very very very fun to play.

Morningrise

Now I'm gonna take a seemingly opposing stance to most of the other people on here and say that Morningrise is my least favourite Opeth album. Don't get me wrong... I love Advent and Black Rose Immortal as much as anything, but there is something lacking from this album.

Firstly let me say, this album invokes great imagery... you can really feel that riffs are elaborate and serve to further the emotional value of each piece... however you can really hear that they were trying to connect songs with this album, which is why the chaotic structure of the songs really stood out and they sounded very disjointed... this is most prominant on Black Rose Immortal where it feels like a collection of riffs mashed together.

Now on to the production... I found the sound of Morningrise to be very obtusive... those riffs droning on and on can really give me headaches sometimes. It lacked that cold echo of Orchid, yet the quality hadn't gone up any.

This was kind of a landmark album for Opeth because on it the acoustic parts really started having a character of their own... as we see in BRI where 50% of the song is played unplugged. Orchid on the other hand just had a few acoustic parts dotted around for general cosmetic effect (which I have no problem with). I mean this is most prominant on To Bid You Farewell which is basically mellow throughout, and was something really new for Opeth.

The solos were one thing I had a problem with on this album. It seemed to me that out of all 20 minutes of BRI that about 30 seconds of combined soloing really wasn't enough... those solos they had on there were awesome, yet they just abruptly ended and went into yet another misplaced acoustic interlude which led into an electric guitar repeating that same interlude which led to the addition of drums, bass etc. etc. until it would climax again, stop, and then start the process all over again.

Anyway, I've done ranting now... and I just realized how much my tastes with Opeth have changed since I first got into them. When I first heard BWP, I couldn't stomach any of their older stuff, ESPECIALLY Orchid becasue of the horrible production... yet now as I've become more of a guitarist, I've given their whole discography a listen over, I find Orchid to be one of the most memorable CDs... one of the ones that seemingly never gets boring to me... that's mainly because out of the hour or so you get on the CD, there is another in the form of a second guitar melody constantly going on a different channel, and that to me is real value for money.. haha.