Opeth's New Musical Direction...Does It Please You?

[Slynt]

I miss the harmonies of Orchid and Morningrise, I really do. But I like the style of the riffs on the later records as well. It's just that there are so many parts on these later albums where I think, "Well slap my fuckstick, that would be awesome with twin guitars doing the melody stuff".

An example are the songs 'The Baying of the Hounds' and 'Harlequin Forest', where at both songs' end there are a few riffs which would have been soooo awesome if they had that good old school touch to them.

 

[affinityband]

well its not really 'newer' anymore is it? I mean they did it for two albums and since then it has been nothing like that that.

but if you ask me, it holds my attention far more than bands like inflames or arch enemy or a ton of other shitty bands that have effectively released one album broken up into 3 albums. These fuckers keep makin the same thing again and again.

 

[Frosties]

well its not really 'newer' anymore is it? I mean they did it for two albums and since then it has been nothing like that that.

+1

 

[Vamos]

Oh, the irony of claiming my post is out of place while you respond to a question I asked someone else.

I made the exact same statement, so your question applies to me as well.

And I did not say that your post was out of place.

 

[kalikatzaros]

I like both the new and the old. But people should not diss Black Rose Immortal, that is not metal

 

[vinegarstroke]

The new stuff pleases me better than my ex-girlfriends combined.

I love how much Per fattens up the sound, Ghost of Perdition totally blew me away. Also love his cheeky keys in The Baying of the Hounds.

 

[chrisdoig24k]

I have mixed feelings about the new sound.

I really enjoyed the sound of Orchid and Morningrise. I loved the dual harmonies of the guitars (In The Mist She Was Standing has some of the most amazing harmonisation I've ever heard in metal), and I think that the acoustic sections in those first two albums are unparalleled.

I also really enjoy the kind of thing that was going on in Still Life and Blackwater Park. Many things had changed, there were more chords, and more structured songs. I have mixed feelings about that. Some days I like it, some days I don't. But I still really enjoy every song (except a couple) on those albums.

Since then, I haven't really enjoyed a lot. Damnation was decent, but it didn't keep me interested for long. So was Deliverence, I mean some of the riffs are good, but there weren't the inspired harmonies that there were in the early albums, imo. They seemed to me to be limiting Opeth's variety by having 'a soft album' and 'a heavy album'.

As for Ghost Reveries, I don't like much. I think Ghost of Perdition is awesome, and none of the other tracks are amazing. Harlequin Forest and Baying of the Hounds are good, and I'll listen every now and again. I don't dislike Per's contribution, but I think his addition was unnecessary.

I'm very excited about Watershed. I don't know if I'll like it or not, but I'm keeping an open mind.

My 2c

 

[aaronjs]

I love Opeth's new sound as much as their original sound, and all sounds in between. Opeth is the only band with a sustained career about whom I can honestly say that I love all of their material equally. I can safely say that all 8 Opeth albums are in my top 20 all time favorites

 

[Iki-ilkkuja]

I definately enjoy Opeth's new, epic sound. It's more proggy and suits my personal taste better than the previous material.

 

[Starwind85]

Still Life will always be my favorite Opeth album but their more diverse style on Ghost Reveries is probably my favorite musical direction of their's. Watershed will probably continue that direction but is likely to be more diverse or experimental.

 

[Dammnare]

I like it but MAYH is my favourite album.So I hope they make something close to that.

 

[FuneralPortrait]

I don't like the first two albums at all, I don't think I've been able to listen to them all the way through more than a couple of times. They sound amateur, and in general the songs aren't written very well. There are some interesting things happening, but not enough to enable me to enjoy the albums.

 

[funeralportrait91]

I love Opeth's "new" direction. It's some of the most original and interesting metal around. You can hear progression them progressing their sound in every album - that said, Ghost Reveries is definitely their most mature album to date and personally my favourite. Opeth evolve with every album. While Orchid and Morningrise seem disorganised at times I still love them, just like all the other albums they've released.

 

[Overlord Purple Rainbow]

Melodic guitars are still there imo anyways.
They just don't harmonize as much as they used to, which is perfectly fine with me, overuse of guitar harmonizing gets boring.

Yeah, that's what I meant...

 

[Iki-ilkkuja]

YES. Overharmonizing was one of Opeth's greatest mistakes in the early days.

 

[hibernal_dream]

yes im pleased that they gave up songs with no direction and no central concept. with MAYH, opeth started building concepts, i definitely praise that.

Personally, I'd take conceptually coherent riffs over conceptually coherent songs.

 

[Whisper and Weep]

I love their new musical direction not only because its a vast improvement from the Orchid-Morningrise era but it shows how much Opeth has grown as a band which either makes or breaks a band, in this case it made Opeth.

While I do miss the acoustic work off of their older stuff, especially Morningrise I respect their change only because a band needs to change in order to stay alive.