Present Opeth Theory

[atropos_project]

Mikael (and the band) makes songs out of modules - small and big.
Just keep listening closely and you will see. I haven't found any formula covering whole songs. Just parts of them.

And again, I'm not making this up either. Apart from that you obviously can hear it for yourselves (all the stuff thats played 4x, etc) Mikael has said - in many interviews - that he composes stuff in sections and later puts the parts together to songs.

I'd agree with this... a lot of what they do just starts at point A, and never quite goes back to it (which, on a side note, is one of thier biggest influences on my writing).

Look how repetitive the end of Deliverance is, how long the mid section of BWP is... but there is typically subtle changes in some instrument going on underneath all this that become apparent after a few listens.

And I don't think saying he wanted to make a black metal album is a bold statement at all. And I believe that Ghost Reveries was more of a departure than anything - it's got a whole lot of prog stuff going on, in a different vein than can be seen in previous albums, especially Deliverance/Damnation. In fact, if you think about it, making a black metal album wouldn't be a departure - in that Deliverance was about their heaviest album to date.

I know this will be a pretty unpopular opinion here, but for them to come out with a BM album in any traditional sense would probably be considered a step backwards. GR was another step in the direction they've been going in for a while (just my opinion).

And no, doing riffs / sections 3 or 5 times doesn't neccessarily sound forced, much in the same way that playing odd time sigs doesn't have to sound forced.

 

[westknife]

twentywest needs to be banned even worse than i do

 

[Dante's Inferno]

Okey, I finished an early draft on my article. Where can I upload it?

Note: there are some riff types still not written, like long riffs and one-chord riffs.

 

[SextoyAddiction]

One thing Ive noticed on alot of their songs [mostly the harder ones] Is that it will start off kick-ass crazy [ex:blackwater park, deliverenece] and then mellowing out for a few minutes, and once again gaining momentum back into rock out.

Also, with opeths concept albums, there seems to be a pattern there with the characters having to come to terms with things they have done [ex, the character in My Arms, Your Hearse having to realize that he is dead and that his lover has stoped grieving his death]
correct me if i am wrong on that.

 

[An Absent Friend]

Such a cool concept that was. Our Demo has a concept to. Its a about a 9 year old boy who is really in to space and stuff. Waitin for a spaceship to pick him up everynight.

 

[the_3_toed_sloth]

One thing Ive noticed on alot of their songs [mostly the harder ones] Is that it will start off kick-ass crazy [ex:blackwater park, deliverenece] and then mellowing out for a few minutes, and once again gaining momentum back into rock out.

Also, with opeths concept albums, there seems to be a pattern there with the characters having to come to terms with things they have done [ex, the character in My Arms, Your Hearse having to realize that he is dead and that his lover has stoped grieving his death]
correct me if i am wrong on that.

On Still Life he didn't come to terms with anything.

 

[the_drip]

terms are ghey...hanging by a noose is kvlt

 

[An Absent Friend]

Sometimes I think I really don't know english.

 

[coolsnow7]

And no, doing riffs / sections 3 or 5 times doesn't neccessarily sound forced, much in the same way that playing odd time sigs doesn't have to sound forced.

Have you ever tried it?

And yes, I'm not saying that it ALWAYS sounds forced, but that it ALMOST ALWAYS sounds forced...maybe even that's a bit much, but suffice to say that a song will ALMOST ALWAYS be better suited with the section played 4 times as opposed to 5.

 

[prowlergrig]

^agree

Isn't that just general in most music? I just think you notice it more easily in Opeth songs because they have such long songs with so many riffs.

this is what i was saying. while it's obviously true that mike repeats stuff 4 (or multiples) times, so does 99% of popular music, so you can't call it a mike signature.

 

[Ten SiSi]

This is just an immature music discussion, in the same way that young kids who talk about sex don't understand it. Nothing sounds forced if it's done correctly and in cohesion wit the rest of the song. There's noting artists are "supposed" to do.

 

[biggsy]

+1 ten.

 

[Ten SiSi]

This is just an immature music discussion, in the same way that young kids who talk about sex don't understand it. Nothing sounds forced if it's done correctly and in cohesion wit the rest of the song. There's noting artists are "supposed" to do.

hey alright, my spelling errors make me sound like a dirty chinaman

 

[biggsy]

you did fairly well compared to a lot of the deadshits on here who think theyre cool spelling gay: ghey

 

[coolsnow7]

Wow, thanks for trying to be Nine Feet Underground with about a fifth the sophistication. I'm gonna put the important parts in caps, so you figure them out this time.

OBVIOUSLY, there is nothing an artist is SUPPOSED to do. NO ONE was even making a remotely similar suggestion. WHAT WE SAID is that the VAST MAJORITY OF THE TIME, GROUPINGS OF 4 FIT A SONG BETTER THAN 5.

For someone who "understands" music, you clearly don't have the slightest handle on composition if you're whining about how doing things in 4's constitutes a pattern in Mike's songwriting. Are you completely oblivious to about all the music out there? Seriously, who the fuck are you kidding? The analogy might have been aright if there was the slightest chance you've ever had sex before, or if you had something intelligent to say in the first place. But there wasn't and you hadn't.

 

[biggsy]

personally, i dont see how he was trying to be like nfu... maybe it was that he was voicing his opinion on a forum?

 

[coolsnow7]

"This is just an immature music discussion" just about sums it up, no?

 

[biggsy]

i take it back, you're correct sir.

 

[prowlergrig]

haha pwnd

 

[Opethian666]

It's funny how some people on this forum are just aping NFU. Maybe we can call them NFU1, NFU2, NFU3 etc... in the future?