Reverie/Harlequin Forest

[Kipisheos]

Haha! I knew that "Beneath the mire" would get flamed for that opening riff. The working title for the riff was "The Russian" and never was intended to sound like fucking "Kashmir" which I still don't think it does. The syncopated drums and bass thump (snare, bassdrum etc) is quite silly but I think it beams confidence. I've been meaning to do a part like that since 1997...."When" has it but it's much faster and less to the point. The keyboard sound has got a lot of shit for sounding 80´s which it isn't...it's a Chamberlain mellotron string sound, it's definately not meant to sound like some updated string samples. Well, I can't say what you guys should like and don't like but now you might see the riff in a different light?

Cheers
Mike

Hello to you mister Mike, i had no idea the members of the band write in this forum(im new here hehe), thats very cool!~
I am abit surprised it was called "The Russian", this riff reminds me some kind of an Arabic tune ^_^; anyway, i like it lolz.

i just wanted to confess and tell you that i downloaded some Opeth songs from Kazaa.. im sorry. but you will be glad to hear that i bought Ghost Of Perdition after i "stole" some of your previous songs from the Net(again,im sorry). so basically i started to listen to Opeth thanks to kazaa and as i said bought the disc afterwards.. its an interesting situation, and i was wondering are you against or in favor of free music on the net-_-?

Cya!@

 

[Lietuvis]

Mikael talks about downloading music on the net in one of his audio interviews. What I understood is that he thinks it is alright to download a little bit of a band's music, in order to get a "taste", but that it is bad to steal the band's entire discography. (I wholeheartedly agree with this)

 

[saut]

I think that BTM's only weak point is the intro, while R/HF's only weak point is the outro. Both great songs though.

 

[Alcapoth]

^^ I happen to LOVE the beginning of Beneath the Mire. Really kick ass, unique sound.

 

[Tubbs]

What'd I say? See, it's getting damn near close to 5 pages already!!!

 

[Armeanic]

Yeah, R/HF is one of my favorite songs on the album. I really think starting off a show with it would be great--Opeth coming on stage and immediately jumping into "Into the trees~"

I really liked the beginning riff of BtM, but that might just be because I'm completely Opeth brainwashed and believe anything they do is the work of God.

And God happens to be my segway: Who are we to say that Michael doesn't like a textual humjob from the members of the forum? If I had a band I would pop on our little forum just for the worship.

 

[Mikael Åkerfeldt]

It's called "The russian" obviously cause I thought it sounded like Russian music. The whole arabic thing is something I use quite often and have in the past as well, but this one I don't think sounds arabic.
We name all the riffs as we put down the click tracks...it's necessary so everybody can "see" (on the computer screen) the song as well as hear it when we record. The greates riff/working title namegivers are Katatonia without a doubt...."Copjacket" was one working title for a song they had, "Faggotgang" was another, although in Swedish. I don't know how they come up with these working titles to be honest.

Thanks, my car do need a wash but I won't let anyone other than myself touch it! Hands off sucker! It's a 1988 Volvo!

Cheers
Mike

 

[Conservatory Resonance]

Mike, I respect that even though you knew you were going to get flamed you still whacked it in. Well done mate!

oh wait, no... thats right roadrunner made you do it...

 

[A Reason To Sing]

The intro to Beneath the Mire seems very middle-eastern like. That's not a bad thing. It works well with the whole song.

I've always been fascinated by the various instruments/melodies in the music. Beneath The Mire starts off with a bang.

I really like RHF, but Ghost of Perdition is probably the best of the entire album. And Mikael if you’re reading this, that emotional part where you use that humming like voice in Ghost of Perdition... (Starting from like 2:35 in the track) with the acoustic guitars in the background...that's to give a finger for. Impressive harmonic and melodic atmosphere.

 

[A Reason To Sing]

It doesn’t matter if the music sounds Arabic or African. It’s music, and the piece is very well versed. There's already lots of hate in this world, incorporating that in music would blow chunks. By the way, the intro to BTM isn't really Arabic. It has that Persian ring to it.

I should know, I'm an Opeth fan from Afghanistan. Well, my family. I've gotten a lot of shit for that. I stopped caring, though. Nevermore's lyrics just brings out the ignorance in them and motivates me. haha

 

[porcupine_wolfff]

It's called "The russian" obviously cause I thought it sounded like Russian music. The whole arabic thing is something I use quite often and have in the past as well, but this one I don't think sounds arabic.
We name all the riffs as we put down the click tracks...it's necessary so everybody can "see" (on the computer screen) the song as well as hear it when we record. The greates riff/working title namegivers are Katatonia without a doubt...."Copjacket" was one working title for a song they had, "Faggotgang" was another, although in Swedish. I don't know how they come up with these working titles to be honest.

Thanks, my car do need a wash but I won't let anyone other than myself touch it! Hands off sucker! It's a 1988 Volvo!

Cheers
Mike

Well, to me the intro of "The Russian" still sounds persian...it's too slow for Russian music. - with double speed it could be recognized as Russian sound.
Anyway, it's a great song although Baying Of The Hounds and Reveries/Harlequin Forest (one of the best three Opeth songs ever) are better.

But the whole thing with "The Russian" makes me curious for the Ghost Reveries tracklist with working titles. So, if you read this, Mike, post the GR working titles list.

'88 Volvo? Hehe, now I just have to go to Sweden and look in the streets for a Volvo to find Mike.

 

[Ermz]

It's called "The russian" obviously cause I thought it sounded like Russian music. The whole arabic thing is something I use quite often and have in the past as well, but this one I don't think sounds arabic.
We name all the riffs as we put down the click tracks...it's necessary so everybody can "see" (on the computer screen) the song as well as hear it when we record. The greates riff/working title namegivers are Katatonia without a doubt...."Copjacket" was one working title for a song they had, "Faggotgang" was another, although in Swedish. I don't know how they come up with these working titles to be honest.

Thanks, my car do need a wash but I won't let anyone other than myself touch it! Hands off sucker! It's a 1988 Volvo!

Cheers
Mike

You know, actually naming riffs whilst tracking is something I never thought about.

Last time I did a track with a band, we were jumping all over the ProTools session saying 'nah man, that OTHER riff... no, the one before that one, no a bit more forward.. fucking hell'.

Haha, it totally ate up our session time. Next time I track for a band who's songs I haven't heard before, I'll tell them to get some working titles for the riffs.

By the way, didn't you guys also call that one riff in Drapery Falls 'the Russian riff' too? I have to say I preffered that one. Had a bit more deathmetal vibe

 

[Powers]

Mike, I respect that even though you knew you were going to get flamed you still whacked it in. Well done mate!

oh wait, no... thats right roadrunner made you do it...

Harsh mate very harsh.

 

[Ermz]

He was being sarcastic.

 

[Powers]

I hope so.

 

[Conservatory Resonance]

yep moonlapse must be the australian sarky tounge

Edit: i think he called that drapery falls riff the cossack riff because it sounded liek a russian cossack dance, cant remmeber too well though.

 

[My Arms, Your Purse]

Thanks, my car do need a wash but I won't let anyone other than myself touch it! Hands off sucker! It's a 1988 Volvo!

Cheers
Mike

Oh my knickers! Mikael talked to me *faints*

I'll shut up now :Smug:

 

[tank]

and he called you a "sucker"
not bad... i'd like to be called sucker too

 

[all_sins_undone]

It's called "The russian" obviously cause I thought it sounded like Russian music. The whole arabic thing is something I use quite often and have in the past as well, but this one I don't think sounds arabic.
We name all the riffs as we put down the click tracks...it's necessary so everybody can "see" (on the computer screen) the song as well as hear it when we record. The greates riff/working title namegivers are Katatonia without a doubt...."Copjacket" was one working title for a song they had, "Faggotgang" was another, although in Swedish. I don't know how they come up with these working titles to be honest.

Thanks, my car do need a wash but I won't let anyone other than myself touch it! Hands off sucker! It's a 1988 Volvo!

Cheers
Mike

Hey man! Thanks for the (hilarious) feedback. We all appreciate it.


P.S. Faggotgang... hahaha.

 

[Mistress Bleak]

"Harlequin Forest" is definitely an awesome song. I didn't like the outro much at first, but after awhile it really grew on me, and I found myself listening to the song repeatedly.

Funny story about "BTM" intro: I was playing it in the car on the way to school, and my brother (who only likes rap and hates metal) said "whoa, that's awesome. It reminds me of mobsters walking down the street or something." Naturally, that made me crack up. Of course, the funniest of all was when Mike's vocals kicked in, and he totally changed his opinion on the song. Later on though, he asked me if he could use "that song with the cool intro" for one of his media projects for school. So he made this totally cheesy mafia video with some of his friends, and during a scene with them walking down the street, the "Beneath the Mire" intro is playing. Hehe.