Songwriting...

[JoeVice]

speaking of shredding, i saw joe satriani last night. jeesus...it was some boring shit. that guy is great player, but hell...they had some cool melodies going every once in a while...but the structure was usually the same....opening riff...solo on opening riff...next riff...solo for the rest of the song. that is exaggerated, but it seems like that is what the show was about. a lot of people were really into it though, so thats good....its just not my thing. i had and still have a miserable cold, so i was taking the opportunity to sit back in my comfortable theater seat and close my eyes.

 

[Heckelgruber]

Deathspell Omega - Kenose

This is the pinnacle of songwriting. It's just brilliant. Everything is exactly where it should be. Much of good songwriting relies on subtleties, and DsO has perfected the use of keys/effects here. Never out of place, always meaningful. Some of the bass parts are among the best I've ever heard on a metal album. The songs are 16, 11, and 9 minutes and flow as if they could not have been a second shorter or longer. For some reason no one here talks about DsO. They are probably the best metal band in existence right now.

I just tracked that album down and gave it a whirl, but it didn't do much for me - I couldn't really make sense of it at all. That's kind of how I reacted to Opeth when I first heard them. A few instrumental breaks jumped out as very interesting-sounding but overall it sounded like a wall of growling and overdrive that kind of failed to parse.

Each to their own I guess, this is my favourite forum for getting bands to check out though.

 

[MasterOLightning]

I just tracked that album down and gave it a whirl, but it didn't do much for me - I couldn't really make sense of it at all. That's kind of how I reacted to Opeth when I first heard them. A few instrumental breaks jumped out as very interesting-sounding but overall it sounded like a wall of growling and overdrive that kind of failed to parse.

Each to their own I guess, this is my favourite forum for getting bands to check out though.

It's a dense recording. The songwriting is so tight that it's very easy to get lost in the flow. It requires multiple listens for sure. It also requires active listening. It's not suitable background music. Much more hectic stuff than Opeth songs are.

 

[Heckelgruber]

It's a dense recording. The songwriting is so tight that it's very easy to get lost in the flow. It requires multiple listens for sure. It also requires active listening. It's not suitable background music. Much more hectic stuff than Opeth songs are.

Hehe, you got me there. I'm a computer programmer and spend a vast amount of time half-listening to music as I trawl through the more repetitive parts of my work. I also have a habit of rushing to judge albums too fast; some of the best albums ever are the ones that really grow on you and some of the stuff you throw away as pleasant but disposable are the ones that make an instant good impression. I hated DT's SFAM when I first heard it, but it is now one of my favourites.