The new Opeth sounds fucking amazing

[Dead Winter]

Ignore the first minute or so of prog faggotry they need to drop altogether because they suck at it. The rest is sublime.

There's SO much Badmotorfinger in this song.

 

[Talking Backwards]

Ignore the first minute or so of prog faggotry they need to drop altogether because they suck at it.
There's SO much Badmotorfinger in this song.

LMAO, seriously. I do hear some riffs that could have easily fit on Badmotorfinger, but then they could have just as easily fit on any random Black Sabbath album too. Overall it's more like "prog faggotry" with a few bits of Soundgardeneque qualities sprinkled sparsely on top. When the chorus first kicks in, it sounds like it's going to be amazing from that point out. But it's not. At the very least, it sounds more interesting than anything from their last two albums.

Actually, it makes me think more of a grungy Ghost Reveries than anything so far. That's a good thing though. More Alice in Chains than Soundgarden though aside from the bass.

edit: Were you talking about the vocals too? Because he is singing in such a way that you could easily replace him with the former Chris Cornell (and it would way better).

 

[Dead Winter]

edit: Were you talking about the vocals too? Because he is singing in such a way that you could easily replace him with the former Chris Cornell (and it would way better).

You got it. The chorus and the way he pushes his voice is so Chris Cornell a la 1992, and that's what sounds so much like Soundgarden to me, not the music. The dynamics are very Cornell.

In my opinion, the chorus is amazing as it is. He pushes it a little but never goes over the top. Any other prog singer would've fucked it up with some ridiculous vibrato and unnecessary wailing, pushing the song into a place it shouldn't go because they just can't shut the fuck up.

I don't really hear the AIC, though. Maybe a little in the riffing, but that riffing sounds more Soundgarden by way of Black Sabbath (which is their whole thing).

 

[Talking Backwards]

My favorite part begins at 2:50. Someone in the comments even said "Evil peacock intensifies" at that point.

 

[~Lynn~]

That fucking intro is horrid, the rest of the song is passable. The production is fucking garbage, even considering it's you tube

 

[Talking Backwards]

The production is fucking garbage, even considering it's you tube

What are you comparing it to? It doesn't sound like another Steven Wilson production, but not everything has to. Are you talking about the lack of dynamics?

Side note, this is how to do an actual intro:

 

[nckissfan]

the intro sounds like it was made by one person on a cheap keyboard. The rest of song definitely has a Soundgarden feel. It tends to drag on and on, though. Kind of a boring feel to it.

 

[Dead Winter]

the intro sounds like it was made by one person on a cheap keyboard. The rest of song definitely has a Soundgarden feel. It tends to drag on and on, though. Kind of a boring feel to it.

That's called sludge, and it's amazing.

 

[Talking Backwards]

That's called sludge, and it's amazing.

As you said in the other thread, using genre labels kind of sucks at times. To me, "sludge" is the epitome of droning, boring music where most of it sounds very similar (similarly with a large portion of black metal). I don't hear that when I listen to Soundgarden or Alice in Chains, even if both can have droning going on within an album. I guess Sabbath's slow and heavy style was the progenitor of "sludge", but I find most bands under that genre that I've heard to induce narcolepsy.

Actually, I'd say that Superunknown was the most sludge like album from Soundgarden out of their three 90s albums. I found that to be their weakest by far. I don't care that it got all of the radio hits and critical praise, too much of it was stuck in the same tempo. Badmotorfinger? Not even remotely.

Also, aside from the shitty beginning, this song has been stuck in my head.
If Opeth are determined to ape the 70s, I'd rather they go this route than trying to copy Gentle Giant, Yes and King Crimson.

 

[Dead Winter]

That's why it's so great. It's hypnotic. It's not supposed to have a billion different time signatures that render the music totally unlistenable. Omega Massif, Tombstones, and Monolord are great sludge bands. Dude, just LISTEN. Don't pick everything apart, don't be like all the other prog assholes who are never happy and ruin everything for everyone, including themselves. Just blast it and if you don't dig it, that's fine. This isn't prog nerd metal, and the very reason you like the new Opeth is because it's moving away from prog nerd metal. Try changing your ears and stop thinking while listening to music. I learned that about 5 or 6 years ago and I can finally enjoy music again. I realized that we have this ridiculous need to justify to ourselves and others why we like something, especially with metal and especially with progressive metal, and it just becomes one big pissing contest about who's "right" and what's considered "good". I've all but left everything prog-tinged behind because of this. It's all the same anyway, just one more jumbled than the other so as to fool people into thinking it's interesting. As of right now, the term "progressive" in music is just another word for technically proficient, yet unimaginative. If you have to think about music to enjoy it, then that music sucks.



Early Soundgarden like Loud Love could possibly pass for an inkling of sludge, but AIC? Not at all.

Ok, maybe Junkhead.

And Dirt.

And Rain When I Die.

Ok, you've got a point.

Superunknown was one of the greatest albums of all time, you're fucking nuts, man. Just the song Like Suicide eclipses everything else they've ever done.

I agree, Michael needs to stop with the hero worship because we have enough shitty prog metal bands aping their heroes. I only hope the rest of the album is as good as this song. I never understood why prog bands are so derivative of the same bands: King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, and Rush. I'd rather listen to Genesis than listen to a poor attempt at copying Genesis, and I'm sure many more would agree with us. Yet, without fail, every year some boring ass prog band comes out with more boring "look at me" bullshit. I had previously written Opeth off because of it, but they may have found themselves back into my good graces with this new offering.

 

[Talking Backwards]

Try changing your ears and stop thinking while listening to music.

This is what allowed me to actually enjoy Opeth in '99. It's also how I listen to most new music anyway. I never just sit there focusing intently on it unless it's the second or third time around, and usually when it's some kind of killer riff, chorus, breakdown or solo is about to come up. I don't sit there stressing out about being entertained. If there's something that appeals to me, it will show itself within at least two or three listens (depending on the album) if not right away.

I realized that we have this ridiculous need to justify to ourselves and others why we like something, especially with metal and especially with progressive metal, and it just becomes one big pissing contest about who's "right" and what's considered "good".

I don't know what this even means, and I can't relate at all. Having different opinions on music? Of course. A need to justify why I like something? The fuck? Also, I'm not sure if I've given you the wrong impression, or you just kind of read into what's not there, but I'm absolutely not your stereotypical "prog nerd". I enjoy bands that employ progressive elements, but if you're talking about what's considered by most to be "prog rock" or "prog metal" (Spock's Beard/Dream Theater for modern bands), that shit is as boring to me as guitar hero instrumental albums. Tool has a lot of progressive elements, but are they really "prog rock"? They sure as hell weren't called that with their EP and first two albums. Was Nevermore "progressive metal"? To me, the majority of what's considered "progressive" music isn't all that progressive anyway, since it's typically stuck playing in the same style, often recycling itself.

Yeah, this is exactly the kind of stuff I'm talking about. A song or two like that is okay at times, but an entire album stuck in the slower tempos like this are just Zzzz to me. It literally makes me want to...



Can't listen to bands like Neurosis either, and similarly most doom bands. Plus, I don't know why all of these fucking bands insist that you must have the gravelly, chain smokes a hundred packs a day vocals either. Like every fucking one. It's even more perplexing than why most death metal or black metal bands feel the need to burp or shriek in the exact, unintelligible way too, or why most power or progressive metal vocalists want to be James Labrie or Andre Matos.

If I'm going to listen to a band with a vocalist that would rather just shout than attempt anything resembling singing most of the time, I'll just listen to High on Fire or Mastodon. It's like when they decided to copy early Sabbath, they included the worst parts too.

This is the kind of "prog" I listen to (if it's not a few Queensryche albums or pre-Heritage Opeth):

 

[Dead Winter]

I'm not saying you necessarily do that, just that is the norm in prog metal circles, and that goes for all the djent and tech metal as well. Everything has to be overthought and constructed to the point where all life has been sucked out of the music.

I don't even know what the term "progressive" means anymore because it's been so overdone. These days it means aping other bands with the same time signatures, scales, and amplifiers. It's so formulaic: odd time signature, sweeping, jazz scales, and 80's metal singer. Rinse, repeat.

I know this is sorta your thing, but there's nothing I've heard in the whole prog/power/trad metal scene that has anything to say that hasn't been said a million times already. It all just sounds recycled for the umpteenth time. That said, I would like to NOT feel this way about it, so I'd appreciate some recommendations. I'm looking for something that doesn't sound like perpetual 1995-1999 prog and power metal.

 

[Talking Backwards]

I know this is sorta your thing, but there's nothing I've heard in the whole prog/power/trad metal scene that has anything to say that hasn't been said a million times already. It all just sounds recycled for the umpteenth time. That said, I would like to NOT feel this way about it, so I'd appreciate some recommendations. I'm looking for something that doesn't sound like perpetual 1995-1999 prog and power metal.

LMAO, that makes two of us. I feel exactly the same way about almost every "power" or "traditional" band I've heard since around 2000 and 2010 respectively. The only bands that I occasionally listen to that are in the Dream Theater vein would be Haken and sometimes Anubis Gate, but I can only enjoy them very infrequently. They come off as Dream Theater with a much less annoying vocalist, and without the keyboard maturbating that shits all over a pretty good song. The only newer "prog rock" band that I can claim to greatly enjoy would be Riverside. At least three or four albums anyway, and their first two show a lot of Tool and Opeth influences. ADHD is almost like a more updated Rush album.

Discovered this at the start of 2015, and holy shit. Easily my favorite album from then until now.



Found out about them on AMG, and the opening statement was enough of a reason for me to check them out.

Riverside was a band that I approached with some caution. I’ve often been unimpressed with progressive metal in the modern era. Not just unimpressed, but often so much as incredibly annoyed with them. Fortunately, it appears that progressive metal and rock have dodged the bullet when it comes to Poland’s Riverside. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that these guys are bringing something new and cool to the table while being able to maintain a familiarity and compositional approach that does what good progressive rock has done since the 1970s—that is, they write good, interesting music, but manage to make it interesting, memorable and fun to listen to at the same time.

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/riverside-anno-domini-high-definition-review/

 

[Internally Deformed]

Not listening to Neurosis is retarded.

 

[Talking Backwards]

Not listening to Neurosis is retarded.

Opinions. What are those again?

 

[Internally Deformed]

If nobody expressed an opinion, we'd all have nothing to say.

My penny's worth on this is that you shouldn't lump Neurosis in with sludge music, which I happen to agree is mostly monotonous and samey. They're way, way more than that.

 

[Talking Backwards]

Tried listening to Through Silver in Blood so many times from so many people getting so wet over it, and it just blurred with every other ambient/doom/sludge/whateverthegenre bands to me. If you played a Neurosis album and then Minsk or Isis, I'd barely be able to tell them apart.

It's also not the kind of music I actively avoid or anything, as it's not so bad as background music, but I'm rarely ever in the mood for it.

 

[Internally Deformed]

Through Silver in Blood is good, but it's the most conventional sounding given how many bands have copied it. All those post metal bands - including Isis and Minsk - are pretty much just Neurosis tribute acts, and Isis is the only one out of them that do it in a way that is remotely interesting.

If you're willing to give Neurosis another shot, I suggest you start with The Eye of Every Storm, my personal favourite and probably their most laid back album (if laid back is the right word for something so crushingly depressing):

 

[Dead Winter]

A pristine clean prog voice in a sludge or stoner band just wouldn't work. I can't stand the fact that every single prog metal band's vocalist sings the exact same way; it's all overly clean and bereft of any feeling or emotion, it's just technique.

As for those bands you listed, I know all of them and Porcupine Tree and Leprous are about the only ones I enjoy. Leprous live is way better than their albums. But even Leprous have extreme metal aspects to their music...they'd have to because the singer sings backup and plays keyboards for Ihsahn and Emperor. He's his brother-in-law. He uses screams and cleans as well.

I never got Riverside, they just sound like the stereotypical prog metal band. It's all just so bland. Reading that review, I don't think he's listening to the same band I am or at least has never heard prog metal, because all I hear is a less-annoying Dream Theater. Same time changes, same signatures, same riffing, same sound, ugh. What exactly are they bringing to the table that's different than all the others? It's all the same. Everything is so pristine and dull, there's no soul or emotion whatsoever. It's like the audio version of a hospital.

I prefer a cleaner or gravelly voice to growling, but prog vocalists tend to be annoyingly clean. I always get shit for this, but I find Sleep to be fucking boring as shit. I'm sorry but they're just not that great, no matter how many stoners jerk off over Matt Pike. I don't see the big deal.

That said, a good, gravelly voice has infinitely more soul and passion than the typical clean prog/power voice, imo. There's really no comparison. All you hear with the latter is vibrato and range...it's all just technique.

I don't think we're ever going to see eye to eye on this. I think you have a blind spot to cheese in metal because most of what you post, aside from classic stuff, is honestly just really cheesy. It's ok, I mean that's practically the entirety of power metal and much of prog metal...it's something you just accept. But I don't think you see it as being cheesy and I think you give it too much credit. Just my opinion. It's not a slight or anything, just a difference in perspective.

 

[Dead Winter]

I'll give you an example, you posted this the other day:



I mean, how do you not see this as being incredibly cheesy and just...blah? I don't even see the draw to it. It's just so generic and meh that I can't understand why anyone would even enjoy it. I understand to each his own, but this is just...ugh. The chorus literally sounds like a South Park montage making fun of 80s bands and montages. You say you can't stand the prog/power scene as of late, yet you regularly post cheesy music like this. This is why I say I think you have a blind spot to cheese, or maybe you like the cheese, I dunno. My wife listens to the same stuff because of the cheese; she calls it bee-do bee-do metal. She also loves death metal but she has a strong affinity for cheese metal as well, and I think you're in the same boat.

It's fine, we'll just have to realize that we will both end up scoffing at the other's musical tastes.