metalmancpa said:
Interesting angle on the question. But I tend to disagree (which as always is the beauty of personal opinion). Some bands do in fact change, and rather abruptly, like Metallica did. But to these ears, Opeth has progressed, but has at all times been Opeth. So I really can't break Opeth down into era's as I possibly could with other bands.
BWP was Opeth's 1st heavily produced work. That still doesn't change what Opeth brings to the table - the mix of clean vocals and death growling, the heavy to melodic guitar work, etc. Throughout all of their albums, they are unmistakeably Opeth. And I'll even include Damnation, which to me of all of Opeth's album is the one farthest off the line, yet it still doesn't make me feel after listening to it like they've changed in any way.
Please explain to me how you feel The Drapery Falls is an experimental song? I do not write music, so a technical explanation on chord structure, etc. may go over my head. I do not hear experimenting in that song. I hear the culmination of the four albums preceeding BWP. I hear everything Opeth in that one song.
It seems you were ready beforehand to go against an opinion running along the lines of my own. I suppose with a thread like this it was inevitable.
I don't understand why you can't break Opeth down into eras. There are distinct periods in their music, although having constantly progressed, it has stood out from the material that came before it. Here's my take on it: (and we can spend hours debating this)
Era 1:
Orchid
Morningrise
(some would consider MAYH to be a part of this era, I on the other hand, would not)
Era 2:
MAYH
Still Life
(the two concept albums were both written lyrics first, then music afterwards... giving them both a distinct similar feel, even though Still Life was the first major departure from their old style of writing, in the sense that it incorporated alot of the more standard metal Rhythm/Lead riffs and dropped alot of Opeth's genuinity)
I suppose some could say that BWP is also part of this era, because in terms of music, its fairly similar to Still Life, aside from the more experimental songs such as The Drapery Falls and Bleak.
Era 3:
Deliverance
Damnation
Yep, the latest era, and the one I'm least fond of. I don't think any of this era of music aptly characterises Opeth, as the majority of it is very simple ideas, disguised with production tricks (more use of guitar 'effects' overdubs and such to add depth, especially with Damnation).
In a musical sense, I will go over why I feel that The Drapery Falls is an experimental song. First, though, I want to quote Mikael as saying that the song is experimental and 'we have never done anything like it before'. I can't remember if he said that in refference to the song as a whole or the main intro riff, which in a sense is the main characteristic of the song.
Alright, the introduction riff.. the trademark of the song, and probably the one hook that attracts a majority of new listeners to Opeth. Mikael wrote the chords himself, and got Steve Wilson to write the lead (anybody surprised why its a hook then?)... Mikael said on the guitar.com recording that 'we have never recorded with a slide before so we got Steve to help us', and if you go over their discography dating before BWP, you will indeed see that the only thing even slightly reminescent of that riff is the start of Moonlapse Vertigo, yet hardly.
There's the 3/4 timing riff, the most 'evil' part of the song, quoting Mikael and Peter, which is something like they've never done before. The amount of disharmony and tension in that riff and of course the build up to that riff was unseen in earlier Opeth...
The whole clean verse section I suppose you could say is fairly typical of Opeth, yet there you have those 'slide guitars' that the fabled Steve Wilson did for the album and apprently Opeth had never used before.
I should also point out that there are alot of rhythmic only sections in that song, which is definately not a characteristic of Era 1 Opeth, yet only became more so in 2.
And here we go to the 'singer-songwriter' riff, which is basically after all the extreme parts of the song have finished... it consists of 2 chords, Dm and Cmaj being played and Mikael and Steve both singing over the top with very harmonious vocals... that was something unseen in earlier Opeth, and Mikael himself said that he wanted to counter something that cheesy with another extreme riff, in which you get the riff that leads you back into the first.
Now the repetition... that was something that only came into the game for Opeth during Still Life... where Godhead's Lament has the ocassional repeated section. Definately not characteristic of Era 1 Opeth. The fact that the main riff re-occurs shows that Opeth were pushing that riff to be a 'hook' something the listener latched onto and got into their minds instantly as being trademark of the song... you can obviously see that the most work of the song went into that riff, with what, the 3 guitars all doing seperate things to each other... there is a distinct melody but plenty of undertones.. with the bass being quite independent of the root notes and all the overdubs in there. What I'm trying to show here is that this more standard approach to songwriting was not seen in earlier Opeth.
You seem to define the 'Opeth' sound as a mix of growling and clean vocals, heavy and mellow parts... well if that was the case, there is many bands out there that would be Opeth. It's very bad that people are led to believe that the contrasts are the only defining characteristic of Opeth, they do have narrow goals on each album, and each album does in fact have its own distinct sound, and despite what some say they have not 'progressed' as flawlessly as is fabled, because the change from Morningrise to MAYH is quite abrupt, as is the change from BWP to Deliverance.
Anyway, hope that helped clear up why I feel the way I do.
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