I'll take it one step further and say that all arguments period will always be subjective and based on one's own opinion. That said, the argument you used was especially subjective. Deciding that Opeth isn't prog metal, because you literally "don't like" their progressive albums (this idea I disagree with in it of itself... see below) just doesn't cut it in my book.
Opeth entered the conversation as evidence of Prog's popularity. My point wasn't that Opeth isn't Prog because I personally believe their earlier works are superior. My point was Opeth made their bones as a Death Metal band. Hell, many reviewers considered
Orchid Black Metal. Mikael even joked, he feared they'd be lynched for not wearing corpse paint when they played live.
The fact that a band has Prog influences doesn't make them Prog Metal. Dream Theater has Jazz influences, they're not a Jazz band. Symphony X has had AOR influences, they're not an AOR band. I saw Opeth on the heels of the release
Blackwater Park during their first U.S. tour. There were a thousand people there to see them. Trust me when I say, they weren't there to see a Prog Metal band.
Am I going to challenge you to fisticuffs because of it? Of course not, and you'd probably destroy me anyways (lol), but I vehemently disagree with that assertion.
LOL. I would never consider getting into it with someone over their opinions on music. We all like what we like and don't like what we don't. Your opinions are at least well thought out and well written. Feel free to disagree (and be wrong) all you like.
Well I did mention a specific incident that happened in 2006, which is almost 4 years ago now:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=58625.
Here's a quote from the band themselves in 2005 saying that Blood Mountain would be a more progressive outing:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=45422.
So does that mean they've been billed as prog from their inception? No, but either way you're grasping at straws and arguing semantics. You claimed they've only been considered a prog-ish band since Crack the Skye, which certainly isn't true.
As I suspect you already know, these links mean nothing. They are the opinions of others. And opinion + opinion is still only opinion.
As for your belief that I'm grasping at straws, I'm not. Why would I need to? It's not like you're offering up facts that I'm unable to counter. Your offering your opinion, and attempting to substantiate it with the opinions of others. With all due respect, I simply don't care how you or a handful of reviewers view Mastodon's previous works. If I was so inclined, I'm sure I could find an equal number of reviews where there was no mention of "Prog". And even if no such reviews existed, that still wouldn't make them a Prog Metal band, any more than Ayreon's use of Death Metal vocals makes them a Death Metal band.
I don't really see how Volbeat, mid-era Amorphis, Mustasch, Nightingale, Freak Kitchen, Pain Of Salvation, and Riverside among others (bands I LOVE by the way) are heavier than Coheed and Cambria, Mars Volta, PT, Muse, etc.
I don't consider any of those bands traditional Prog Metal bands, which again, is what the discussion has centered on. Some bands defy categorization. Most of the bands you listed are tweeners, which is why they have cross over appeal.
Opeth have also been progressive since their inception. Mikael himself will pretty much tell you that King Crimson and Comus were just as important to Opeth's sound as Morbid Angel.
Mikael could lay his hand on a stack of bibles and swear that Opeth is a pure Prog Metal band and I could care less. I've heard artists swear up and down that their next disc will their heaviest. It wasn't. That their next disc would be a return to their roots. It wasn't. That their next disc would be this, that and the other. It was none of the three. Let me ask you this, what percentage of artists do you think believe their music is pure shit? Probably none. Yet a lot of music is just that. The last person I would ever expect to give me an unbiased opinion of music, is that music's creator. As for Mikael love of King Crimson while growing up, that doesn't mean that love came through in what they did on those first four albums. And again, even if some of it did, that doesn't make them a Prog band.
Zod
