Un-Continuously flowing music (Still Life)
- Thread starter Rekkr
- Start date
MasterOLightning
Optimator
I was actually making a poor attempt at trolling. I'm just sick of all the SL fanboys and their stupid Moor worship and Melinda threads. There's one SL thread here for every thread about anything else. I have lots of legitimate reasons for not liking that album.
1. The intro to the Moor is boring.
2. The Moor, Godhead's Lament, Moonlapse Vertigo, and SPD have near identical song structures.
3. This is the first time Opeth uses choruses and traditional structures. I prefer the MAYH style of songwriting.
4. Benighted is possibly the least interesting song ever by Opeth.
5. White Cluster is essentially a collection of leftover, out of place heavy riffs that aren't assembled in a very good order.
6. SL has my least favorite production. I like the muddyness of MAYH better, and the Steven Wilson production of BWP is the best.
7. People who like this album the most tend to be the ones who think that the clean sung part of The Moor is the greatest thing ever done. People who like the soft side of Opeth best probably shouldn't be listening to metal.
8. I dislike the album art. It doesn't fit the album well in my mind. It doesn't feel like Opeth to me when I see the cover.
9. I don't think the storyline is that interesting. MAYH had a much better story, and the lyrics were written better on BWP as well.
10. I don't like the attempts at discordant riffs, as in the intro to GL. This is done much better by bands like Emperor.
11. The chorus of SPD never felt like an Opeth song. The pinch harmonics remind me of In Flames.
I think this is a sufficient amount of reasons for me to not like the album. I don't always feel like typing all of that out. There are some strong points (pretty good solos, Moonlapse Vertigo), but SL is still my least favorite Opeth album.
1. The intro to the Moor is boring.
2. The Moor, Godhead's Lament, Moonlapse Vertigo, and SPD have near identical song structures.
3. This is the first time Opeth uses choruses and traditional structures. I prefer the MAYH style of songwriting.
4. Benighted is possibly the least interesting song ever by Opeth.
5. White Cluster is essentially a collection of leftover, out of place heavy riffs that aren't assembled in a very good order.
6. SL has my least favorite production. I like the muddyness of MAYH better, and the Steven Wilson production of BWP is the best.
7. People who like this album the most tend to be the ones who think that the clean sung part of The Moor is the greatest thing ever done. People who like the soft side of Opeth best probably shouldn't be listening to metal.
8. I dislike the album art. It doesn't fit the album well in my mind. It doesn't feel like Opeth to me when I see the cover.
9. I don't think the storyline is that interesting. MAYH had a much better story, and the lyrics were written better on BWP as well.
10. I don't like the attempts at discordant riffs, as in the intro to GL. This is done much better by bands like Emperor.
11. The chorus of SPD never felt like an Opeth song. The pinch harmonics remind me of In Flames.
I think this is a sufficient amount of reasons for me to not like the album. I don't always feel like typing all of that out. There are some strong points (pretty good solos, Moonlapse Vertigo), but SL is still my least favorite Opeth album.
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
MasterOLightning said:
1. That's cool, to each their own.
2. The only thing definably structural about Still Life is the ocassional repeat. I don't really know how to say the 'structure' is similar between tracks when all the parts are distinctly different and there isn't always a chorus or verse you can compare to.
3. Forest of October has a repeat at the end. Epilogue is a fairly standard jam track. There may well be other examples but I don't exactly have the entire Opeth discography available for perusal right now.
4. ahem... TNATSW...
5. If that was really the case I doubt that they would have toured playing that song. Mikael has made an admission that Moonlapse Vertigo comes off badly live so they don't play it, whereas there's been no such comment reffering to White Cluster. On top of that, I doubt it'd serve as the climax of the album if it were really a subpar track.
6. Well I suppose production is subjective. The MAYH mix never sat too well for me. The guitars are way too weak, you can hardly hear any bass and those cymbals completely destroy April Ethereal. Still Life still has weak guitars, but at the very least there's layers of them all over the place. There is always something new to listen to, each time you spin the album.
BWP though.... there's just something about the acoustic guitars being the exact same level as the distorted guitars.... and the clean electrics.... and the snare.... and the kick... and the ride... and the hats... and the crashes.... and the bass... the album digitally clipping like shit on some hi-fi's... oh wait, yeah what am I trying to say?
.. COMPRESSION OVERLOAD!!!!
7. No, actually I think the clean-sung part in SPD is the greatest thing ever done
. I don't get the 'shouldn't be listening to metal' comment though. I like both aspects of Opeth equally, yet afterwards I can either jam out to some late Ulver, Nick Cave, The Gathering, Portishead, Porcupine Tree etc. as well as the new Kreator or Vehemence.8. It was the first time they used Travis Smith. There was alot of collaboration between him and Mike to get something which suited the album thematically. I much preffer this to taking a picture of a forest with Peter's girlfriend in it looking like a ghost.
9. To each their own.
10. Hate to break it to ya, but these attempts at dissonance have remained throughout, and are especially prominent on Deliverance, where Opeth use some very weird chording.
11. I think you mean CoB... In Flames never used many pinchies. But once again, that's fair enough. The chorus never sat too well with me either.
Inconium Guard
An Apostle In Triumph
MasterOLightning
Optimator
In response to the above...
Points I didn't respond to deal with personal preference and don't need to be argued.
2. There are very obvious similarities in the cleanly sung parts of MV and SPD both at around 7:00. The Moor and GL also have the same kind of clean part about 3/4 of the way through. This always stuck out to me.
3. Every single song on SL has significant amounts of repeat and/or a verse/chorus structure. This was not true of the previous works.
4. TNATSW is one of the more emotional Opeth songs, and many here (myself included) will but this in their top 5 or 10 songs. Not liking Benighted is essentially a matter of personal preference.
5. I would consider the clean part of SPD the climax of the album. WC is like, "Okay, here are some heavy riffs we didn't use, some uninspired clean verses, a solo in a weird key, and a very weak outro." I do like that solo, but it seems out of place. The outro to SPD, played out, would have made a better ending to the album. In fact, I feel that the album could have worked better without WC at all.
7. I don't know, that part just seemed too power metal-ish or something for me. Never really liked it.
8. I really like Travis Smith a lot, but this artwork isn't my favorite.
10. And Deliverance isn't a huge favorite of mine either.
11. I was thinking Clayman era IF.
In addition, I dislike the lack of bass guitar on this album. Forgot to mention that above.
Points I didn't respond to deal with personal preference and don't need to be argued.
2. There are very obvious similarities in the cleanly sung parts of MV and SPD both at around 7:00. The Moor and GL also have the same kind of clean part about 3/4 of the way through. This always stuck out to me.
3. Every single song on SL has significant amounts of repeat and/or a verse/chorus structure. This was not true of the previous works.
4. TNATSW is one of the more emotional Opeth songs, and many here (myself included) will but this in their top 5 or 10 songs. Not liking Benighted is essentially a matter of personal preference.
5. I would consider the clean part of SPD the climax of the album. WC is like, "Okay, here are some heavy riffs we didn't use, some uninspired clean verses, a solo in a weird key, and a very weak outro." I do like that solo, but it seems out of place. The outro to SPD, played out, would have made a better ending to the album. In fact, I feel that the album could have worked better without WC at all.
7. I don't know, that part just seemed too power metal-ish or something for me. Never really liked it.
8. I really like Travis Smith a lot, but this artwork isn't my favorite.
10. And Deliverance isn't a huge favorite of mine either.
11. I was thinking Clayman era IF.
In addition, I dislike the lack of bass guitar on this album. Forgot to mention that above.
I've always like Still Life more than MAYH.
I pretty much like Still Life more than all of em. Yep.
I think some of us listen to Opeth too much...
I pretty much like Still Life more than all of em. Yep.
I think some of us listen to Opeth too much...
AndICried
Pretentious asshole
In my understanding, the obvious breaks add to the albums layout as a play, with clear divisions between consecutive scenes. I think that if anything, there should be a larger gap between the tracks, and that the pieces which end by digital fade out should have been given more decisive resolutions.
My only significant complaint regarding breaks is that which occurs half way through The Face of Melinda, with the unwieldy transition between acoustic and distorted.
My only significant complaint regarding breaks is that which occurs half way through The Face of Melinda, with the unwieldy transition between acoustic and distorted.
Inconium Guard
An Apostle In Triumph
AndICried said:
I wouldn't call it unwieldy, but it definitely is jarring haha...It's a really weird song, and I would dare say that Opeth has done nothing like it before or since. The heavy guitar parts are slower tempoed than usual, and the lyrics are clear and make alot of sense, as opposed to the rest of SL, which I often consult the lyrics sheet for.
It just has a different sound...I can't explain it but I'm sure someone would agree with me here.
MasterOLightning said:
Agreed...
AndICried said:
No, the breaks were better on My Arms Your Hearse. They were like interludes to a play, or the pauses when scenery is being changed...
The breaks in Still Life were just annoying and made the album sound like a bunch of individual songs instead of a concept album.
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Inconium Guard said:
It was Mike's first set of rhyming lyrics and I think that's why the song found a special place in his heart as one of the all time favourites.
Inconium Guard
An Apostle In Triumph
From the Opeth website Still Life session Diary:
"Anyways, we didn´t find anything, but the rest of that day we were certainly affected by everything as there was indeed some kind of spooky felling in the air. Sure enough it was just our tired brains that played us a trick. And the cough I mentioned had somehow been recorded on the tape. We still don´t know who it is, and it´s still there on the album in the 1st track."
Anyone else read that? Or know where on the Moor the cough can be heard?
Mike where are you man!? I love this kind of scary stuff...
"Anyways, we didn´t find anything, but the rest of that day we were certainly affected by everything as there was indeed some kind of spooky felling in the air. Sure enough it was just our tired brains that played us a trick. And the cough I mentioned had somehow been recorded on the tape. We still don´t know who it is, and it´s still there on the album in the 1st track."
Anyone else read that? Or know where on the Moor the cough can be heard?
Mike where are you man!? I love this kind of scary stuff...
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Ah it became a cult Opeth thing.. everyone was asking about it at some point. All we've been able to find is a *sigh* by Mikael at some point. No cough.
Inconium Guard
An Apostle In Triumph
Well. its its still pretty creepy! I'd like to somehow find out more about it... I've heard the album so many times and never noticed anything like that before.
Don Corleone
Emre
Luz
Cowgirl From Hell
You're awesome! I liked the way you've narrated that song. It was great.
\m/
Luz.-
\m/
Luz.-
Moonlapse said:
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Luz
Cowgirl From Hell
Moonlapse, I wouldn't mind if you do it again with any song... Wanna try?
\m/
Luz.-
\m/
Luz.-
Moonlapse said:
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
hehe, don't have the time nor the drive to really do it. I recall some members on here are really into song interpretations and that sort of thing. You'd probably have more luck with them.... there's been some really cool song interpretations around.
