Used to diss Akerfeldt for losing his growls, karma caught up with me

[Lifemocker]

I think we all agree his growls nowadays suck ass (and sucked since like 2010). Used to be pretty vocal about this opinion online, thinking dude's just lazy and shit.

I was also working on my growls and around 2018 i felt i was in a pretty good place reaching the peak in like 2020. Then I lost a buddy doing clean vocals, mine clean vocals sucked so decided to practice a little. Years passed and since i overall got bored with metal I didnt growl for a while.

Fast forward to 2024, had some opportunity to growl again and... I fucking suck. Hard lmao. Throat not only hurts when I try to do anything besides boring one tone growl, pain doesnt give any benefits either since the highs are awful and deep growls sound empty and forced. Thought maybe i was out of practice, but after few months I give up. Theyre gone lol. Looks i traded my growls for mediocre rock vocals. Maybe thats how human throat works, cant have both.

That being said - sorry mr Akerfeldt, now we both suck at growling but at least I've got a feeling you didnt suck on purpose lol.

 

[DarkGift]

Unexpected forum necromancy, haha.

Mikael's much better these days than he was back in 2010-ish, feels like he puts more effort into the tone. He doesn't seem to enjoy doing them much anymore though, which is probably why they sound less energetic.

 

[Lifemocker]

Yeah I was like "nobody cares" but then I thought it would be funny to post a thread here and see if anyone is still alive.

I saw recent-ish official recordings of lives and meh, still sucks. Extremely sad that they played Black Rose Immortal so late.

 

[rj rl]

Black Rose Immortal

What's with everyone's obsession with the song btw? It has some great riffs here and there, but I dunno know if it's even the best song on the album. I feel like its status among the fanbase is, ironically, boosted by never being played live lol

 

[Lifemocker]

Its a good song, definitely not best or close to it. But the fact that its so long and as you said, never being played live definitely boosted its popularity or meme factor at least.

 

[DarkGift]

BRI is far from their best song, agreed. It's definitely a good one though, and would love to see it live! The rarity factor is always important to me, at least when I've seen a band as many times as I've seen Opeth.

 

[Lifemocker]

Jinxed it, Opeth back with growls and they dont suck.

Loved the emotions i had when listening to it
1. Oh, it sounds pretty heavy, almost like there would be growls involved
2. Of course not, regular new Opeth vocals i dont really dig
3. Sounds like a mix of old and new Opeth, i wish it had...
4. Oh shit, growls!

 

[DarkGift]

The outro was pretty epic

Overall, sounds like a mix between In Cauda Venenum and Watershed imo, not bad!

Honestly excited for the album release now

 

[DarkGift]

Good interview with Mikael, with some interesting tidbits about the album, writing etc:

Opeth Shares a New Single "§1" - New Album Coming Soon - Ghost Cult Magazine

Swedish prog legends Opeth are now pleased to reveal that their 14th studio album, The Last Will & Testament, is set for release on October 11,

ghostcultmag.com

 

[Lifemocker]

Yeah, definitely gave me Watershed vibes. Like Watershed (which was controversial opinion in 2008), not my fav album but definitely not the worst.

And according to the invterview you posted its concept album so even more excited. The track names are weird i know im gonna confuse the songs lol