what could opeth do better after Blackwaterpark ?

[segaszivos]

mayh and still life are much better, but bw is still great. HARVEST, need i say more?

What's wrong with Harvest? -_-

 

[Cynical Bastard]

I guess the best way to describe it is when they play live. If they play Demon of the Fall and you compare it to the album, you're more likely to think it was a live recording as compared to if you heard the Drapery Falls. There are so many things that have been tweaked and played with in that song on the studio recording.

I dont mean to complain, of course. It sounds awesome but as I said, I prefer that live, raw sound.

But that's just my opinion.

I know what you're saying, but to me it's a worthless point when you use The Drapery Falls as an example. I don't claim to know the band's specific intentions on the intended sound for that song, but I think it's pretty obvious that is was never meant to have a live, raw sound. In fact it wouldn't sound nearly as good if it did. The beauty in that song is enhanced by the wonderful production, i.e. the "telephone voice" vocals in the first half of the song, the haunting, distant sounding melodic guitar lines, the beautiful intro and middle part with all the layers of guitar, etc. It wouldn't work nearly as well if it just sounded like they were all sitting in your living room playing it. It'd still be a great song, but it just wouldn't be as captivating if the album version sounded like a stripped down, live performance.

The same goes for songs like Bleak... it also wouldn't sound as good with just a standard, raw production approach. The massive sound that song has due to the production and overdubs is just awesome. If it didn't have all those layers of different guitar parts, it would lose so much in it's appeal, at least to me. Think of how fitting and cool it is when Mike's voice fades out upon saying "As all the days are gone," as you begin to be swept away by the layers of heavy guitars building up to take you somewhere else. Man, I love that part. The song just wouldn't be nearly as interesting without all those subtle, atmospheric tweaks and whatnot.

To an extent, I have to disagree with people saying that Deliverance is 'brutal'. Yes, the majority of the album consists of distorted guitars and has less soft and/or acoustic work, but to me, it lacks the energy and pure darkness of My Arms Your Hearse.

I agree. It only has less of what appeals to me about Opeth, and doesn't really make up for it with anything else. It seems like they just subtracted some of the melodic and acoustic elements from their sound and then declared it to be more brutal. It's not more brutal; it's just less melodic. Dragging out the brooding, heavier sections and using less acoustic parts to give it a change of mood (see Wreath) doesn't make it more intense. It just makes for less flavor and variety in the ol' Opeth songwriting recipe.

Parts of Wreath and By the Pain I see in Others, as well as the first half of Master's Apprentices are just unrelenting in their mid-tempo heaviness and drag on for far too long, making me want to skip to a more interesting part of the song. Besides, the song Blackwater Park is by far.... way more crushing than anything on Deliverance, so I don't really get the notion of it being more brutal. I'd say pretty much the same for The Leper Affinity and the Funeral Portrait - two songs that have a lot more energy and appeal to me than any of the more "brutal" stuff from Deliverance.

To me, it just lacks as many dynamic changes and is more of a cold, dissonant sounding album. The riffs aren't as "winding" and interesting and there's not as much to take in, which is probably why people that like more standard metal like Anthrax are more inclined to like this album than say... something along the lines of Still Life - which I love because it's heavy, yet so vibrant and colorful in it's songwriting and overall production.


At the same time though, it must have been hell writing and recording two albums in such a short period of time, especially with the conditions they worked under. So while I may criticize Deliverance as an overall album, I don't have any complaints whatsoever about the band and their efforts, especially after seeing two incredible live performances in the past year. I think the key for them to make a really killer next album is just taking more time to work out the music before going into the studio and simply trying to make the best possible music, without overtly trying to be brutal or melodic, or anything in between.