Chromatose
Squid pro quo
Though it's a very solid album from beginning to end, something that can't be said for Powertrip or God Says No. Expecting another Dopes is foolish.
What is left to come out this year?
- Thread starter Tranquillian
- Start date
Though it's a very solid album from beginning to end, something that can't be said for Powertrip or God Says No. Expecting another Dopes is foolish.
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
I couldn't even make it through the new disc once.
I wouldn't even put those two discs in the same sentence. I think Powertrip is a superb disc and feel that God Says No is terrible. Plus, Powertrip has one of my favorite songs of all time, "Bummer".
Agreed.
Zod
J.
Old Fart
Reign in Acai
Of Elephant and Man
Review of the Roundhouse Tapes.
Opeth fans - did you ever meet a wetter bunch? Actually dont answer that, Tool lovers. Because most of the people who cream over them so much these days only came on board post 'Blackwater Park', it's impossible to show them the wood for the trees. It goes like this. First three albums: gold. Next two: highly above average. Two after that: audio sleeping pills. 'Ghost Reveries': finding new ground in super fashion. Ok?
Now we've got that out of the way, we can actually start this from some sort of shared understanding. That understanding is that the world does not really need an Opeth live album, and that I'm sure we're all agreed from the outset, that this smells rather like a stopgap release. Taken from the 'height' (whatever that was) of the 'Ghost Reveries' tour, it's a recording of their show in London's snazzy Roundhouse featuring impeccable sound and flawless playing. So flawless you could have taken it from any of the constituent albums.
I've seen Opeth seven times in seven years. From the sweaty confines of tiny clubs to festival enormity and various points in between, I've watched their live show progress from cautious awe to bloated prog rock ambivalence. I could not have predicted in the hushed magic of 2001, for example, that five years later we would see Akerfeldt joking like Steve Coogan and wielding a double necked, 12 string PRS while pink bras were thrown at him. You just wouldnt have credited it.
That's what has happened, and the truth is that on a broad level, its no bad thing. It's fantastic that a band with the musical talent, lack of gimmickry, integrity and cross genre appeal of Opeth bust so thoroughly into the mainstream. We were all agog at the draw they created in our own wee corner of the world lasty year, and in truth they're great ambassadors for metal. 'Ghost Reveries' only solidified it. The problem is that their live show is now a truly vapid affair.
While 'The Roundhouse Tapes' is a brilliantly played document of their live style, it also captures the problems accrued by their musical trajectory as outlined in the first paragraph. For a live album, tracklisting often tends toward the definitives - what in Opeth's case should perhaps have been stuff like 'Serenity Painted Death', 'Advent', 'The Leper Affinity', 'Baying Of The Hounds' and suchlike.
This though is like a random pick from over the years, and certainly not from the most interesting. 'Windowpane', I ask you? Sorry while I fall asleep. 'Blackwater Park' could easily have been replaced with that album's better cuts, while 'Face Of Melinda' never really rocked any boats either. Luckily 'My Arms' is decently represented, and their rendition of 'Ghost Of Perdition' makes you hanker immediately for heavy doses of the album once more.
They do have a live DVD already, it's true. The potential for a definitive live Opeth CD however was a much more rewarding prospect. They have the hits and the slow burners for an awesome retrospective. Why they chose this comparatively anonymous bunch of songs (give or take a few belters) is something of a mystery. Unless, of course, you're one of those people - Opeth fans mainly - that think their eight minute Hammond Organ odyssies are cool.
They're luckier still in other respects. Akerfeldts comedy comes close to tiresome. Yet when the music starts, it's all forgotten, and you're immersed once more. They are a band with that rare quality of blending the deliberately stupid with the natural genius.
These songs work okay as part of a live composition, and they're obviously played to within an inch of musicianship nirvana. You can understand though why Peter Lindgren maybe saw what way the wind was blowing: there's not really that much life in it, and it truly is Opeth by numbers save for obvious 'Demon Of The Fall' shivers. I am confident to put folding money on it here and now that their next album will be amazing (as 'Ghost Reveries' so confidently was), but 'The Roundhouse Tapes', as well executed as it is, is like a collection of their filler.
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As you said this sounds completely pointless. Lamentations came out a mere 3 years ago did it not?
Demilich
Remember
Lamentations had only songs from BWP and onward due to the label's refusal to buy the rights to the older stuff.
Fans complained non-stop... so now they (we?) get what they want, in top-notch form.
I don't agree with that reviewer's bashing of the song selection either. Good live album.
Fans complained non-stop... so now they (we?) get what they want, in top-notch form.
I don't agree with that reviewer's bashing of the song selection either. Good live album.
Reign in Acai
Of Elephant and Man
Demilich
Remember
Reign in Acai
Of Elephant and Man
Demilich
Remember
Yeah. guy seemed pretty unstable by the time he left. Probably smoked too much of the reefer. Madness, I tell you!
J.
Old Fart
cthulufhtagn
Went Out for Smokes 13 Years Ago
skeptik
Member
- Feb 7, 2003
- 24,413
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JayKeeley
Be still, O wand'rer!
RE: OPETH
Meh, it's like all the Metallica fans complain about the new music and so they now only play shit from their first 4 albums. This to me is like Opeth admitting to their mistaken evolution and banking on people being interested only in the old stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if Opeth as a band/entity quits within 2 years. A live release would have probably been interesting right after BWP was released but now it's a case of too little too late.
The problem is, nobody gives a shit about Opeth anymore. Hell, Sfarog gets somewhat offended if I compare Gwynbleidd to Opeth. It's become a four letter word!
Meh, it's like all the Metallica fans complain about the new music and so they now only play shit from their first 4 albums. This to me is like Opeth admitting to their mistaken evolution and banking on people being interested only in the old stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if Opeth as a band/entity quits within 2 years. A live release would have probably been interesting right after BWP was released but now it's a case of too little too late.
The problem is, nobody gives a shit about Opeth anymore. Hell, Sfarog gets somewhat offended if I compare Gwynbleidd to Opeth. It's become a four letter word!
circus_brimstone
Forest: Sold Out
I doubt they'll disband anytime soon. They're on Roadrunner, and in all likelihood, are making more money than ever, so from a financial standpoint, it'd be dumb to quit when they're getting ahead. Maybe nobody in RC gives a shit about Opeth anymore, but a lot of others do.
JayKeeley
Be still, O wand'rer!
Krigloch the Furious
Pants full of poo
I get slightly ticked off, noone wants their music compared to others. I'd like to think I have created something that oozes my name as opposed to somemeone elses. I'll get over the comparisons though, I owe a lot to Opeth as a musician.
Their next cd is a blind buy for me. Sure they're not as mind blowing as they used to be, but their work still stands head and shoulders above all the other music.
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