What Opeth album should I get?

[~Derek~]

What Opeth album should I get? I've really been liking the songs "Deliverance" and "The Funeral Portrait" lately. So I'm leaning towards the middle era stuff despite liking "Heir Apparent, "The Lotus Eater", "Ghost of Perdition", "The Grand Conjuration", etc.. The oldest song I've heard from them is probably Demon of The Fall so I haven't heard a thing off Morningrise or Orchid. I got into Opeth in 2006 and liked it for its heavy non-clean vocal sections, not exactly the best way to get into Opeth. I got Ghost Reveries in 2006 and only liked 3 songs off it(Take a guess which songs? ), so I really wasn't mature enough to enjoy Opeth for what it was at the time. I ended up selling Ghost Reveries but since then I've matured in my tastes. I like the clean vocal sections and prog parts, I like all of Opeth now actually. So I'm looking at albums pre-Ghost Reveries so far, though I do plan on buying Ghost Reveries once again one day. A friend on here told me just get My Arms, Your Hearse, no need to ask anymore questions. So which album should I get? Deliverance and Blackwater Park seem the most appealing so far. Your help is appreciated.

 

[Slunk]

Blackwater Park.

And why can you only get one?

 

[Silent Dance With Death]

Honestly, you're fine getting any Opeth album. They're all absolutely amazing.

 

[Alteredmindeath]

prepare for musical journeys.


get them in bundles like this ...


morningrise
my arms
orchid

still life
blackwater park

deliverance
damnation

ghost reveries
watershed

also they have great dvd's

lamentations

roundhouse tapes

 

[Discursion]

^ I'd put My Arms, Your Hearse with Still Life.

 

[grey knight]

^ I'd put My Arms, Your Hearse with Still Life.

Well but you can get all 3 in a box now.

Also you can get BWP and D&D in a box along with the Lamentations CD version.

At the side of that, you can get Still life pretty cheap these days.

GR and Watershed you can just buy separately later, neither of them is included in anykind of box...

 

[HemeHaci]

Still Life or Blackwater Park I would say.

Blackwater Park is like a team of stars where individual players are like Cristiano Ronaldo each, where Still Life is a very collective team comprised of players with high team-work capabilities. (I hope you get the picture)

 

[Chinese Whispers]

I'd say from what you have descibed you should get either -

a) My Arms, Your Hearse if you want something more heavy and with more sparing use of the clean vocals, or

b) Blackwater Park if you want a good well rounded version of Opeth, as it probably best incorperate everything they've done from their debut through to now.

 

[grey knight]

Still life, then you can get the boxed stuff and other albums later.

 

[Syzygy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opeth_Box_Set <- Has Deliverance and Blackwater Park, both of which you said you like as well as Damnations + An incredibly awesome live DVD (Lamentations).

 

[Bucu]

First i think. Discovering Opeth chronologically is the best imho.

 

[grey knight]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opeth_Box_Set <- Has Deliverance and Blackwater Park, both of which you said you like as well as Damnations + An incredibly awesome live DVD (Lamentations).

It's NOT a DVD, it's 2CD. (whole box = 5CD)

And yeah, chronological way is also good. Especially if you already know how their style is and don't make a judgement because of intro of In mist she was standing.

 

[Syzygy]

Ah, crap. My fail there, I've got a Lamentations live DVD and assumed Lamentations was a DVD only and available in CD form.

 

[Jack Frober]

Still Life.

 

[Para Bellum]

Umm, all of them! Start at the beginning : Orchid.

 

[Albert R]

^ I'd put My Arms, Your Hearse with Still Life.

I wouldn't. Totally different albums.

I genuinely find Still Life tedious. A case of more is less. I just don't understand the fanboyism of this album. I'd put it alongside BWP if it had to be paired with something, but BWP is a far greater album as far as I'm concerned.

The flow of MAYH as an album is far superior to Still Life IMO, and there isn't one weak song.

If I had to recommend just three to buy, it'd be MAYH, Damnation and Ghost Reveries.

 

[Contra dk]

I say get Still Life. Blackwater Park was the first cd I got, but it took a loooooong time to get into it. Still Life is one of their strongest works, and I can't find a single fault with it... well maybe Face of Melinda is a bit weak, but that's just me.

 

[Hox]

My Arms, Your Hearse.

 

[grey knight]

Candlelight box or Still life.

 

[Jackehh]

I would recommend everything except orchid and morningrise, they are very different from other opeth records due to poor quality. I'd specifically recommend Still Life or deliverance. Still Life is without a doubt one of opeth's top 3 records, I think few people would deny that. It also has a perfect blend between clean and growls. In fact, the balance is vastly superior to any other Opeth CD I think. Deliverance is also a good album because its raw, brutal, very metal but at the same time there is this subtle beauty about it. It's like watching an old black/white movie, discovering that you're actually being able to enjoy it very much despite the lack of colour.