What to make of Opeth's lyrics

[atlantis19]

I am kind of torn between my head and my heart...between loving Opeth's sound and imagery and being unsure/uncomfortable with their lyrics. Particularly on albums like Ghost Reveries, does anyone know what Mikael's intention is with the sometimes satanic or violent lyrics? Is there supposed to be something deeper or more artistic to it than simply writing about uncontrollable demon possessions and such? (I would hope so, based on the maturity of the music itself) For example, songs like The Grand Conjuration and Ghost of Perdition really make me question what I am listening to(especially if not part of a concept), as I wouldnt exactly want to support beautiful music about satan and evil taking over the world. I suppose it does not make the evil sound so pleasant, but still I dont know what to make of it anyway.

Can anyone help to justify their lyrics to me in a way that will hopefully ease my (somewhat obsessive) worries? Has he ever stated what his intentions are in his lyrics?

 

[BefriendedUnit]

Ghost Reveries was Mikael's first occult-themed album in years. He's an atheist and doesn't believe in Satan, but invoked the imagery to strengthen the concept of possession.

 

[Taran]

Read the lyrics from Blackwater Park, Still Life, Deliverance and MAYH and you will see: They are the superlative of GENIUS

 

[wokketywok]

Actually, Ghost Reveries is a concept. Well, most of it. It was INTENDED to be a concept, but Mikael ditched the idea because he thought the lyrics to Isolation Years were too good to throw away.

 

[Nailed Reaper]

Just listen to Mike himself. Wait a couple of minutes talking about "Deliverance" & "Damnation", and then listen about "Ghost Reveries" concept.

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[Αmorphous]

invoked the imagery to strengthen the concept of possession.

Bingo.

There's no satanic worship in the lyrics. They're meant to be evocative of the protagonist's anguish and despair.

 

[The Antihero]

I find nothing remotely evil or Satanic in Opeth lyrics (or most other death metal for that matter). It's just the delivery that makes them seem that way. For whatever reason we are conditioned to perceive the scream/growl vocal style as being 'evil'. IMO this is why a lot of people dislike death metal bands.....not because of the lyrics or music, but because the vocal style is unsettling or disturbing to them.

 

[atlantis19]

I guess its just that I am having trouble seeing the maturity in song after song of someone being uncontrollably possessed and tormented by the devil. I know that dark can be very beautiful, but I think the disturbing element and my inability to see the art/purpose of the lyrics/themes significantly takes away from it for me. Thanks for those interview videos because they were some help, but hopefully the lyrics are not really as bad as I still might be seeing them.

I appreciate your help

 

[ReverieUnfold]

Well, it's one thing to be subjectively taken aback by the theme, tone, etc. of Ghost Reveries' lyrics, but to describe them as -bad- for those reasons...

I'd say these are all examples of good Opeth lyrics on GR, at least in relativity to the album's concept:

"Ghost of Perdition"

"If one cut the source of the flow
And everything would change
Would conviction fall
In the shadow of the righteous
The phantasm of your mind
Might be calling you to go
Defying the forgotten morals
Where the victim is the prey"

"The Baying of the Hounds"

"His mouth is a vortex
Sucking you into it's pandemonium
Fools you with a helping hand of ashes
Reached out in false dismay
His body is a country
The cities lay dead and beyond despair
Friends turned enemies unable to come clean
In a rising fog of reeking death

Everything you believed is a lie
Everyone you loved is a death burden
So you take comfort in him
And you are receptive to stark wishes
No longer struggling to declare your stand
You would inflict no harm to others
They are unaware of you
And in a loop of futile events
You are everything, they are nothing"

"I am too weak to resist
Tension vibrating with horror
Finding the outcast in my eyes
Pushing nerves on a puppet
Endless poison in my veins
Clean intent now tainted with death

And so, cold touch now inhumane
Every waking hour
Awaiting a reverie to unfold
And now they are calling me
Louder by the minute
The baying of the hounds
Calling me back to my home"

"Beneath the Mire"

"Haunted nights for halcyon days
Can't sleep to the scraping of his voice
Nature's way struck grief in me
And I became a ghost in sickness
Willingly guided into heresy
Beneath the surface stark emptiness
And you'd pity my conviction
Whereas I thought of myself as a leader"

I think with the exception of "Atonement" (whose lyrics I believe can be read into much more deeply than first seems reasonable) and "Isolation Years (whose words are of consistent acclaim), the rest of GR's lyrics are somewhat sparse and just stand out less. I don't even find tracks other than 1-3 and 7 to be overtly 'demonic' in analogy-- maybe only when considered in the others' context.

 

[The Antihero]

I guess its just that I am having trouble seeing the maturity in song after song of someone being uncontrollably possessed and tormented by the devil. I know that dark can be very beautiful, but I think the disturbing element and my inability to see the art/purpose of the lyrics/themes significantly takes away from it for me. Thanks for those interview videos because they were some help, but hopefully the lyrics are not really as bad as I still might be seeing them.

I appreciate your help

Well, if you can't get past it I would suggest that this music is not for you.

And there's no shame in that.

Check out Porcupine Tree if you haven't already, the later stuff is somewhat similar without so much dark imagery. (it's dark, but more in a social conscience kind of way).

 

[Lightbulb Sun]

Check out Porcupine Tree if you haven't already, the later stuff is somewhat similar without so much dark imagery. (it's dark, but more in a social conscience kind of way).

Porcupine Tree's later stuff actually takes influence from Opeth.....

 

[The Antihero]

Porcupine Tree's later stuff actually takes influence from Opeth.....

I know, that's why I suggested it.

 

[Lightbulb Sun]

Oops, my bad.

 

[atlantis19]

I can definitely get past the lyrics- musically Opeth is one of my favorite bands and I love the lyrics on just about every album but Ghost Reveries. I'm not religious or anything, but I just dont like when people support evil. After reading more into it though, I have found that Mikael is not a satanist, the evil basically ruins the character, and the 'satan' evil in these lyrics may easily be metaphors for the evil/cheating/weakness in the world and their deleterious effects.

I listen to a lot of goth metal and death metal, so its not that the dark music type is not for me. I adore 'beauty in darkness', but I dont exactly adore 'beauty in evil'. I just wanted to make sure Opeth did not have any immaturaty or bad intentions with Ghost Reveries that would scar my high opinion of them, but based on what I stated above and some interviews it seems fine.

 

[pyr0rrzzz]

Opeth don't praise evil, they just describe it. For me it's like a novel. I mean, people read books and watch movies dealing with the same topics but hesitate do enjoy music like Opeth.

 

[atlantis19]

Opeth don't praise evil, they just describe it. For me it's like a novel. I mean, people read books and watch movies dealing with the same topics but hesitate do enjoy music like Opeth.

Yeah, after looking at it a little closer, I can see how they are using the disturbing element on GR in more of an artistic than an 'immature' way, as it seems to be used to enhance the themes and not, as stated, to support anything bad (perhaps similar to Edgar Allen Poe and such, whose writing I like and respect a lot). I just dont enjoy beauty in violence or evil without reason, but it seems to be deeper and more mature than that.

 

[Carta's]

There's no beauty in death or things like that. But they are necessary. The balance is necessary. Would there be life without death? Would there be joy without pain? We would just be ignorant beings in a so-called "perfect" world. But would it really be perfect?
That being said, describing those "bad" things is not a thing of beauty, but it can be seen of different, deeper levels than the popular "the sun is high/i love you" bullshit we get exposed to everyday.

 

[metal_wrath]

There's no beauty in death or things like that...

That is your opinion. lol

 

[Nasty-Fire]

That is your opinion. lol

I think it's a bad idea to discuss about the concept of beauty.

By the way, if you have listened to what Mikale said in the interview, these lyrics show a little bit the way he thought before having a child in comparison of after. He said he was "selfish", I think, but didn't even know about it. Anyways, I always believed that this album talked about a kind of behavior instead of the devil itself, so I find it great and as good as the other albums.

 

[Carta's]

^ You should promote his evil side, not his holier-than-thou's, since you're Hell's prime minister