Where were you when...

[SAW1972]

...you first heard Opeth's music?

I did a search and could not find this topic...although I admit I think it's been done before.


I was in Iraq surfing iTunes, looking for metal that I didn't think sounded like everything else. It was during one of those periods where the Internet wasn't so slow that you wanted to gouge out your own eyeballs. I worked nights for a while over there. Things move a bit faster when everyone else is asleep.

I had heard of Opeth before...probably back in the mid-90's, but figured that they sucked, sound unheard. Stupid me. Stuck in the 80's.

I first clicked on Windowpane. I found it quite haunting. Then I sampled Blackwater Park. It was then that I had a revelation. Maybe I had finally found a metal band not named Tool that had some originality. I started to secretly play everything from Orchid to Ghost Reveries on my ipod while we were on convoys. I'd have one earbud dedicated to crew communication, and the other discreetly playing old Opeth songs that were brand-new to me. It made me hyper-vigilant because I always wanted to live to hear the next song. And I was the lead gunner! I'd be pumping my mental fist to a song like Wreathe while watching out for snipers and roadside bombs. I'm not saying that Opeth saved my life, but the music definitely kept my neuro-transmitters firing at a rapid rate. Nowadays I associate certain songs with where I was and what I was doing while in harm's way. I recently saw a live show, and it damned near made me emotional from all of the intense visuals I experienced from each song they played.

Since that year in Iraq, I've had the pleasure of bingeing on Opeth's music with all of the enthusiasm of a 12 year-old boy looking at his first pictures of naked breasts.

I admit that I'm a noob, and that I'm old as fuck (37). But this music makes me feel like I'm exactly where Mikael was in his head while writing the lyrics. And the musicianship is beyond reproach. I even turned my classically guitar-trained, 54 year-old father into an Opeth fan.

So if anyone else feels like the first time they discovered Opeth was a pivotal life moment, I'd love to hear about where you were and what you were doing.

 

[Prophet178]

Thats a really cool story. I have a few albums that are linked to certain situations in my life, but they are all lame and not worth mentioning haha.

I've actually been thinking about this lately too. I really can't pinpoint when I first heard Opeth, or even heard of Opeth. But I do remember the first song I heard was Circle of Tyrants. I think I first heard it around freshman year of high school when I started to get into metal music. I don't really remember how I got in to Opeth at all. The weird thing is I can track back pretty much all my favorite bands and remember the first time I heard them, but not with Opeth for some reason.

One thing I do remember is when I first saw them live on the Ghost Reveries tour. I brought my friend who had never heard of Opeth, or any of the other bands on the bill for that matter. I was no pro on Opeth at the time, and the only song I knew was Ghost of Perdition. I do remember after that show I started listening to Opeth a lot more though, so did my friend. From then on we were both hooked on them. I remember hearing them close with Deliverance and thinking it was the greatest song i've ever heard. Its weird that I have no remembrance of what album/song got me in to Opeth, all I have are these vague snapshots of my history.

 

[de_aztec]

i think i was in a shopping centre or in a car, i cant remember which. but the first song i heard was the celtic frost cover so i thought opeth sucked and didnt listen to them for a couple of years, until i heard blackwater park. then i become a fan

still dont like that celtic frost cover

 

[de_aztec]

I'd have one earbud dedicated to crew communication, and the other discreetly playing old Opeth songs that were brand-new to me.

wow man, you really did that? if it was me, id have no music whatsoever because i dont want to get my ass shot

 

[hexwind]

Well, I'm happy for you dude for being here without any harm or anything from where you were ! It's actually cool to be inspired by such music even if it has nothing to do with wars and politics, but it deals with death anyway.
It was exactly 4 years since i listened to Opeth for the first time, i was so bored in one hot afternoon in June, and I went to a cd store (where they sell only ripped cds) and i asked him if he's got some Opeth things, i didn't know even how they sound like or what type of music they play, i didn't know that they weren't known here at all !! but it's really magical how i found them in such store here, i got all the albums available back then apart from Deliverance. The first song was To bid you farewell, and I thought they played such type of music, next song when, i totally believed what i thought becoz of the intro, and then came the blast of the harsh vocals... and i'm lost into that vortex ever since
EDIT: BTW dude, i hope you didn't kill anyone who's not carrying a weapon

 

[Nasty-Fire]

First time I heard... it was at my friend's house (one street aside from mine) and he had Deliverance playing. Sounded nice but so weird to me. I'm quite sure that was one of the first time I had heard them. The first time that Opeth marked me.

@Threadmaker : Nice and very interesting story.

 

[opeth8]

7 years ago
12 shows ago
On my couch at my old apartment...
Drinking & smoking who knows what...
Was listening to Metal station on Music Choice when 1st notes of Deliverance sounded

 

[aaronjs]

About 3 years ago the band who were getting the most playing time in my music collection were In Flames, specifically Jester Race and Whoracle. When I'm in a phase of listening to bands, I like to research about them, usually on allmusic.com. This is also one of the ways I try to discover new bands, by scanning through the "similar artists" list. Opeth is one of the bands listed as being similar to IF, and they received some exceptional reviews, so I decided to give them a download. I liked the review given to Deliverance the most, so I gave it an iTunes purchase, and by the time I was finished listening to A Fair Judgement I was hooked. Specifically where was I? In my bedroom at my parents' house, since I had just graduated college about a week earlier and moved home.

 

[FJChaos]

Was listening to Metal station on Music Choice when 1st notes of Deliverance sounded

Exact same thing, except last year. And the same day, Lotus Eater came on the same channel.

BTW what cable service do you have? I got this with Cablevision IO.

 

[Lateralus14]

Tool had been my favorite band for three years and counting and I had gotten really into Metallica over the last year to the point that they were nearly topping Tool (as is to be expected when you've heard the same songs over and over for years from one of the artists). Only problem then was....well I hadn't heard any other metal I liked and thus, from that genre, I literally only listened to two bands, and I listened a lot. I wasn't into extreme vocals yet but my brother had gone through a brief post-metal phase and was working at a CD store at the time - every day he worked he was allowed to "rent" one CD, which basically meant keep the music permanantly on iTunes. I'm not sure how it's related to the Isis/Pelican/Cult of Luna stuff he was listening to from the post genre but for some reason he burned Blackwater Park on there one day. He didn't like it too much but he listened enough to recognize that they had some really sweet metal riffs (intro to Bleak mostly). So anywho I get back from a trip a while later and am playing some Metallica with him in the room/car whatever it was, so later he shows me this album, saying I would probably like it. And indeed, the main riff to Bleak is badass, but the growling in the verses seems kinda boring, so he leaves the room and I switch it to the Leper Affinity. And basically I listen to the first 4 minutes and all the riffs rape and the solo really hooks me and I listen to the album over and over, then all their albums over and over, then...metalheadness sets in.

 

[opeth8]

Exact same thing, except last year. And the same day, Lotus Eater came on the same channel.

BTW what cable service do you have? I got this with Cablevision IO.

This has been brought up in many threads over the years.
There's quite a few of us who came across Opeth on Music Choice.
I had & still have Comcast up here in Mass.
The station had been 510 for 7-8 years. Recently it changed to 513 I think.

Since then... most of the bands I now listen to were discovered via this forum.

 

[TimmiT]

I once copied some music from a friend, including some Opeth albums, never listened to it though... (stupid me >.<)
But i once randomly filled my iPod and when going to school i heard Windowpane, i was instantly hooked! when i got home i started listening to some other Opeth songs. Now its like my alltime favourite band ^^ it just sucks that i've never seen em live, i dont have the money for the shows and they rarely play near here, and when they do its on some uberexpensive festival on wich they are like the only cool band!

 

[Slaydon]

It was 2004, a late summer night. I was sitting in my living room, just flicking thru the channels and came upon them. I thought the video looked so much different from what I usually see lol, so I decided I'd check them out. Within a minute, I was absolutely stunned. It was Windowpane of course.

 

[billydheyhey]

Great thread, first of all.

The song that first got me into Opeth was Ghost Of Perdition. I remember it clearly... it was Halloween of 2005. Me and my buddy Frank (whose also on this forum, under name Umasser2006), were Mario and Luigi. We were on our way out to a Halloween party, when he put on Ghost Of Perdition. Then, the part that totally hooked me was at 1:06... "Devil cracked the earth...". After that, I listened to it all, thought it was awesome, and then came Deliverance, then Face Of Melinda, and then the rest of Opeth. They are now my favorite band

 

[billydheyhey]

It was 2004, a late summer night. I was sitting in my living room, just flicking thru the channels and came upon them. I thought the video looked so much different from what I usually see lol, so I decided I'd check them out. Within a minute, I was absolutely stunned. It was Windowpane of course.

Haha, Windowpane got you hooked? That's an interesting one.

 

[Silent Dance With Death]

I first heard of Opeth in 2004 whilst a member of taboramaforum.com.

I remember somebody's signature being a photo of Mikael playing an acoustic guitar and singing, with the 'O' backdrop behind him. Both the awesomeness of the Opeth logo and the awesomeness of Mikael made me want to check them out. I don't know what made me listen to Still Life first, but I did. The first Opeth song I listened to was The Moor and from that moment on, I've been an Opeth fan.

What a boring story.

 

[Vega Skater]

It was 2004, and I was editing a skate video in Windows Movie Maker, so you can imagine I was there for a few hours, while the program froze repeatedly and what not. I started listening to Black Rose Immortal in the background, but I wasn't really paying attention. Long story short, each acoustic passage was so exquisite, and when the 9 min section began, I pretty much stopped and I was mesmorised.

Not the most exciting story, but a very pleasant memory.

My next memory is making pancakes during uni years with Blackwater Park (song) blaring from my room.

 

[ponie]

Nice story from the OP. Mine wasn't interesting, I was simply sitting at my desk chatting with a friend (now my husband) and he sent me To Bid You Farewell, followed by Master's Apprentices, and told me they were the same band. I've been hooked ever since, although I admit when Ghost Reveries came out (the first album they released after I "discovered" them), we both listened a few times and kept saying "it's... weird". Of course we're used to it now

 

[MetalManCPA]

I was in my bedroom putting away some clothes. I had Comcast cable's metal station playing on the television although I wasn't really paying attention at the time. Then, something caught me - a song. I stopped what I was doing to listen. When I began to pay attention, the song was in the middle - it was Bleak. Growling? Clean vocals? Awesome music? Who were these guys? The rest was musical listening history.

 

[biggsy]

back in 2004 i was what, 15 and listened to some really terrible music. had just gotten into tool and wanted to find out more cool bands my friends had never heard so i asked my cousin to send me some (was on dial up so no dls back then folks). she sent me a few cds packed with stuff, PT vast opeth and all other goodies. listened to the other tool i didnt have then moved onto opeth coz they had a cool sounding name. it was just a bunch of stuff from deliverance damnation and bwp and i only played the soft songs, got hooked on harvest and went from there.