Which Opeth do you like best?

Which Opeth do you like best?

  • Early Opeth - "Orchid" & "Morningrise"

    Votes: 20 22.7%
  • Mid-period Opeth - "MAYH" & "Still Life"

    Votes: 38 43.2%
  • Latter-period Opeth - "Blackwater Park", "Deliverance", & "Damnation"

    Votes: 11 12.5%
  • Can't choose: I like them all the same

    Votes: 7 8.0%
  • Too hard to pick

    Votes: 12 13.6%

  • Total voters
    88
I think that those albums are sorted poorly.

It should be divided this way:
Orchid and Morningrise. They were the most groundbreaking albums.
My Arms, Your Hearse isn't like any of the other albums. It is just completely different. I think that Deliverance is the most similar to MAYH only because they are by far the two most heavy albums, but they weren't released close enough.
Still Life and Blackwater Park are the two most similar of the seven albums, how did you split them?
Damnation and Deliverance are together only because they were initially going to be released as a double ablum together and they are the most 'depressing' albums.

I think that the best era was the SL-BWP era, followed by the Orchid and Morningrise era.
 
Can't choose.... BWP should be in with the mid period... i guess i would then choose mid period, because BWP is definately my favorite. But then my 2nd favorites are Orchid and Morningrise. Its so much easier to just do a single album choice....
 
segaszivos said:
I think that those albums are sorted poorly.

It should be divided this way:
Orchid and Morningrise. They were the most groundbreaking albums.
My Arms, Your Hearse isn't like any of the other albums. It is just completely different. I think that Deliverance is the most similar to MAYH only because they are by far the two most heavy albums, but they weren't released close enough.
Still Life and Blackwater Park are the two most similar of the seven albums, how did you split them?
Damnation and Deliverance are together only because they were initially going to be released as a double ablum together and they are the most 'depressing' albums.

I think that the best era was the SL-BWP era, followed by the Orchid and Morningrise era.


I agree with that fully, besides the second half of the last sentence. BWP and still life are best, followed by D1 and D2, followed by MAYH, then followed by Morningrise and Orchid.
 
I think all albums are no. 1 albums (except for Deliverance & Damnation, wich I love, but it doesn't have the 'forest' feel I like in Opeth, like someone else said before in this thread.)

but to pick my fave era, my 2 favorites at the moment are SL & BWP so i'll pick that era.. (sorry, but the era's you made suck)
 
The early forest metal period is the best in my mind. Morningrise>everything. SL should be with BWP. MAYH and SL are only similar in that they are story albums, really. Yes. Opeth is forest metal.
 
segaszivos said:
I think that those albums are sorted poorly.

I respect that, seg. It was tough to separate them but there is a method to my madness. The poll is supposed to be an "era preference" poll. Here is how I came up with the three eras:
- Early era Opeth: Orchid and Morningrise were both recorded with Dan Swano on board as engineer/producer/mentor. To me, these two albums are very similar: lots of wandering riffs that never repeat in a different area of the song and there's lots of space between the instruments. Very jazzy on occasion. No dense chording. Mikael's growl voice was higher and he didn't sound very comfortable singing clean.
- Mid-era Opeth: MAYH and Still Life are when I feel that Opeth's sound changed. They started working with Fredrik Nordström when they did these two albums. Also, you have the introduction of Martin and Martin. The production was thick, almost like a wall of sound. There were thick, meaty chords...triads all over the place. Mikael's growl got deeper and he was becoming more confident with his singing. These are also the only two albums with story lines. These two albums are somewhat similar in sound, although MAYH is heavier than Still Life and probably their most oppressive and nihilistic album to date.
- Late-era Opeth: Things changed even more on Blackwater Park, Deliverance, and especially Damnation. They hooked up with Steven Wilson and their sound changed even more. The arrangements were tighter and a little more traditional. There was more of an ambient, haunting sound...more atmosphere. The production was also quite pristine. There is also more melodicism on these last three albums than on all the others. Also, Mikael's voice is at its best, both growl-wise and clean. For the first time he sounds totally comfortable when he's singing.

That's just how I see it. I was trying to be a little different and do a little "era preference" poll but it's really not much different than your old "what's your favorite album" poll.
 
Orchid/Morningrise have that foresty, dark, longing feeling to it. Also Orchid is my favorite album and Black Rose Immortal is my favorite song. But that's not saying the rest are bad.
 
MAYH = 7 points
Morningrise = 6 points
Blackwater Park = 5 points
Orchid = 4 points
Still Life = 3 points
etc etc, it's a tie.

MAYH is my favourite, so that era wins.