Why is Still Life criticized?

Mick Harris said once that his favourite Sepultura album was Beastial Devastation.
 
I like BWP the best...........it always pisses me off to see the same people that rave on and on about MAYH to also dis BWP, which i see quite frequently......

and MAYH is my least favorite Opeth (still an incredible album though).......
 
Originally posted by Demonspell
I agree that Still Life and Blackwater Park only sound alike to the uninitiated...

I never understood why people thing Still Life and BWP sound the same....... They sound much different....

BWP is very dark, bleak toned, with udder shitloads of atmosphere (the most atmospheric album ive ever heard)...

While Still Life is more focused on melodic guitar parts and overall emotion in the songs and lyrics......although all the albums have emotion......

They sound pretty different to me, and I love them both.......
 
I find it impossible to pick out an Opeth album better then any other.

The MAYH story concept, and bleakness,
That incredible chord progression of "The Moor" (and basically most of still life).

If a guy had a gun at my head, and said "What are your 2 favourite Opeth albums?!" I'd say Still Life and MAYH.

But its unfair to say that any album is clear cut worse as they excel in different aspects.
 
What's interesting to me is the TYPE of "darkness" that Opeth creates... it's not the same kind as say, Dimmu Borgir or any other "death metal" band creates... it's INTELLECTUAL darkness... INTROSPECTIVELY evil, if you will... there's a level of humanity to their "evil" (perhaps akin to Emperor?) that I've always liked... You get it a lot on MAYH, and also on both BWP and Deliverance... Still Life, to me, sounds just like a REALLY talented band telling a REALLY SAD story. Whereas MAYH and BWP, etc, sound like someone who lives on the edge of sanity sharing his observations about the horrifying void closing in just beyond the trees in his backyard...
 
MAYH used to be my least favourite Opeth album, but then it suddenly just 'clicked', and is now probably my favourite..."When" is superb. Orchid is my least favourite at the moment.

It's great to see a band can produce as many albums as Opeth have without one of them being the 'accepted favourite' of the fans - it's a sign of how strong their albums are.
 
Still Life... criticised?! I'd say every Opeth album is similar in style however different in atmosphere, so it depends on what you prefer... Still Life is an excellent album, however it's definately not my favorite Opeth album...
 
Still Life and Blackwater Park are Opeths greatest releases in my opinion. Closely followed by My Arms your Hearse, and then come the raw brilliant albums Morningrise and Orchid. As for Deliverence it just sounds too weak and hollow compared to Opeths previous masterpeices.
 
Morningrise is my all-time favourite Opeth album, but probably just because of the sentimental value it holds to me. I'll admit to being a BWP "n00b", but I now own every Opeth album. I bought Morningrise right after BWP and I was blown away! I like the harsh vocals on Morningrise much better, they seem more... well, to use an already overused word, grim! The clean vocals are also much more mysterious. I'll admit that some of the guitar work on Morningrise is cliched duelling guitar stuff, but I still love it! Anyway, to my point...

Still Life is my favourite Opeth album in terms of guitar work (beautiful melodies), BWP has the most ambience and is great for when I'm sad, Deliverance is good for when I'm just wasting time with my friends or something, Orchid is best when listened to with headphones and throughly exprienced, not just listened to, Morningrise is great for listening to when you have someone you love in your arms (at least for me) and, finally, MAYH is good when you want to break shit! :p