Your own Opeth chronology

2002 - My friend burnt off some CD's for me, Orange Goblin, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Opeth. The CD was Blackwater Park and it made me forget about the other 2 CD's he gave me for years... I also started downloading Black Rose Immortal at the same time. The band instantly became one of my favourite bands and I began downloading the rest of their music except Still Life.

2003/2004 - I started buying all the albums of Amazon, but Morningrise and Blackwater Park remained my favourites, and still do today. And Still Life remains my least favourite, and that was probably the last album I bought from the band, until the next album came out! I bought the Lamentations DVD when it came out, and was amazed by it. It is still probably my most played music DVD!

2005 - I joined this forum in August 2005, probably just before Ghost Reveries came out. I bought Ghost Reveries of course and enjoyed it a lot but after people ripped it apart in every possible way on this forum I didn't play it so much as the other albums.

2006 - I probably stopped posting in late 2006 because I got a new PC and couldn't remember the old details, and so I regularly checked the forum for the updates and the drama and always meant to make a new account but just couldn't be bothered. I think it was late 2006 or early 2007 when Opeth played Exeter... me and my friend kicked ourselves when we heard about that the day after the gig... :(

2007 - Porcupine Tree played Bristol, so I asked my friend that introduced me to Opeth if I could stay up there with him and bought him a ticket to see the band as well... He was amazed by PT, just like I was with Opeth (and still am!!), and thus the circle is complete! I decided to join back up to this forum as things in the Opeth world are starting to look up again with a new album, new live CD and new DVD in the works!

2008 - I get the feeling this will be a great year for Opeth and my ears! :)
 
It has to be in year 2002 when downloading Bleak. I thought WOW this is awesome! Perfect growler and absolutely fabulous clean voice too. Not even mentioning the songwriting skills. I didn't know back then that there aren't other singer (Now I know that there actually was Steven Wilson) Since then I've been a fanboy.
 
For me it was:

October 2002: I heard about Opeth from another forum I visit, checked out Harvest and was instantly hooked! At that point I liked Metallica, Alice in Chains, Tool, etc but didn't know much about extreme metal... so Opeth was my introduction.

November 2002: Bought Deliverance the week it came out. Wreath was quite a shocker upon first listen! Soon afterwards, I decided to start hearing their discography from the beginning and bought Orchid. What a way to start! At the time those two albums were completely different eras of Opeth.

November 2002 - April 2003: Acquired various back catalog albums. I was pretty much listening to Opeth everyday and lurking on this forum (although I never actually registered for a while). I pre-ordered Damnation and got it the day before it was officially released!

May 2003: I saw Opeth for the first time at the New England Metalfest, and they were superb! I spoke with Mikeal and Peter afterwards, such polite Swedes, and asked if I can join the band as a violin player. They said perhaps on the next album... :oops:

June 2003 - 2004: Saw Opeth every chance I could, and enjoyed their music whenever I could. Towards the end of 2004, I slowly began listening to their music less and less, mainly because I had discovered so many other amazing bands and didn't have time for Opeth as much. I still love them though, and smile whenever Opeth came on.

July 2005: I met two of my best metal friends (T-rat and ShadowNINE) at the Sounds of the Underground Tour. I think we deserved a medal just for sitting through the atrocity of bands that went before Opeth. It was cool to meet Per, he seems so shy, but wow the headbanging!

2006 - 2007: I still enjoy Opeth as much as I used to. They unfortunately get played a lot less often because I've become a fan of so many other bands.
 
2003- Bought Damnation from a little cd shop in a country town where I lived in Australia. In fact I remember that all the decent metal bands were on the back wall behind the counter and you had to ask the staff to get it off the wall for you to look at it. I also joined this forum but under a different name which I later forgot

2004- I did plan to go to the Opeth gig in Melbourne but I didnt have enough money due to me not acutally living in Melbourne. But I bought a bootleg DVD last year, oh and it was by far the best set list ever. I beleive it was the second show bootleg

2005- Bought Ghost Reveries. I also got the bright Idea to line up at 5am to get Opeth tickets for the april 06 gig to find that noone was lining up so I wasted my time. haha

2006- Attended 1 and a half shows (The first gig I didnt have tickets but the security guard let us in half way through) The second show was easily the best. I also met the band before the gig when they were doing the sound check ( we lined up in the afternoon).

2007- twiddling my thumbs waiting for roundhouse tapes

BTW this is a great thred
 
1995 - A friend came over and played Orchid for me. I immediatelly fell in love with it and bought the album the next day.

1996 - Bought Morningrise as soon as it was released. Loved it instantly.

1998 - Borrowed My Arms Your Hearse from a friend and thought "wtf happened?". Made a copy of it and listened to it a few times, before forgetting about it.

[A few years after] - Listened to MAYH again and started to like it. Bought it and the albums that had been released in between. And later bought the rest.

2005 - Joined the forum.

2005 - Bought Ghost Reveries and begun to love it after a few listens.

2005 - Saw them live in Stockholm (alone)

2006 - Saw them live in Stockholm at the Close Up festival (with wife and kids)

Now - Eagerly awaiting the new album and the live DVD
 
2003 - it was my grandpa's 80th birthday party. My entire extended family was at my uncle's house, including 2nd and 3rd cousins I'd never seen before. (at this point I was into nu-metal). One of the 2nd cousins sees my SOAD shirt and we have a brief chat about music, and he said something like "Yeah, that's pretty good, but you should hear some of the heavier shit." I was intrigued, so he goes and plays me 3 songs. The first was "Deliverance", and I remember liking it a lot. I wasn't blown away per se, but I liked it a lot. Then some Blind Guardian and Cradle of Filth, but I liked the Opeth best. I went home, downloaded the Deliverance album, and started slowly falling in love. I bought Deliverance, and went on vacation to Yellowstone. And that was when I truly fell in love. Listening to it over and over, and it grew on me so much.

2004 - Opeth become my favorite band, I buy a lot of their albums, and miss them live by 2 days. I go down to Florida, look inside the House of Blues, and see a sign saying "Playing tonight: Opeth". After a brief freakout, I discover they played 2 days ago, and noone changed the sign. Then they play up here in NY while I'm gone.

2005: I get more and more into them, buy GR, and love it. I miss them again by 1 day - Gigantour hits NY the day I leave on vacation.

2006: still a huge fan, re-buying GR, and finally seeing them. The NYC 2/23 Town Hall Chronologies show. Fucking magical. I see TNATSW the first time it's ever played live, hear my long-time favorites, and see Deliverance played, the song that got me into them and metal... Just wow.

2007 - Watching the lineup changes, still awaiting the new album, still playing the old stuff. And still my favorite band.
 
1995 - A friend came over and played Orchid for me. I immediatelly fell in love with it and bought the album the next day.

1996 - Bought Morningrise as soon as it was released. Loved it instantly.

I wish I could have had the experience of anticipating Morningrise before it came out. The first album to come out after I started liking the band was Deliverence, and Morningrise would have just been an incredible gift to behold.
 
Have to contribute again and tell that it was awesome to watch them play In My Time Of Need and To Rid The Disease in TV4 morningshow LIVE spring 2003 :kickass: I think that was the most bizarre "gig" that Opeth have ever done (because of so frieking early time). Am I right Mikael?
 
I wish I could have had the experience of anticipating Morningrise before it came out. The first album to come out after I started liking the band was Deliverence, and Morningrise would have just been an incredible gift to behold.

Oh, yes. It was. However that also made me expect something similar for MAYH, which made me somewhat disappointed at the time of its release. I guess I wasn't ready for the change personally until a few years later.
 
-95 Listened to a tape a friend had with him to the gym (Orchid). Bought the cd.

Bought every album after that as soon as they were released.
I actually spend some time on the forums around here very early but didn't join at first. Saw them live 2003 wich was enjoyable. Also remembering when i downloaded Sörskogen from Opeths site. The song was divided in two parts and i only got the first part ! Don't remember when that was.

:)
 
2001 - I was on the search for new music since at that time I only ever bought albums of bands that I already had in my collection. There was time for a change, time to explore other stuff. Two friends/colleagues both recommended Opeth to me, and also Katatonia. I bought BWP and Tonight's Decision and liked them both pretty much. But I concentrated on Kata first. It was a lot more accessible.

Nevertheless, the following years Opeth remained on my radar. Every once in a while I came back to listen to BWP, yet I didn't completely grasp the complex song structures. I downloaded Still Life and Morningrise and gave them a listen, but not that often. Still, I was on the lookout for new Opeth albums. Maybe I knew somehow that this could not be the end of the story. But about the Deliverance and Damnation albums I read only bad things ... recording not good, band disappointed ... so I didn't buy them.

2005 - read about Ghost Reveries. Reviews were good, saying Opeth were back to form, great album, and so on. I thought, now's the time to give them another try and bought the album. Listened to it once, twice, and then the penny finally dropped. I fell in love with that album. Totally amazed, jaw dropping to the floor. (I learned to cope with the song structures by reading the lyrics in parallel.)

2006 - now the mission was clear: to go out and buy all Opeth albums. I loved them all back to MAYH. I liked MR, and Orchid - well not that much. But everything else ... just wow. When D&D were finally re-issued I bought them immediately. And I wondered what the rumours back then were talking about because both albums are great. I also bought Lamentations which was the first concert DVD I bought ... and is still the only one. I even bought the GR Special Edition and gave the original to my brother (another convert).

2007 - things cooled down a bit. My attention span is short and I'm am always on the lookout for more music, new music, other stuff. Yet, after one year of extensive Opeth study I had a problem. I couldn't cope with normal songs anymore. It was like all the other bands were only ever playing intros instead of full songs. My salvation this time were The White Stripes. In contrast to Opeth they were so simple and straight-forward - they're genius in the other direction. Now I'm exploring all kinds of stuff, also getting back to some Jazz, and occasionally listening to some Opeth. Yet, I'm quite looking forward to the Roundhouse DVD (mind you, not the CD) and the new album. I think those two will spark the next round of Opeth exploration.
 
2001: my friend botur got a tape with Spineshank on one side and OPeth - BWP on the other (weird mix lol), liked the clean opeth stuff alot, not so much the DM(sound familiar), kinda forgot about it for a while, listened to it every now and then.

2002: Deliverance came out, got interested in opeth again, and had listened to more heavy stuff since last year, having being only listening to the likes of Korn and Sevendust, got used to the DM, loved it, downloaded the rest of their stuff, since if there was any Opeth CDs you could find here they were like $50 :erk:. Became in love with Opeth

2003-2005: Still listening to Opeth Heavily, got the new albums, didnt think much of Damnation at first, grew on me though. Opeth still very unknown, the only other person i knew who liked them was my friend botur, and a mental patient at work with a MAYH tshirt (can you imagine what that made me think of their fans :lol:). Got the DVD, awesome. Joined this forum after lurking for ages finding info.

2005-Present: still love Opeth, and got Ghost Reveries, wonderful album. Opeth fans pop up everywhere. though dont listen to them very much apart from the every few months marathon, which reminds me exactly why i love this band, always exciting and fresh to listen to, cant wait for the new stuff

And here for nostalgic purposes, i still have the original tape where it all began

 
Sadly my introduction to Opeth is only fairly recent. Mind you I was only born in 1990. When I got into metal (2003) I had heard OF them but never actually heard their music.
In 2006 I read a forum and they were getting bashed a lot so i decided to stay away.
Also in 2006 I went to G3 concert and saw a fair few kids with Opeth shirts which for some reason sparked an interest.
Early 2007 - Heard the song The Moor and instantly fell in love with Opeth.
Now - Have all their studio albums and love (nearly) every song. One of my favourite bands. Cannot get enough of them. Whenever I seem to drop interest in them, just one listen brings me back.
 
Oh, yes. It was. However that also made me expect something similar for MAYH, which made me somewhat disappointed at the time of its release. I guess I wasn't ready for the change personally until a few years later.

I had the same experience when Still Life was released. I was quite disappointed. That of cause changed when I started to listen to it.
 
found out about Still Life through Amazon about 2 years ago......couple months after nonstop listening to that i got others for a trip