2004: We're interviewing a a guy for a teaching position at the high school where I taught. He finds out I like metal (at the time Iron Maiden and Iced Earth are my faves) and recommends Opeth. He describes them as heavy and beautiful, like a metal Moody Blues. I'm intrigued about his description. I later hear Deliverance on a Comcast music channel and am blown away. I immediately rush out to my local Borders and try to decide which disc to purchase: BWP, Deliverance, or Damnation. I decide, without any reason, to get Damnation. As I listen on the way home, I wait for the death vox. And wait. And wait. By the time the disc finishes, I'm in awe. It's not what I expected, but it's still great. So, I decide to go to Amazon to listen to more samples and find a link to eMusic. I join to get 40 free downloads and get BWP, Deliverance, Morningrise (minus Advent and TNATSW which were unavailable for dl at the time), MAYH, and Orchid. I burn them all to a disc, but the program's a bit fucked and the songs are all out of order--but it takes a while for me to realize it! The days before iTunes or an iPod... I go on vacation and listen to that collection of songs almost nonstop, and am completely mesmerized. I am nostalgic for those days... having all of that new Opeth to listen to!
2005: Get Still Life for my B-Day and it slowly becomes my favorite. I play Serenity Painted Death a lot. I try to get my students to listen to Opeth. I'm thrilled as I walk past the student center and hear BWP blaring out of the stereo. My daughter is born. I get Lamentations on DVD, and it's playing in the background as I feed her bottles. Get GR and cannot understand how anyone can be disappointed. Force my wife to listen to it. Join this forum. Listen to a lot of Opeth while grading SAT essays. See Opeth with Nevermore.
2006:Listen to copious amounts of Opeth. Get the GR SE. My daughter seems to like Opeth. My wife is coming around. She loves Damnation at this point. See Opeth with Dark Tranquility, and wife comes along!
2007: Another daughter born, hasn't really heard Opeth yet... First daughter tells me Opeth is scary.
I still listen to Opeth quite often. I'm retardedly excited for the new album, stoked by Mike's ongoing descriptions of what he's working on. While I'm sad to see members come go, I look forward to hearing what the new line-up will do!