Yours to keep: A change in musical perspective

[atropos_project]

This is a good thread. I concur with an awful lot of whats being said here.

I havent been into this band an extremely long time (the first bits I heard were actually from Damnation), but since discovering them, I don't think more than 2 or 3 days goes by without some work of thiers being in my cd player.

And yes, they raise the bar in a big way. As much as I enjoy metal, this band really is in a top 2 or 3% out of thousands.. and listening to bands that don't put as much thought into what they do gets tiring pretty quickly these days

 

[AmirH]

Getting more selective definitely happened to me too. It's a bit of a strange phenomena really... i look at it this way. My tolerance for other genres went WAY up, and my tastes went much broader than before... but at the same time, i became much more picky about what it was i liked about each of the genre's i enjoy. lets say, for example, Instead of liking 300 metal bands and nothing else, i went to liking 20 metal bands, 10 classical composers, 12 ambient artists, 6 jazz musicians, etc... It was like i felt i just didn't have time to listen to stuff in the style i liked if it wasn't the very best. No point in listening to a not-quite-as-good version of another metal band i liked, which used to be fine for me since i didn't have other stuff to spend time getting to know and listen to.

Bingo.

Also, I agree that MAYH is the best overall album, but I think orchid has the best atmosphere. All of the albums until deliverence have a certain atmosphere to them but it almost seems like they lose a little more with each album. I remember the first time I heard bwp, it was on a really long drive on our way to a fishing trip. I played the album maybe four times the whole way up there, several times on the boat ride out to the ocean, and four times on the way back and was completely immersed in the album the whole time. Now though I can predict every moment before it happens(as is the case on each of the albums) and it seems to completely lack atmosphere compared to Orchid- which still instantly puts me in that "mood" so to speak regardless of if I know the song backward and forward.

 

[Hubster]

Don't get me wrong, I wish Opeth all the luck, good on them for doing well and getting good sales. But it's not the direction I as a fan hoped for.

You know, I took me MONTHS to take in My Arms Your Hearse.

I remember about 6 months after I first got it, I realised that Demon of the Fall wasn't my favourite track and then The Amen Corner was! And then months later my mind would change again!

And later, my obsession with the lyrics: things like "trees bend their boughs towards the earth" when growled are SO natural and blackeningly dark! So NATURALLY EVIL in ways NO OTHER BAND could ever have done!

Jesus Opeth! - from a MUSICAL perspective... where has that all GONE?

 

[Hubster]

Hubster, you have officially piqued my interest in black metal, and you should list a few bands that a total newbie to the genre should start with.

I've PM'ed you...

 

[zortz]

Some of you guys need to be more like this guy named Mike and learn to appreciate to more than one band and more than one style of music.

 

[Manbient]

*wonders if zortz is talking about me*

 

[zortz]

*wonders if zortz is talking about me*

Not really. More of a general statement.

 

[Manbient]

*relief*

I pride myself in my appreciation for many forms of the art of music.

 

[Hubster]

Music overall is an obsession for me. I'd die without it.

 

[Ikil]

If Opeth did anything for me, it was open many more doors to other metal and rock genres. I got into Opeth the same time I got into black metal, so firstly, when getting into Opeth and black metal, I was getting into more extreme metal bands.

Opeth has so many different musical elements in their music that this helped me get into other genres. Without Opeth, who knows if i'd be into more progressive metal/rock, or post rock/metal, or technical metal, or other genres. I don't think I would appreciate bands like Mogwai, Neurosis, Arcturus, etc as much as I do if it weren't for Opeth.

These days when I look for a new band, I look for a band that has many different elements in their music. A straight out new death metal band or black metal just doesn't interest as much anymore. Of course, some of these bands aren't bad at what they do, but some of them sound no different to the earlier bands.

I keep reading about how Opeth use to be dark. For me, I don't think any Opeth release has been dark. When I think dark, I think Katatonia's - Dance of December Souls, Tool's - Aenima, albums with such deep emotion, both musically, lyrically and vocal wise. And dark and evil, I think Nile's - In Their Darkened Shrines, Astriaal's - Renascent Misanthropy or Dissection's - Storm of the Lights Bane for example. Albums where they sound like they are given there all inside a cold, dark and evil atmosphere.

For me, the closest Opeth has come to being dark is Still Life or Orchid. For, me, SAD would be the better word to use when describing Opeth's early work, I think BWP onwards, the feeling has been more positive.

And as for Opeth musically, No way they have lost their touch, they still got it. Like many here, I guess I was a little disappointed that GR wasn't a black metal affair like Mikael spoke about doing 2 years ago, but who cares. GR, musically, is still a masterpiece in its own right. Mikael is influenced by so many different styles of music, he probably changed his mind on what style album he wanted numerous times. In 2 years, things can change easily.

Well, theres my $2.

Ikil

 

[Manbient]

add something useful or don't post. It's a wonder why you are still here. aaaand not paying attention to you ever again either.

 

[Hubster]

The other forum is better for one-liner posts filled with swearing.

 

[Austin]

Whore

 

[Hubster]

;-)

Too expensive for you chummer.

 

[Austin]

I've got $3.50

 

[Hubster]

You can put that towards your facelift.