The official Opeth thread v. In Cauda Venenum

[TioJorge]

One thing is for certain: Akerfeldt certainly knows how to keep his fan base abuzz. Even if he loses some of that fan base or some don't like the direction as much, it's good to know that there's always something to discuss other than either universal praise or hate. Always interesting, that's for shizzle.

[Genowyn]

So I can't decide if I should listen to PC considering I had the same problem with Heritage that has been stated a few times (literally nothing grabbed my attention) or if I should just go back and listen to GR or BWP or something.

I'm in such an Opeth mood right now either way.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Just listen to it. At worst, you wasted 50-something minutes.

[Dark Castle]

So I can't decide if I should listen to PC considering I had the same problem with Heritage that has been stated a few times (literally nothing grabbed my attention) or if I should just go back and listen to GR or BWP or something.

I'm in such an Opeth mood right now either way.

Eh, give a few tracks a whirl, who knows maybe you'll find something you enjoy. At the very least, it's worth attempting a listen because you might hear something in there that you like, or you might not, but it's worth checking out at the very least.

But yeah it's pretty similar to Heritage if you ask me, but not good like Heritage was

[Randaran]

Just listened to the album again. I am liking it much better the second time around. Both Voice of Treason and Elysian Woes are now standouts, the latter of which may be my favorite from the record. 4 of 8 songs clicking on the second listen. That is better than most albums, even most Opeth albums. The only other album of theirs that grew on me this fast was MAYH. I still prefer their discography up to and including GR, and will likely play one of those when I am in the mood for Opeth, though I do see myself giving this one a spin every once in a while.

[TioJorge]

Awesome blossom!  I love the hell out of Voice of Treason. 

[PROGdrummer]

I've had Voice of Treason stuck in my head all day.

She knows I'm the one who sought her
When we fought, we fought so hard
She holds the secret, won't show me how
How to break the riddle in her eyes

[TioJorge]

  + 

[PROGdrummer]

The combination of the melody, the strings, and the beat make it absolutely one of the catchiest songs theyve probably written. I find myself swaying my head cheerfully to the verses.

River is like, feelgood song of the year though. I'm always in a much better mood every time the song starts. The guitar lead starting at 2:00-2:50 melts me every time.  Just lovely.

Okay, now I'll stop being gay for PC.   Moon Above has a very strong pre-Heritage Opeth sound to it.  It totally reminds me of stuff from Ghost Reveries and Watershed, sans the growls of course.

[Zydar]

JP talks a little about Opeth:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/john_petrucci_why_i_love_opeth.html

[kirksnosehair]

Oh, wow! That's interesting. I'm sorry if you've already posted about this and I missed it, but it's hard to keep track of everything, so could you tell me why exactly you don't like PC while you do like Heritage?

To keep it short, sweet, mildly sweltered, and simple, while I think Heritage has it's problems, it has some pretty outstanding tracks, despite it's wandering aimlessly, where as PC for me just feels like retreading, and aimlessly noodling. It's a more active album I suppose but nothing grabs my interest at all or stays in my head compared to Heritage which has some pretty damned good moments.

I think that's fair enough, DC.    [size=78%] [/size] My favorite Opeth album so far is Watershed, but Pale Communion may just overtake that.  For me it's pretty simple.  I don't like the growling.  At all.  Which is why I expected to enjoy Heritage more than I did.  But despite the very cool cover and a couple of decent songs, the rest doesn't really do much for me.  It's not a bad album per se, it's just not something I have any interest in listening to very often.   


So, I had really low expectations going into Pale Communion.   And at first I didn't think much of it to be honest.  But repeated listening really paid off. 


Something else I noticed - and I think a few people have already touched on this- there may not be any growls on this and they may have turned the distortion down, but there is no mistaking this is an Opeth album.  There are quite a few riffs and passages that -if not for the guitar sound- would fit on Ghost Reveries or Watershed easily.


Now that I have the actual CD and it's ripped to my iPod, I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO IT!!!!!!!!       

[Lowdz]

Just listened to the non-growl tracks listed further back. Very nice. They would fit nicely in this album - there were a couple on that album I have, I don't think I got that far on my only previous listen.
The songs on PC sound like Opeth songs though, I guess its just the lack of the growly songs that's freaking some people out. For me its a good thing.

[Ben_Jamin]

I listened to the stream and its Opeth hands down.

[TioJorge]

  I dunno why but that's got me in stitches. For some reason I read it like...  "Guys...we have confirmed...IT IS INDEED OPETH WE'RE LISTENING TO!"

   Tears of laughter. I haven't had that in a while...

[?]

JP talks a little about Opeth:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/john_petrucci_why_i_love_opeth.html

The story about the ADTOE mixing session is cool!

[Mosh]

I dunno why but that's got me in stitches. For some reason I read it like...  "Guys...we have confirmed...IT IS INDEED OPETH WE'RE LISTENING TO!"

   Tears of laughter. I haven't had that in a while...

Yea, have you heard the album? It's really true. Heritage didn't really sound like Opeth and kinda made me wary for their future. It was a fine album but if they were gonna keep doing things like that, I'd quickly lose interest. It's very refreshing to hear that the new Opeth actually sounds like Opeth.

[TioJorge]

Eh, I think Heritage sounds very much like Opeth and to me has even more of a classic vibe than PC does. It was more in the atmosphere though than it was in the actual music; PC has more guitar tones and instrumentals that sound like Opeth to me, but Hertiage gave me more of that old-school feeling, if that makes sense. Don't get me wrong, there's moments on PC where I immediately flashed back to an older Opeth time (a few beginning guitar lines in Elysian Woes and Cusp of Eternity, bits a pieces scattered throughout other songs), but overall I think this is the album where they're starting to carve out a new sound. Again, just what I hear and it's great that Akerfeldt has created an album that has got so much discussion going about past, present and future.

[hefdaddy42]

JP talks a little about Opeth:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/john_petrucci_why_i_love_opeth.html

Pretty neat 

[Onno]

Eh, I think Heritage sounds very much like Opeth and to me has even more of a classic vibe than PC does. It was more in the atmosphere though than it was in the actual music; PC has more guitar tones and instrumentals that sound like Opeth to me, but Hertiage gave me more of that old-school feeling, if that makes sense. Don't get me wrong, there's moments on PC where I immediately flashed back to an older Opeth time (a few beginning guitar lines in Elysian Woes and Cusp of Eternity, bits a pieces scattered throughout other songs), but overall I think this is the album where they're starting to carve out a new sound. Again, just what I hear and it's great that Akerfeldt has created an album that has got so much discussion going about past, present and future.

I completely agree.

[PolarizeMe]

JP talks a little about Opeth:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/john_petrucci_why_i_love_opeth.html

I think this is the first time I've seen someone else other than Portnoy talk about Opeth in an interview. I figured some of the other members liked Opeth to some degree, but it's awesome to hear Petrucci talk about why he loves Opeth! 

[Mosh]

I remember reading somewhere that Myung was really into Watershed.

[Rattlehead]

I think the new album is excellent; probably my favorite since Ghost Reveries. There is not one weak track in my opinion.

Also, it is cool to read JP's comments on the band, although it does not surprise me at all that he likes them.

[SystematicThought]

I guess I was just more shocked that they were at the ADTOE mixing sessions. That was cool to read.

[Mladen]

I remember reading somewhere that Myung was really into Watershed.

Yeah, me too. And I also remember Jordan listed Heritage as one of his favorite albums of 2011, so James would probably be the only one that hasn't really commented on Opeth - or maybe I just don't know about it.

I guess I was just more shocked that they were at the ADTOE mixing sessions. That was cool to read.

I was surprised by this as well. Honestly, I had the impression that MP was the one that hung out with Mikael the most during the tours and I don't know if any other band member did. So to read that Mikael caught up with the other guys to listen to the music they made without MP was pretty cool.

[wolfking]

Picked up my copy of Pale Communion and am listening to it for the first time.  I'm not sure what to think.  I don't know if I like it or hate it.  I know Mikael seems to be against the metal thing, but I think it needs that contrast.  I hear little bits of classic Ghost Reveries style Opeth in here, but it just doesn't seem to get going.  It's needs the metal counterparts.

[King Postwhore]

Picked up my copy of Pale Communion and am listening to it for the first time.  I'm not sure what to think.  I don't know if I like it or hate it.  I know Mikael seems to be against the metal thing, but I think it needs that contrast.  I hear little bits of classic Ghost Reveries style Opeth in here, but it just doesn't seem to get going.  It's needs the metal counterparts.

While I'm really loving this album, I do agree they can still have that heavy crunch of guitars while still not growling.  That add dimension to the music.

[wolfking]

Picked up my copy of Pale Communion and am listening to it for the first time.  I'm not sure what to think.  I don't know if I like it or hate it.  I know Mikael seems to be against the metal thing, but I think it needs that contrast.  I hear little bits of classic Ghost Reveries style Opeth in here, but it just doesn't seem to get going.  It's needs the metal counterparts.

While I'm really loving this album, I do agree they can still have that heavy crunch of guitars while still not growling.  That add dimension to the music.

Yes.  I didn't mean they must have death growls and shit, cause I'm open for whatever the band does, but it seems to me that Mikael is purposely going out of his way not to incorporate the heavier Opeth style in any way.  Some heavier and more intense moments here would have made this pretty special.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Listening to the album for the first time now. I'm really liking it. Parts of it are kind of poppy, like "River". It's actually kind of funny contrasting something like "Goblin" with, I don't know, "Serenity Painted Death".

[Lynxo]

By the way, I listened to the two Heritage bonus tracks the other day. I really love both of them, especially Face in the Snow. It's really beautiful.

[Dark Castle]

I like Pyre a lot more than Face in the Snow, but Face in the Snow is nice

[The Holy Tune]

I loved Faith In Others, it has a different sound to it while being very familiar to something I've heard a looong time ago. The way the song begins with the fade-in effect was what hit me first, had me shivering! But I still have to listen to it for about 100 times to really get what the song actually is like!

[PROGdrummer]

Just listened to My Arms, Your Hearse for the very first time today.

Its fantastic  revisited Still Life the day before and it kind of bored me.

[fadetoblackdude7]

After multiple listens, I can safely say that I LOVE this record. It seems to fly by every time I play it, doesn't seem like 55 minutes, more like 15. There' something about the songs on this one that seem to flow real well, and I think they will really come to life when performed live and I say bring it on!

Favs:
Moon Above, Sun Below
Voice Of Treason
Eternal Rains Will Come

[TioJorge]

Prog: Nice! On some days I can call it my favorite Opeth album. Madrigal is one of my favorite intermission songs as is the song it leads into, and the end of Karma always gets my roror goin'.

Great to hear, fade! I've been letting the album have a rest, I wanna revisit it during the fall on a very dreary day. Except Voice of Treason. By far and away one of my top favorite songs by the guys at this point. It's just so darkly groovy.

[PROGdrummer]

Prog: Nice! On some days I can call it my favorite Opeth album. Madrigal is one of my favorite intermission songs as is the song it leads into, and the end of Karma always gets my roror goin'.

Its been a while since I've heard an album where I love every single song instantly on my first listen through.
I woke up this morning to heavy rainfall and popped this album in on my way to work. The opening of Prologue was perfect. A great way to start my day