The Official Opeth Thread: New Album now streaming

[Jirpo]

Its my second fave Opeth cover, after BWP. Actually now that I think about it it may even be my favourite!

[skydivingninja]

it would be cool if they toured with another progressive/metal/etc act like Anathema,

Yes please!

Katatonia or Pain of Salvation as their guests.

No and no, thanks

[?]

SPOILERS about the album (stop reading here if you don't want to hear them!), I'll write them in small text:

Finnish Inferno magazine made a report from the pre-listening session of Heritage. The text is in Finnish, so here's a short summary:

-The album was played to journalists in 5.1 surround sound
-NO death metal or growling
-Some bands or styles the album reminded the journalist of: Sabbath, Beatles, jazz, King Crimson, Cream, Rainbow, Floyd, funk, Purple, Piirpauke, classical music, My Dying Bride, folk, Love, Jethro Tull, Maiden…
-Mikael said that he's been bored of death metal since 90's and its time is over for Opeth, and he's wanted to do this kind of album since when he was 20

[Zantera]

Sounds pretty interesting tbh.

[?]

I forgot to mention: the album is approximately 56 minutes long. (I guess mentioning length shouldn't ruin the listening experience!) Heritage was mastered by a guy who's worked with Pink Floyd and David Bowie (his name wasn't mentioned).

[Gadough]

No growling? I was worried about that. Oh well. If it worked for Damnation, it can work for this one as well. Maybe the no growling part will cause certain people to give it a chance. *stares at Nick*

[Fran521]

Damnation has no growls and it's very good, but...I'm disappointed

[jonny108]

I am very excited!

[Zydar]

Wow, interesting news!

[Global Laziness]

Damnation has no growls and it's very good, but...I'm disappointed

Same...

[Portrucci]

I have a feeling this album is gonna be a love it or hate it....on current news I think I'll be in the former camp. I'm a big fan of that 70s sound, but I know quite a few people aren't. Hopefully it retains a lot of modern touches too.

[skydivingninja]

This will be verrrry interesting indeed.  Non-ballad, proggy Opeth album with no death metal or growling is going to be weird as heck.  I hope its good!

[BanksD]

I'm all of the sudden not looking forward to this album....




like at all.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I'm so excited for this. No death metal is kind of sad, but Mikael is one of my favorite songwriters, and I want to see what else he can do. He'll never do another death metal record as good as SL or BWP, so why not move on?

Only possible problem here is that his vocal range is usually quite limited, so there is always a risk of his voice becoming monotonous.

[Quadrochosis]

I love how some people are getting so butthurt over this.

HOW DARE A BAND EXPERIMENT WITH THEIR SOUND

[OsMosis2259]

There are def. some nuggets on that artwork

Stars represent the amount of albums that they have
The skulls are the past band members

[KevShmev]

I love how some people are getting so butthurt over this.

HOW DARE A BAND EXPERIMENT WITH THEIR SOUND

Exactly. 

I am very excited about this album, especially now.

[In The Name Of Rudess]

I love how some people are getting so butthurt over this.

HOW DARE A BAND EXPERIMENT WITH THEIR SOUND

This. I mean, if it were a pop band I'd be fine with it, but a prog band... Prog is just not the type of genre where you can experiment and change your sound.

[Perpetual Change]

I love how some people are getting so butthurt over this.

HOW DARE A BAND EXPERIMENT WITH THEIR SOUND

Exactly. 

I am very excited about this album, especially now.

Me too. I love me some Opeth, but after already owning Still Life, Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, and Watershed, I really don't see the point in them doing another death prog metal album. There's four great ones right there. They can't really top that, so why bore everyone by trying?

[Sigz]

I'm all for experimentation, but frankly most of Opeth's experimentation outside the realm of their 'normal' sound hasn't impressed me all that much  And I really don't see what's experimental about hearkening back to forty year old music.

But of course, this is all based off an album cover and a few bullet points from some website, so we'll just have to wait and see.

[ACID_FOX]

After that cover and those "spoilers", my exitment levels have fucking soared. Seriously.

[glaurung]

Sigz, this is Mikael Akerfeldt we're talking about.

[ariich]

I'm so excited for this. No death metal is kind of sad, but Mikael is one of my favorite songwriters, and I want to see what else he can do. He'll never do another death metal record as good as SL or BWP, so why not move on?

Only possible problem here is that his vocal range is usually quite limited, so there is always a risk of his voice becoming monotonous.

He's one of my favourite singers, so I really couldn't disagree more.

[Ben_Jamin]

Oooo...this is gonna be interesting. How many fans will complain and say Opeth sold out.

[Gadough]

Oooo...this is gonna be interesting. How many fans will complain and say Opeth sold out.

That will depend on how long the songs are.

[Quadrochosis]

Oooo...this is gonna be interesting. How many fans will complain and say Opeth sold out.

Based on what we've already seen, about 95% of them.

I say good riddance.

[Gadough]

I don't see how anyone could accuse them of selling out. They're doing the exact opposite. Sure, they're changing their style, but they're actually moving into less-commercial territory. I'd say br00tal heavy music is much more "in" right now than retro 70's-style prog. People may not like the new direction, but I don't think anyone will cry "sellout!"

[Bombardana]

I don't really give a fuck what they do as long as it's good.

[Gorille85]

I kind of expected that there wouldn't be growls on it.

[Ħ]

I think this could be one of Opeth's best.

[Ravenheart]

I don't see how anyone could accuse them of selling out. They're doing the exact opposite. Sure, they're changing their style, but they're actually moving into less-commercial territory. I'd say br00tal heavy music is much more "in" right now than retro 70's-style prog. People may not like the new direction, but I don't think anyone will cry "sellout!"

I could easily see plenty of fans crying sellout. The term is usually applied, quite inappropriately, when a few narrow-minded fans rage over their favorite band not taking the direction they want them to take.

I'm very interested to hear the new record now. I'm also a little stunned by Mikael's comment that death metal is "over" for Opeth. This could be compared to Ulver departure from black metal or Anathema's departure from doom metal--not as extreme, sure, but the similarities are there.

[fadetoblackdude7]

....Did I miss something? Where are people getting confirmation that there's no growling on this disc?

But if it's true, it'll be good, as it is the great Opeth we're talking about. Watershed had less growling considerably, and it's still a great album, so I have complete faith.

EDIT: Nvm, I found the quote.

[DarkEternalNight]

Wow. That's pretty bold, I'm excited though.

[Zantera]

The whole 70's-thing is kinda popular now though, just take Pain of Salvation's Road Salt, lots of new bands sounding more "70's", and the fact that bands like The Beatles are having new waves of remastered albums and such, personally I'd say the music from the 70's hasn't been this 'popular' since the 70's itself.
Lots of bands that has been doing music for a while goes back to a bit older influences, as much as newer bands forming their sound a bit after how it used to sound.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing or that Opeth are selling out, because I'm really intrigued by the changes they're making.
Going back to a 70's type of sound could be considered "selling out", at least in the terms of that music being more hip now then a few years ago, but in the case with Opeth, I don't think that will be the case.
We all know that Mikael is heavily influenced by a lot of obscure older music, Captain Beefheart for example, so I'm fairly sure the new music will have a more 'odd' or 'unique' vibe to it. 

[Quadrochosis]

The whole 70's-thing is kinda popular now though, just take Pain of Salvation's Road Salt, lots of new bands sounding more "70's", and the fact that bands like The Beatles are having new waves of remastered albums and such, personally I'd say the music from the 70's hasn't been this 'popular' since the 70's itself.
Lots of bands that has been doing music for a while goes back to a bit older influences, as much as newer bands forming their sound a bit after how it used to sound.

I agree with this for the most part.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing or that Opeth are selling out, because I'm really intrigued by the changes they're making.
Going back to a 70's type of sound could be considered "selling out", at least in the terms of that music being more hip now then a few years ago, but in the case with Opeth, I don't think that will be the case.
We all know that Mikael is heavily influenced by a lot of obscure older music, Captain Beefheart for example, so I'm fairly sure the new music will have a more 'odd' or 'unique' vibe to it. 

I don't agree with this.