The official Opeth thread v. Bring on the new album!

[Zydar]

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

Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeld shared an optimistic stance about the current state of prog music, attributing a lot of its popularity today to Dream Theater.
Chatting with Team Rock after receiving the Metal God award at this year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards, Mikael acknowledged that prog is coming back to the foreground these days.

"I think Dream Theater has a lot to do with that," he said. "When they came out in the early '90s, they spawned a lot of bands, younger guys who started playing. We were a death metal band at the time."

[Mladen]

Mikael knows what's up. 

[?]

I preordered the CD + T-shirt bundle of Pale Communion I have no use for the bonus Bluray, but whatever...

[Orthogonal]

Boy have I been living under a rock for a while and not keeping up on the music scene. Just heard Cusp of Eternity and Eternal Rains Will Come for the first time. It think it's an improvement over anything I heard off of Heritage, but it's still nothing like I want to hear from them. I won't spite Mikael for deciding to go in a different direction. Whether it's because he has a hard time doing the death vox or he has just grown tired of it or grown out of that phase of his life, that's fine, it's just disappointing for me.

I can live without the death metal in Opeth music since they Akerfeldt has written some truly beautiful tunes, but the songs now seem to lack the wide range of contrasts and juxtaposition, the mesmerizing transitions and a general lack of hooks. I'll still probably pick up CoE, but can't say I'm looking forward to it like I would any past Opeth album. Having said that, I think there is promise in the album being good for what it is and there was some really cool idea's and things I liked in both songs. Had Opeth broken up and Akerfledt started a new band I would probably really be digging this, it's just hard for me to get excited for this over the legacy that the name Opeth brings to the table.

[Xanthul]

You can label it in your music player as Opet

[gazinwales]

Yup agreed, he should have kept Opeth, Opeth and stuff such as Heriturd and the new one, be a solo project, or issued under a different name.

[Big Hath]

oh dear, not this again

[425]

Steven Wilson should have kept Porcupine Tree Porcupine Tree and released In Absentia under a different name.

[senecadawg2]

oh dear, not this again

Seriously. Who cares what name it is released under? The only purpose it would serve to release it under a different name would be to appease those who can't handle the fact that Opeth has undergone dramatic stylistic change and are unable to approach each album with a 'clean slate' mentality. Because at the end of the day, if this is what Opeth wants to do, then this is what Opeth will do; and the name attached to the product means next to nothing as far as I'm concerned.

[Zantera]

Yeah the name thing is silly. You have many bands who continue making the same kind of album 40 times and get progressively worse, and you have bands who try to change style. Is there really a difference in Opeth making Heritage (which was mostly mixed reviews) or a shitty progressive death metal album? Both would be disappointments anyways.

[?]

oh dear, not this again

Seriously. Who cares what name it is released under? The only purpose it would serve to release it under a different name would be to appease those who can't handle the fact that Opeth has undergone dramatic stylistic change and are unable to approach each album with a 'clean slate' mentality. Because at the end of the day, if this is what Opeth wants to do, then this is what Opeth will do; and the name attached to the product means next to nothing as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah the name thing is silly. You have many bands who continue making the same kind of album 40 times and get progressively worse, and you have bands who try to change style. Is there really a difference in Opeth making Heritage (which was mostly mixed reviews) or a shitty progressive death metal album? Both would be disappointments anyways.

Amen.

[The King in Crimson]

If Heritage was released under a different band name it would still suck just as much, but less people would care. At least for me, changing the band name wouldn't suddenly allow me to see Heritage in a new, more positive light.

[Dark Castle]

If Heritage was released under a different band name it would still suck just as much, but less people would care.

This is what I'm getting at. Suddenly Opeth's name isn't tarnished to many and fans who extremely dislike Opeth's sudden jerk off direction into 70's prog porn don't are, because it's just Mike exploring another outlet, sorry if some of you find that "Fucking Stupid".

[425]

I really don't see how Heritage is some vastly different and unexpected musical direction. Hints of it are all over Opeth's older works, especially Ghost Reveries and Watershed. I'm listening to Hours of Wealth right now, and the song reminds me a lot of Heritage and specifically Famine. A lot. There are parts even on Blackwater Park that sound like Heritage. Heritage is Mikael basically stripping out the metal and focusing largely on one or two aspects of his style.

All this is not to say that you have to like Heritage (though I do, a lot) or to imply something negative about you if you don't, because I don't believe in doing that. I just mean to say... it's not like they started playing fucking polka or house music or something. They definitely changed their music in a noticeable way, no question, but there's still a lot of elements in the new songs that are in older songs too, and besides, they've been foreshadowing this change for at least two albums.

And besides that, note my quip about In Absentia above. It was a joke, but there's some truth in it. I think the only reason no one ever really had that conversation is because In Absentia was pretty much universally heralded as an amazing album. If it had been less well-received... I would bet that plenty of people would say "I wish Steven had made a new project to do the metal stuff and kept Porcupine Tree the way it was."

[Dark Castle]

I don't really feel like starting this whole debate again when I'm obviously one of the few who feel the way I do.

[425]

Okay, that's cool.

[King Postwhore]

DC, as a fan that does not like growls on a whole, I do agree the last album was underwhelming for Opeth.  I'll reserve judgment on the next album until I hear it.

[Xenon]

I like growls, but don't mind the lack of growls in Opeth. Having said that, I didn't enjoy Heritage not for that reason but I'm not sure why. Just don't enjoy it. But i totally can see why some people love it, and the vocals are impressive AF.
Im really expecting Pale Communion, and for what i've already heard I think i'm gonna love it 

[ariich]

If Heritage was released under a different band name it would still suck just as much, but less people would care.

This is what I'm getting at. Suddenly Opeth's name isn't tarnished to many and fans who extremely dislike Opeth's sudden jerk off direction into 70's prog porn don't are, because it's just Mike exploring another outlet, sorry if some of you find that "Fucking Stupid".

I don't see how Opeth's name should be "tarnished". As was pointed out, if they'd released an album that was stylistically the same as their older stuff (which itself changed quite a bit, but that's a separate point) but the same as Heritage in terms of songwriting and general reception, why should that be any better?

[Dark Castle]

Not up to discuss it, if you go back and read all of those long paragraphs I wrote last month or so, you'd at least see my point, even if you don't agree with it. I've explained plenty before, and don't really feel like typing it all out again just for you guys to insult my opinion.

[senecadawg2]

For what it's worth (not much), I wasn't trying to insult your opinion. I think it's a perfectly reasonable opinion and I wouldn't be upset in the slightest if all future albums were released under a different moniker. I guess the biggest thing for me is that it wouldn't make too much of a difference to me if Mikael Akerfeldt released a terrible album as 'Opeth' or as anything else and I wouldn't listen to it either way. My apathy about the name is, I'm sure, rooted in the fact that I was likely never as invested in Opeth's music as you were/are.

[Ben_Jamin]

I think if Heritage didn't have the '70's style production,  it'd be appreciated more.

But that production style gives it its charm, or in this case eerieness to the point of being an uncomfortable listen.  Which is what I consider to be Opeth, beauty in evil.

[Dark Castle]

It's not the production, it's the lack of anything going on for over 70% of the album but mindless noodling and jerking off.

[Ben_Jamin]

The way you word your thoughts....

Anyways, I don't get what you meab by jerking off, cause I don't hear that at all, just melodys with nice bass grooves and drums.

[Dark Castle]

I guess I meant jerking off to the 70's, but it just reeks of trying way to hard to emulate some 70's bands with bad results.

[425]

Maybe I have a leg up in liking this album because I am not familiar with any of the bands it supposedly emulates, but still, I think this is really fantastic disc. The only song that I don't enjoy that much is Slither, but the other 9 songs are all fantastic to my ear. Especially Folklore.

[Ben_Jamin]

I'm curious, what bands would you consider them trying emulate?

Also, I enjoy heritage but not all the songs. I don't like The Devils Orchard, the one song considered good.

[Dark Castle]

I can't really name any bands, but it just feels like recycled, weak as fuck 70's prog, save for The Devil's Orchard, I Feel The Dark, and Nepenthe.

[Ben_Jamin]

I guess he wore his influences a bit too much on his sleeve, for you.

Honestly, if Opeth did release this as something like Opeth presents, or just put it under a new project name, the concerts wouldn't have been as bad with the fans.

[Xenon]

I guess I meant jerking off to the 70's, but it just reeks of trying way to hard to emulate some 70's bands with bad results.

I kinda agree to this. The same is happening to Steven Wilson last record.

[PolarizeMe]

I guess I meant jerking off to the 70's, but it just reeks of trying way to hard to emulate some 70's bands with bad results.

I kinda agree to this. The same is happening to Steven Wilson last record.

As much it pains me to say it since I'm a hardcore Steven Wilson fan, it's obvious he's evolving into the thing he loathed 20 years ago.

[TioJorge]

Obviously.









  Opinions. Who KNEW they could be so fun!?

[PolarizeMe]

Well, maybe that was a wrong choice of words on my part. But, I agree with some about the '70s prog influence on the last Opeth and Steven Wilson records. It's a hit or miss thing.


Moving on...

[Dark Castle]

IMO Steven Wilson knows what he's doing, you can hear his influences clearly, but his music feels very fresh.

[KevShmev]

I can't really name any bands, but it just feels like recycled, weak as fuck 70's prog, save for The Devil's Orchard, I Feel The Dark, and Nepenthe.

Okay, posts like this do not help your cause.

You: Heritage sounds like a bunch of 70s prog bands.

Someone else: What bands?

You: I don't know.

See what I mean?