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

[?]

I don't think a name change would be the best idea. As Onno said, Heritage is a natural progression from the previous few albums, plus the other guys are clearly supportive of the new direction and Mikael has always been the main writer anyway, so it's not like Opeth suddenly turned into Mikael Åkerfeldt and the Hired Hands. Besides, it's clear that they still like playing the old stuff live: if you take a look at the recent setlist for the Australian tour, you'll see that there are only 2 songs from Heritage while Ghost Reveries is represented with 3 and only the first 2 albums have been ignored completely.

[ZKX-2099]

ITT: people continue to piss and moan cause Opeth isn't making the kind of music anymore that they want.

That's a bullshit statement. How many people bitched about Damnation?

The problem with Heritage is that it is apocalypticaly boring. Just bad songwriting.

[Zantera]

I wasn't a fan of Opeth when Damnation came out, but it would feel logical to assume that Damnation got a fair amount of haters when it came out. Apart from Heritage and Damnation both having no growls, there's really few similarities between them soundwise, so it's not really weird if someone would like one of the albums but not the other.

[KevShmev]

No one said he had to do anything in the first place; they just suggested it. Also, your comment "Opeth can be anything he wants it to be" says it all. It's basically been the Mike show ever since Watershed anyway. Here's some stuff that I'm fairly certain you're aware of but I'll inject my take on some details to broaden the perspective surrounding them:

Ghost Reveries: Opeth is in their golden lineup. Though only having Mike and Peter as original members, the Martins feel way more like original members than Anders and Nordin since Lopez had 6 albums under his belt at that point and Mendez had 5 since he missed out on playing on MAYH since he joined when they were either recording it or close enough to that stage that Mike ended up playing bass in the interest of time constraints.

Watershed: Peter and Lopez are gone, leaving us with just Mike and Mendez as long-tenured members. It was a pretty stark departure from the MAYH-GR sound which already had it feeling a fair bit unOpethish especially with having something as bright and ballady as Coil for the opener. Also, Hex Omega sounded way different from anything they'd done before.

Heritage: They're now on their 2nd keyboardist, the metal is completely gone, and the production is totally different from all albums before it


I'm not calling these musical differences positive or negative but just pointing them out as something that, when combined with the personnel instability, is more than enough reason for a name change to be a completely reasonable idea. The business angle really has no place in this either since potential earnings have nothing to do with artistic merit and this whole debate is about creative direction.

Fine, if you want to discuss creative direction, I already addressed that.  No band in the world should be tied down to a particular sound just because that is what the fans want or because some consider it heresy to ditch what was their core sound.  I know some don't want him tainting the Opeth name with music they feel isn't really Opeth, but I give credit to Akerfeldt for figuring out that what we the fans want doesn't really matter.  If that is the influence of his buddy Steven Wilson, well, I would say that is a good influence.  The true artists in the music world are usually the ones who do what they want to do and without giving two shits what anyone else thinks.

[black_biff_stadler]

I didn't say they should be tied down to one sound. I said that, due to the combo of their seemingly complete move away from metal combined with the fact that 60% of the band has only been on board for 2 of their 10 albums, that there is virtually nothing about this band tied to what Opeth actually is/was. The angle of people saying "They've always done things differently from album to album" is a copout too since that just sweeps under the rug the fact that they are completely different now. From Orchid to GR, we always had a mix of death metal and softer music where neither ever accounted for more than a third of the overall sound (except for Damnation), so no, Heritage is very far from being representative of Opeth's true sound, good or bad (I do like the album somewhat btw.)

[Onno]

Heritage isn't representative at all of Opeth's core sound, that's true. But the one important thing that ties this band to what Opeth was before and has been since the start is Mikael. He writes almost everything. Of course, with different band members things sound differently, but it's mainly his writing that caused the changes in Opeth's sound during their history.

[Paris is Burning]

if you don't like Heritage don't listen to it

[gazinwales]

I went to see Katatonia/Opeth show in Sydney last Friday.
They played an old theatre, sound was good, Katatonia were brilliant.
I left after about 60 minutes of Opeth, I was feeling pretty tired and to be honest, apart from MA in between song banter, Opeth were boring.
I don't know how long they had been on tour, but they seemed to be going through the motions.
Every song seem to drag on forever and after a hour, I couldn't take anymore and I was off.

[Dark Castle]

if you don't like Heritage don't listen to it

People can still voice their dislike..

[black_biff_stadler]

if you don't like Heritage don't listen to it

People can still voice their dislike..

Seriously. A post conveying butt hurt about the perceived butt hurt of others ain't that productive.

[TioJorge]

I like Akerfeldt's nostrils and think that they're fine the way they are. You guys are nucking futs.

[skydivingninja]

Heritage is just okay.  It has some good moments, but plenty of boring ones as well, and on the whole I don't think the sudden 180 really payed off for them.  Very little of it sounded like a proggy version of Opeth, it sounded like Opeth mimicking 70s prog most of the time. 

More than anything, I'll just be sad if this is the last we'll see of a metal Opeth.  I'm seriously considering not going to the Raleigh show if I see the setlist and its mostly softer songs again.  First time was fun and exciting, but the second time, by the time they got to the two heavy songs at the end of the set, everyone wasn't into it after hearing mostly soft stuff.  You gotta mix it up, man!

[Zantera]

From the last I've seen, they've only played 2 Heritage songs in a 11 songs-set, with at least 5 songs containing harsh vocals. They seem to be mixing it up live at least.

[skydivingninja]

From the last I've seen, they've only played 2 Heritage songs in a 11 songs-set, with at least 5 songs containing harsh vocals. They seem to be mixing it up live at least.

Yeah I've noticed that, and the heavy songs (except BWP) are ones that feature clean vocals a lot.  I'm totally cool with seeing a live set like that. 

[black_biff_stadler]

If they don't play Into the Frost of Winter, I'm coming straight home and burning all of my Opeth gear.

[BlackInk]

Maybe it's has already been discussed but anyone have any clue to what that "*opeth logo* spring 2013 - something's coming" on Roadrunner's youtube means?

[Buddyhunter1]

Maybe it's has already been discussed but anyone have any clue to what that "*opeth logo* spring 2013 - something's coming" on Roadrunner's youtube means?

It's the upcoming North American tour that was announced a while ago.

[BlackInk]

Maybe it's has already been discussed but anyone have any clue to what that "*opeth logo* spring 2013 - something's coming" on Roadrunner's youtube means?

It's the upcoming North American tour that was announced a while ago.

Oh, hoped it'd be something a bit more interesting.. To me.

[skydivingninja]

So I listened to the setlists they're playing in Australia and everything works really well.  I'd be more than happy to see that in Raleigh.

[Onno]

If they don't play Into the Frost of Winter, I'm coming straight home and burning all of my Opeth gear.

[DebraKadabra]

If they don't play Into the Frost of Winter, I'm coming straight home and mailing all of my Opeth gear to Deb.

Aw!  You're so sweet!

[?]

opteh shud play eternal soul torture at every gig!!!1111

[DebraKadabra]

 

[Zydar]

OPHET Y U NO COM TO INDONESIA!!

[Onno]

OTEP BLACK ROOS IMORTAL!

[Sketchy]

POET HTE FUNNERUL PERTRET

[?]

OTEP BLACK ROOS IMORTAL!

HEVY METHYL! BLAK ROSE IMORTL!

[Onno]

OTEP BLACK ROOS IMORTAL!

HEVY METHYL! BLAK ROSE IMORTL!

SLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Silver Tears]

POET HTE FUNNERUL PERTRET

I really don't know why I laughed so much at this 

[Sketchy]

  BLERK!

[Buddyhunter1]

windowpane?

[Onno]

windowpane?

FCK YAH WYUDOWPAAYNNNNN

[TioJorge]

holy shit

[BlackInk]

https://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/news/opeth-fredrik-20130329/?cmpid=20130329/opeth/facebook/news-link/writing&utm_source=roadrunner&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=opeth-writing-03292013

Opeth is currently writing material for their next album.

[adace]

https://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/news/opeth-fredrik-20130329/?cmpid=20130329/opeth/facebook/news-link/writing&utm_source=roadrunner&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=opeth-writing-03292013

Opeth is currently writing material for their next album.

Cool! Kinda wish they'd go back to metal, but as long as it's different from Heritage I'm ok with that (not that Heritage was bad, just not what I was hoping for).