The official Opeth thread v. In Cauda Venenum

[?]

Still going to wait for the CD, but thanks

This.

Edit: Looks like it's only available in the UK anyway...

[KevShmev]

We can probably lock the other thread now!

Anyway, a few listens in, I am liking this.  It's definitely much better than Heritage, which I liked, but didn't love.  The songwriting is much stronger on this one, from the sound of it so far.  Many more listens to come...

[Dark Castle]

*Dark Castle posts about disagreeing with everybody, lays down their opinions on the album*
*A few pages worth of debate happens*
*Debate ends in amicable fashion, Dark Castle and everyone else agrees to disagree*

Saving everybody some time.

[PROGdrummer]

*Dark Castle posts about disagreeing with everybody, lays down his opinions on the album*
*A few pages worth of debate happens*
*Debate ends in amicable fashion, Dark Castle and everyone else agrees to disagree*

Saving everybody some time.

Make up your mind! Are you male or female?? 
unless you'd rather choose not to identify

[Dark Castle]

The short and simple version:

-Identify as female
-Still bearded and burly(aka beer gut)
-Still okay if called he/his/etc, and I'm still just so used to using those that I probably do most of the time.
/FIN

[Podaar]

A few listens in and I'm really enjoying it. Strangely, not as much as I did with Heritage during the initial listening faze. Maybe that means this one will have more staying power after it sinks in? Pale Communion is similar enough sonically to the previous album that there is a little twinge of 'been there, done that'. Still, there are surprising moments and elements to help make the songs memorable.

So far, highlights for me are:
Eternal Rains Will Come
Cusp of Eternity
Goblin
River (the guitar work on this one is stunning).

Many more listens to come...

Yup

[KevShmev]

Ah, another one of those dumb ass bad indexing decisions regarding when to separate tracks.  The last 10 seconds of Voice of Treason is actually the first 10 seconds of Faith in Others.   

[Zantera]

I don't mind stuff like that because I only listen to the albums pretty much. If I was like my sister (who only shuffles tracks), then I would probably have a bigger issue with it. I think the best is when the end of one song leads into the next, but without having the actual intro to the next track as the outro. I know there was one song on Casualties of Cool where the song started at the end of the previous tracks, and that feels weird. With this, I don't mind the 10 seconds that much.

[TioJorge]

I'm still loving the album, especially Voice of Treason. But I gotta say, I think overall I now like Heritage a bit more, if only because it's more up my ally of the atmospheric ambiance. The only track I really could do without is Moon Above. Otherwise, as I said, it's not my favorite Opeth album but it's up there, and I think it's yet another great entry in a path to find a new sound. I don't think it's solidified yet, but they're getting there.

[Buddyhunter1]

I think overall I now like Heritage a bit more, if only because it's more up my ally of the atmospheric ambiance.

Thank god I'm not the only one.

[Podaar]

I think overall I now like Heritage a bit more, if only because it's more up my ally of the atmospheric ambiance.

Thank god I'm not the only one.

So far, I'd have to agree. Time will tell if Pale Communion overtakes Heritage but somehow I doubt it.

I will say, I really dig how PC sounds! The drums are awesome and the dynamics between quieter moments and the more energetic moments is exactly how I like my records.

[bout to crash]

I'm only on the second track, but so far I like it!

[Dr. DTVT]

After two spins, I don't think I'll ever love this album.  It lost my attention around the fifteen minute mark.  I mentally checked out both times.  I don't see it having much of a future for me.  BORING.

[Sacul]

After two spins, I don't think I'll ever love this album.  It lost my attention around the fifteen minute mark.  I mentally checked out both times.  I don't see it having much of a future for me.  BORING.

Sadly, this. There are some decent moments though, but that's all for me.

[ChuckSteak]

Same here. Bland, forgetful. Worst Opeth album, imo.

[PROGdrummer]

I've been thinking about this for awhile, but maybe Opeth should find a designated second vocalist to do all the harsh vocals live, and maybe even in-studio. I'm not sure if Mikael would be interested, but it could potentially work out wonderfully. You would just have to find someone who can do old-Opeth growls justice.

My personal recommendation would be fellow Swedish vocalist Christian Älvestam (Solution .45, Miseration, ex-Scar Symmetry). He's a great vocal talent, clean and harsh. His low guttural growls rival Akerfeldts and sound amazing. It would be almost a perfect replacement, imo.  and again, his Swedish brotherhood would be a good fit for the rest of the band

[Dr. DTVT]

I've been thinking about this for awhile, but maybe Opeth should find a designated second vocalist to do all the harsh vocals live, and maybe even in-studio. I'm not sure if Mikael would be interested, but it could potentially work out wonderfully. You would just have to find someone who can do old-Opeth growls justice.

I had the same thought too for a minute today, but I really think the problem is that Mikael doesn't want to or feel like writing songs in the "classical" Opeth vein.  We now have two Opeth albums and one Storm Corrosion album that pretty much say he has moved on from that heavier, harsher style that so many of us like.

[The King in Crimson]

I'm still loving the album, especially Voice of Treason. But I gotta say, I think overall I now like Heritage a bit more, if only because it's more up my ally of the atmospheric ambiance. The only track I really could do without is Moon Above. Otherwise, as I said, it's not my favorite Opeth album but it's up there, and I think it's yet another great entry in a path to find a new sound. I don't think it's solidified yet, but they're getting there.

Man, I feel bad for your ally, whoever they may be.

Got my copy today so I'm working listen number one at the moment. I'm on "Goblin" and I don't hate anything yet so that's good.

I will say, Axenrot is a fucking beast on this album, this album sounds great, and "Eternal Rains Will Come" was better a second time.

[Dr. DTVT]

I'm almost through my third listen and I really wish it would just get done so I can put on one of my other new albums on.  If you would have told me in 2005 when Ghost Reveries came out that I would use "boring" to describe an Opeth album, I wouldn't have believed you.  But here I am saying it...for the second time.

[PROGdrummer]

I've been thinking about this for awhile, but maybe Opeth should find a designated second vocalist to do all the harsh vocals live, and maybe even in-studio. I'm not sure if Mikael would be interested, but it could potentially work out wonderfully. You would just have to find someone who can do old-Opeth growls justice.

I had the same thought too for a minute today, but I really think the problem is that Mikael doesn't want to or feel like writing songs in the "classical" Opeth vein.  We now have two Opeth albums and one Storm Corrosion album that pretty much say he has moved on from that heavier, harsher style that so many of us like.

I love the new material, but I was just thinking, Mikael could continue to write and perform his newer prog material, but they could get a secondary vocalist live to do harsh vocals so they could still play about 45 minutes of pre-Heritage material to keep everyone happy.
I personally didnt get into Opeth until about 5 years ago, so it kind of sucks to think that I'll never get a chance to hear any of my favorite songs from Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries or Watershed live  :/

[Mosh]

Wait are they retiring those songs or something? What makes you think they aren't gonna play those songs live? I saw Opeth on the last tour and there was plenty of death metal. I think he's fine playing that stuff live, he even said before that he'll keep doing it since that's what the fans want to hear. He just doesn't write it anymore.

There seems to be a bit of a misconception that Opeth is trying to erase their history but that clearly isn't happening. I really don't see them ever ceasing to perform older material live.

[Buddyhunter1]

They haven't retired the growls for live shows, at least not yet. The last tour had plenty of them and in a recent interview Mikael said that the next tour won't be avoiding them completely. Thank god.

[PROGdrummer]

They haven't retired the growls for live shows, at least not yet. The last tour had plenty of them and in a recent interview Mikael said that the next tour won't be avoiding them completely. Thank god.

Well, Mikael's voice is fading, and it's not going to last forever. I was just considering how much longer he'd be willing to play it due to it being rough on his voice. Isn't that one of the main issues concerning that band? Or am i just totally imagining that?

[Mosh]

I don't think they'll ever retire growls live. Say what you will about Mikael but he knows who his audience is. He doesn't seem to care so much when it comes to making albums, since he clearly writes music for himself, but when playing live he caters to his audience. In the best way possible.

His voice deteriorating is another issue and it'll be interesting to see how that plays out, but for now I don't think that's something to worry about.

[PolarizeMe]

Mikael once said in the Blackwater Park Lecacy Edition DVD documentary that he couldn't picture himself growling at 40 (keep in mind the video was shot in 2001) or something to that extent. He's now 40 and while he can still growl, there's no doubt that it's deteriorated over the years.

Interesting to hear that there'll be some songs with growls on the upcoming tour. While I'm gonna guess that they'll play most of PC live, I bet there'll be no more than 2 songs with growls in the set.

[Onno]

Just watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10O0SjsnLZ0 (Demon of the Fall live at Metaldays 2014)

I thought Mikael's growling was rather good, better than normal nowadays. He even did some higher ones, which he normally doesn't do too often (i.e. he mostly doesn't do the ones in Heir Apparent).

[Zydar]

A nice interview with Mikael and Fredrik.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeZXhKpTFYY&list=UUTE9WvFpyhfhSq-YiXxycsA

[Onno]

Yeah, that was a good one.

Also Zydar, I don't know for how long now you've had that 'Lemon curry?' thing, but I only just spotted it and it's great 

[Zydar]

Also Zydar, I don't know for how long now you've had that 'Lemon curry?' thing, but I only just spotted it and it's great 

You caught the Python reference

[Onno]

Yeah, it's great

[Riitasointi]

Well now I've got myself to listen to this a couple times more, and what was initially a hopeful and positive vibe for the album is pretty much gone now sadly    Heritage was okay for me, not very good but not bad either, and I really wanted this record to be "what Heritage should have been". After some listens, I really can't understand how some people think Pale Communion has superior songwriting to Heritage, more coherent to be precise. To me this album is just messy and lacks ideas. There are some good moments and I'd say I rather enjoy the first two tracks and River, while Moon Above Sun Below has some nice sections. But as a whole it just isn't that good and it's makes me sad, I really wanted this record to be good. I'll keep listening to it some more though, but now as I've gone back to Opeth's older stuff as well PC just sounds really uninteresting in comparison.

Like someone said earlier, I really couldn't have imagined this 4 years ago but the new Opeth album is boring. Again.

[ZKX-2099]

Yeah another boring release.

Time for me to be moving on I guess. I'll always have the classics.

[black_biff_stadler]

Mike's songwriting approach seems to remind me of the same kind of obsessiveness involved with anorexia (this is strictly a comparison, I'm not implying he actually has an eating disorder.) Similar to how an anorexic person needlessly obsesses over losing more weight despite the fact that they don't need to, Mike seems to try to keep out-progging each prior album to the detriment of the songs' level of cohesiveness. It's like he thinks the can't-fail solution to every song is COUNTLESS UNPREDICTABLE TRANSITIONS!!!

[Dr. DTVT]

I know it is not quite like Opeth, but man do Ihsahn albums scratch that Opeth itch, with a lot wicked sax thrown in there.  Also, Mikael has worked with Ihsahn.

[ariich]

Mike's songwriting approach seems to remind me of the same kind of obsessiveness involved with anorexia (this is strictly a comparison, I'm not implying he actually has an eating disorder.) Similar to how an anorexic person needlessly obsesses over losing more weight despite the fact that they don't need to, Mike seems to try to keep out-progging each prior album to the detriment of the songs' level of cohesiveness. It's like he thinks the can't-fail solution to every song is COUNTLESS UNPREDICTABLE TRANSITIONS!!!

Are you suggesting that this is a new feature of Opeth's music? It has ALWAYS been there, as prominent as it is now.