Fun Stuff > BAND
Opeth Discussion
Storm Rider:
Opeth is good and all, but I just feel they're way overrated. Like, I listen to them plenty, but I don't understand why so many people are like 'OMG BEST BAND EVAR'. Agalloch essentially does the same thing (folky post-metal) way better.
And I fucking love Arsis. I haven't listened to their newest yet, but A Celebration of Guilt is amazing. They sound so brutal without even tuning down very far.
!!!CPAOI!!!:
--- Quote from: 10101110 on 16 Nov 2006, 08:52 ---Mikael blows me away with his ability to seamlessly bounce from cookie monster type vocals to clean vocals and back again.
--- End quote ---
I agree. His clean vocals are good, but what realy impress me are his death vocals. They completely lack the "cookie monster" grunt that makes a lot of other death vocalists sound lame. It's just intense, I think he really stands out as one of the best death vocalists out there.
--- Quote from: Dimmukane on 16 Nov 2006, 09:34 ---used to like them, when I thought the Gothenburg scene was king. I still enjoy them, Ghost Reveries has some really sick drumming on it. But nowadays, I tend to listen to less repetitive stuff, or Arsis - A Diamond For Disease. That song is 13 minutes long, repeats itself just as much as Opeth, but somehow remains catchy. It's much heavier, though.
--- End quote ---
I don't think it's a good idea to lump Opeth in with the Gothenburg scene. Sure they arose from it and influenced/have been influenced by it, but what they put together is so much more complex in terms of songwriting, mood, dynamics and theme than most Gothenburg acts. I'm not saying that they're "too good" to have them tied in with your opinion on Gothenburg metal, I'm saying they've partaken a little too deeply of the prog juice to really be comparable.
Secondly, Arsis melt faces and destroy minds. But you're right, Arsis are MUCH more brutal and I wouldn't listen to Arsis in place of Opeth because they're accomplish two completely different things musically.
--- Quote from: Storm Rider on 16 Nov 2006, 11:25 ---Opeth is good and all, but I just feel they're way overrated. Like, I listen to them plenty, but I don't understand why so many people are like 'OMG BEST BAND EVAR'. Agalloch essentially does the same thing (folky post-metal) way better.
And I fucking love Arsis. I haven't listened to their newest yet, but A Celebration of Guilt is amazing. They sound so brutal without even tuning down very far.
--- End quote ---
I agree that people need to get off of Opeth's collective dick, but that doesn't affect my love of the music. But I could see how Opeth could be someone's favorite metal band, they're doing something great (IMHO) in a way that nobody else is.
Which brings be to my next point: I really don't like it when people say that Agalloch is "better" than Opeth. As a huge fan of both bands I feel that, while they both produce long songs with dramatic mood shifts, the mood projected by their respective music is competely different. The way they approach songwriting is different, as are the lyrical and musical themes. I don't hear but traces of Agalloch's folk fixation in most of Opeth's work, and Agalloch simply aren't as technical or visceral as Opeth. Additionally, Agalloch's atmospheric post-rock fixations don't really crop up in Opeth's work, who I would still classify as a progressive DM act. Basically, I feel like they get lumped in together because they play exended, proggy versions of their respective styles of extreme metal, and that this isn't a good basis for doing so. Compare their similarities? Go ahead. Assume enough similarity of sound to choose one over the other? I think you're crazy.
Argue with me :-D
KharBevNor:
My real problem with Opeth is not their music, it's their over-ratedness. Hard facts guys:
1. Opeth aren't very original, and the praise for them steals a LOT of thunder from better acts. Listen to songs like 'Enigma' or 'Twilight' by Edge of Sanity, or early Amorphis, or Ulvers first two albums for their inspiration, listen to Agalloch and Woods of Ypres for their contemporaries.
2. Most of Opeths songs are made by writing 2 or 3 standard length songs and clumsily bridging them together. Blackwater Park would work just as well if it was 16 tracks.
3. There is nothing technically more impressive about Akerfeldts vocals than there is about Dani Filths.
That said, they have some damn good tracks and you would be doing yourself a favour if you caught Opeth live. I haven't, I confess, actually been bothered to check out anything past Blackwater Park.
!!!CPAOI!!!:
--- Quote from: KharBevNor on 16 Nov 2006, 20:25 ---My real problem with Opeth is not their music, it's their over-ratedness. Hard facts guys:
1. Opeth aren't very original, and the praise for them steals a LOT of thunder from better acts. Listen to songs like 'Enigma' or 'Twilight' by Edge of Sanity, or early Amorphis, or Ulvers first two albums for their inspiration, listen to Agalloch and Woods of Ypres for their contemporaries.
2. Most of Opeths songs are made by writing 2 or 3 standard length songs and clumsily bridging them together. Blackwater Park would work just as well if it was 16 tracks.
3. There is nothing technically more impressive about Akerfeldts vocals than there is about Dani Filths.
That said, they have some damn good tracks and you would be doing yourself a favour if you caught Opeth live. I haven't, I confess, actually been bothered to check out anything past Blackwater Park.
--- End quote ---
I can't really argue with the 1st point (I'm not familiar with those other acts with the exception of Agalloch) or the 3rd (I haven't heard Dani Filth sing) but I take issue with the 2nd. I don't find their bridging to be clumsy at all, and part of what makes an Opeth track for me is how each section complements the other elements of the composition. I've never listened to an Opeth song that I thought should have been divided into several distinct parts.
Dimmukane:
I'm not lumping them in with the Gothenburg scene. I liked Opeth at the same time as I thought the Gothenburg scene was awesome. That's all. And the whole thing with Arsis is, if I'm going to listen to something repetitive, it might as well be heavier and more interesting. The guitar break in A Diamond For Disease is fucking nuts, very few riffs come close to its awesomeness.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version