I've been following Opeth Since Still life, and now I have all their stuff and I'm happy I own the whole collection. I love damnation as a sorta different stride for Opeth, exploring more of their melodic talented side, excluding their hard metal talents. In my opinion, they did a great job of being melodic, softer and more honed in on the other side, what do you guys think of their new album?

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I love the more mellow stuff they do, espically the acoustic stuff...But I was dissapointed with the album. I don't know how to put it..but I didn't like the songs the made for it. I was hoping for a more "Patterns in the Ivy/Still day in the Sun/Face of Malinda" kind of sound. But I liked the fact that they are expermenting alot. Rare in metal bands.

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Yeah i know exactly what you mean, i thought the acoustics would be more akin to their other stuff, but after a little while I started realizing what the album was for and in of itself, and that they decided to elaborate more on the actual mellow side. After it grew on me it become my second favorite by them. first being Blackwater park just cause it was my first metal album ever and it was a random pick and I've loved it ever since.
I like where they took it after I realized they weren't trying to be mellow like the acoustics like in thier other songs.

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BWP was my first too.

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i agree w/everything, you guys know whats going on

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Thanks Father, I try to know everything about the subject i'm talking about before I open my mouth, learnt lessons in the past, haha

Also, have you heard any Katatonia or Nightingale?

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nothing by nightingale, a few Kat. songs here and there...nothing really stood out though.

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I liked Katatonia for their more modern type sound, I'd still classiy them as some form of metal just because of their earlier days when they were more black. I like them totally seperate from the regular metal I listen to.
The Nightingale could be said of the same. Dan Swano is one of Mikael Akerfeldts good friends so they share some of the same talents, one of them ebign a good clean singing voice, the Nightingale is all Swano's clean stuff, but its still good. Not every song on NG is awesome, but a few really stick out. If i had to place money I'd still stick with Opeth Bloodbath and Edge Of Sanity

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I like older Katatonia. Check out October Tide, you'd love it.

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October tide? Thats a will do, Is that one of the earlier Albums that also had Akerfeldt on it by any chance? I've heard he's on it but I dunno if he sings or produced or what.
I'll have to get it online because my stupid Newbury Comics doesn't carry older Katatonia, and I was the only one who got a copy of Vital Remains Dechristianize

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Thats not too bad of an album.

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yeah I like it. The albums I have by Katatonia are Viva Emptiness, Last fair deal gone down, Tonights Decision and Discouraged Ones. out of all those Last fair deal has to be my favorite

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i have to say that iverall i like Deliverance the best, but still life comes in a CLOSE second

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i thought Damnation was a pretty good album, but i was hoping for more of a "harvest/face of melinda/to bid you farewell" sound as well. but it's still a good album to listen to if you want to relax/chill out.

btw, has anyone picked up the "lamentations: live..." DVD? i just got it a couple days ago and i think it kicks ass, although there are a few too many shots of mikael's nostrils....

although there are a few too many shots of mikael's nostrils...."
lol
I've yet to pick it up, but I want to soon, I take it its well worth..
actually scratch that, that was a stupid question.
If I had to rank Opeth from my favorites, 1 being the best and 7 being still totally awesome, i'd say it goes as such:
1.BWP
2.Damnation
3.Deliverance
4.Morningrise
5.Still life
6.Orchid
7.My arms your hearse.
that was tough to make a choice on though, i revised it so many times haha.

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No no, October tide is a band. It's a side project with 2 of the Katatonia members and some other dudes. I like them better than Kat. Great Doom Metal with alot of feeling.

And wasn't this thread just about Damnation?

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heh hard to choose, i like each one for different reasons
voted morningrise just because it feels epic to me

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yeah the Tide is pretty good...my dying bride style for the most part.

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blackwater park for me. but I'm not a big opeth fan.

What album is Demon of the Fall off? That's an alright song. As you could probably tell, I'm not the biggest Opeth fan.

My Arms Your Hearse

thats one of the few opeth songs I like, demon of the fall is cool

Ahh, that's the one. I don't own any of the albums, I heard it at a mate's house. Semi-decent album, so my vote goes towards that.

Ohh october tide is a band, I get it.

Yeah this originally started out as a general Opeth damnation thread, but hey you know how threads divert. At least its about opeth and Mikael's related subjects. Even still, Its interesting to hear which albums you like by them, which songs you like or dont and why. I'm glad to see my Poll got some leverage too
The thing about damnation I like the most, also, is how well put together it is, not to say the other 6 arent, but I like the way this one was the most, especially the art on the album, it fits the...haunting emptiness and everything else with it so well.

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I like it on days were im tired and just want to chill. But when i really want to get up and kick the shit out of someone i dont listen to Opeth. As good as Opeth are, i cant seem to find a shitload of energy from them.

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I agree with that. Well, Opeth CAN gather a lot of energy with songs like The funeral Portrait, Leper Affinity or anything off Deliverance, and so on, they're more of a thought provoking true to themselves band who likes to experiment with their unique style and they do it well. I wouldn't exactly go to Opeth if i wanted a pure energy raising concert either, I'd go to something more brutal, I love thrash for their energy no doubt.
Damnation definitely suits me on rainy days, especially the song Hope Leaves, put on the cd and go chill outside and watch the rain sometime, you'll know what I mean.

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Opeth is great music when your in a emotional disposition. I like Orchid the best.

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Yeah its great thinking music.

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Another thing I noticed, especially after I bought Blackwater Park,
Was that when I'm tired and go to sleep ( i wear headphones to bed ) BWP or basically any of the opeth cd's will easily put me to sleep by the second or 3rd song. Not to say its boring, but theres just some kind of soporific effect that opeth has when you're tired.
Also, I've never been in a bad mood when i've listened to opeth. Well i've been depressed before, but Opeth only helps, I mean like, I've never listened to Opeth and then been pissed even after i'm done.
Opeth has ended a few fights with my friend before as well.

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I like harvest. its a nice slow song. whatever cd thats off of

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Harvest is off of Blackwater Park. I kinda got sick of harvest because back like 2 or 3 years ago for my senior year I did Harvest for the schools top 40 performance..After hearing it about 500 times in a row for practice purposes, i got bored of it lol.
Its still a great song though

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Yeah, I love that song, but thats what happens in practice, when you practice too much the songs get boring and what you think may suck others may like. Opeth barely practiced their songs for i think it was BWP, simply because they didnt want to get bored with their songs.

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When did they say that?

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they say it all the time
they never practice anything, lazy band
but they say for their next album they're actually going to fully write all the songs and practice them before going into the studio

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They're coming out with a new album?
I'd like to know stuff about it, Like, is it going to be like damnation or will they go back to their roots, even better, transcend all of their previous work even Orchid and go in a harder direction rather than soft, like he does in Bloodbath? I'm really interested now

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Read their Biography on thier site.

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well they're taking a break now because they're been touring like crazy, and they want to write it all before they go into the studio, unlike the others where they just go into the studio all stressed out and record whatever, so look for a 2005 release
mike said that he plans on a concept album closer to the black metal border, maybe something closer to orchid, who knows, when he described deliverance and damnation i completely expected something different, it'll probably be the same

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Well whatever they're going to do, Opeth isn't a badn that Makes horrible choices, so I'm sure what they will do I'll love. Even the new step towards Damnation was something I enjoyed, I had an open mind when I listened and ended up loving all of it. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Opeth do one thing wrong, i love every song they've made, so I trust their decision. Plus they're too good to do anything stupid like Go mainstream, lol, leave that for the impressionable bands.

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i love damnation

Thats great

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Mikael's no longer in Bloodbath... now they got Peter from Hypocrisy I believe. but the stuff Bloodbath have put out is pretty fucking awesome

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

God dammit!!! Peter jews up everything! Look at Hypocrisy after Matte Modin left.

I love(ed) bloodbath too...

Personally, i dont think Damnation is as good as some of their other work. When i think of a light opeth album, i think about 11 tracks like "To Bid you Farewell." That would rule.

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Yeah, while I love damnation for the way it is its self and how its totally different, I would also love to see Opeth go ahead and make a whole album of "to bid you farewells " and call it softer then normal.
I wanna see them go back melodic hard.

Pull_the_plug:
I dunno about the Bloodbath thing. All I know of is their two albums, their first, and Ressurrection through Carnage, both of which included Mike as lead singer. RTC came out 2003 I think, but if they got Peter now and don't have Mikael, I dont think its cause Mikael didn't do a good enough job, hahaha. He probably was really busy taking a well deserve vacation after his damnation tour and now is getting ready to go back into the studio.
Besides, wasn't bloodbath just a collaboration side-project between Swano/Akerfeldt? why would they continue without Mikael?

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My Arms your hearse, thats a fucking ace album

i think it revolves more around swano than it ever did mike, dan said he couldnt afford mike anymore because the label knows hes valuable or some shiat
:cheers:

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I wouldn't put it past him, Opeth is vastly known among all types of music for their diversity, so label issues will come up. Besides, my mom left a magazine laying around with an interview with Josh Grobin ( which ain't bad ) and inside was music info ranging from Audioslave to Led Zepplin, but no metal, well, barely any, but on the back page was an ad for Lamentations, which looked quite cool by the way. So Opeth gets around alot, I think they're the most successful you can get without selling your soul to Carson Daly.
Lamentations sounds awesome, 2+ hours of their hard and acoustic tracks, the makings of deliverance and damnation and more, i have to get this the next time I buy something. I can't buy anymore Opeth cd's cause I have them all, but I spread out my purchases to make them more enjoyable, i bought them in the order of: Blackwater Park, Still Life, Deliverance, My Arms your Hearse, Damnation, Orchid, Morningrise, so I bought them in a really weird order, but I think i like it this way.

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Mikael Akerfeldt said that he had very little input writing Bloodbath songs so I can imagine them going on without him.

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he had NO imput, period.

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Thats surprising, but then again, not, Its Dan Swano after all.
Mikael did a great job even if he didn't input anything. But he and swano have been buddies for a long time, so I bet Mikael trusted Swano with all the choices anyways.
As for peter...I dunno how its going to sound or anything, but I'm at least willing to give it a shot. Is there an estimate of when the next BB is coming out?
By the way, who actually likes the very last song on Damnation?
Its starting to really grow on me, its a pretty eerie song.

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OPETH \m/ \m/
a mate introduced me to 'to bid you farewell' and i picked up morningrise, and that is still my favourite metal album of all time. i got morningrise, my arms, and still ife. black rose immortal is a favourite track of mine, at the moment my fave is april ethereeal but BRI was for a long time my favourite track.
damnation is quite a good album, it does indeed explore their melodic side, but i am not a big fan of the songs themselves. while i applaud them once again for exploration and experimentation, i would have prefered an album of harvests, to bid you farewells, and benighteds.
LONG LIVE OPEEEEEEETH
o i didnt mention, the dvd (which i also own) is quite impressive. lamentations is more worth buying damnation, it covers all the damnation tracks

I got started listening to Opeth when I found some mp3s from Blackwater
Park. I was astounded with their musicianship and talent. Shortly thereafter I was able to see them play in a small club in San Francisco bay area (The Pound). The sound system their is really good for a small venue. They played all of their ass kicking heavy stuff with a few slower songs. I was fortunate to see them again at the Filmore also in SF. They played more of their stuff from Damnation and newer stuff. Also saw Porcupine Tree at that time. I am currently converting as many of the guitar tabs here to sheet music using Tabledit program. Since I play piano, I like to play some of their music on piano/keyboard. I use a Roland FP3, great keyboard if you ask me.

As for Katatonia, also one of my favoirtes I like their early stuff better. I recently found the artist from October Tide Rain without end was selling that CD on ebay, picked it up even though I had downloaded the Mp3s for it. I still can't find Grey Dawn CD anywhere, but have the Mp3s for it burned to a CD. October Tide project was a great one. I kind of wish Katatonia still played like that.

As we see even Opeth has changed with time, as long as they can keep their great melodies and their great changes from hard metal to soft acoustic I will love this band. I am looking forward to their next show here even though it won't be for some time. In the mean time I am collecting DVDs of their concerts.

Glenn