Best of Opeth compilation...for beginners!

Opeth is a hard band to infiltrate if you're unfamiliar with them so I created a fictitious cd to be an introduction to the band. I concentrated on what I feel are the most essential (not my personal favorite) songs in their catalog while keeping the time under 80 minutes. I also sequenced them so newbs wouldn't be blasted by demon growls right out of the gate.

1. Sorceress
2. Moon Above, Sun Below
3. Ghost of Perdition
4. In My Time of Need
5. Deliverance
6. Face of Melinda
7. Demon of the Fall
8. Heir Apparent
9. The Drapery Falls

 

I would fit To Bid You Farewell in there somehow!

 

That is an excellent track listing for newcomers to the band. I would swap out “Heir Apparent” for “Hex Omega” but besides that I think it’s great.

 

I must say this is an excellent sampler. I'd be inclined to add a song from "Heritage" as that is my 2nd favorite Opeth record, but I realize I am in the minority in that regard.

 

Do any of those listed tracks feature 'growls'?. I hate 'growls' & only have their last album which is excellent. Just apprehensive about buying anything else!

 

These are all great songs. There are so many I would like to add if only their songs weren't all nine minutes long.. These were the hardest cuts for me:

Under The Weeping Moon
The Moor
Harvest
Wreath
Windowpaine
Harlequin Forest
The Baying of the Hounds
The Lotus Eater
The Devil's Orchard
Eternal Rains
Strange Brew
Heart in Hand

 

Growl free:
Sorceress
Moon Move, Sun Below
In My Time of Need
Face of Melinda

The others all have both growls and clean singing, except Heir Apparent which is all growls. If you like their latest album the closest to it is Sorceress. Damnation is their best (in the eyes of many). Pale Communion is the most prog and then there is Heritage, which many (including me) think is relatively weak, but YMMV.
These albums are growl-free. The Drapery Falls is a good "intro to growls" song as there are relatively few and they don't come in til later. Once you get used to them you kind of miss them.

 

I didn’t own one growl album before I heard Opeth. Once I heard them I bought the entire catalog and never looked back. They do it so musically They are the gateway and you have nothing to fear. Now I love Opeth for life and am exploring other bands and genres I never would have if it wasn’t for them.

 

I agree, I’m typically not a growl vocal kinda guy. I can take it in small doses. But Opeth does it in such a musical way, almost like its another instrument. I love them.

 

I don't like growling at all, it sounds like a kazoo on steroids.......Opeth music is excellent and Akerfeldt has a better voice on the past several albums.

 

Your experience is identical to mine! I had heard great things about them but didn’t explore them because I was aware of the death metal vocals. Then one day I thought ‘OK, let’s see what they are like’ and was blown away. That was 9 years ago.

The light, acoustic passages, intermittent clean vocals and nicely-overdriven-but-not-distorted-to-hell guitar tones give a nice balance to the music.

 

Opeth is one of those bands where you can throw a dice and always come up with a great compilation album or live set list. I’ve always felt it’s the case that no song is a particular classic / standout of their canon and yet every one is, if that makes any sense. Very few bands have that consistent quality; in the case of most bands the ‘best of’ is a pretty obvious list with a large degree of consensus.

My ‘best of’ Opeth compilation would be very different from yours, but yours is still great!

 

Totally agree. If I made a list today it would be different than the one I posted previously. I would say my three favorite albums are Ghost Reveries, Pale Communion and Deliverance.

 

I was going to post the exact same sentiment!

I resisted the "growls" for the longest time, finally capitulated, and grew to appreciate them to the extent that I went back and binged on all the great Death and Black metal I ignored in the 90s because I was too closed-minded to learn to like the vocals.

Like high-end booze, extreme Metal genres can definitely be an "acquired taste", but the rewards are many!

 

Opeth is cool, you can snare people with the beauty and they open up. When my girlfriend and I got together she was very put off by the growls and the more death metal stuff. Until she heard Damnation and Heritage and Pale Communion. She's an absolute fan and loves it all. Will even go to shows.

 

One of the greatest bands of all time imo. Everything is great-to-amazing once you open your mind and heart to MA's art and vision.

 

I am a huge Opeth fan. It’s a shame we don’t have an active thread for this band.

 

If you have the newest, you can get Sorceress, Pale Communion, and Heritage without any concern.

From there, I highly recommend that you get the double set of Damnatation & Deliverance. I too was 'anti-growl' and then I heard this album and was blown away. I still don't *love* the growls, but I can appreciate them in the context of the musicality, and half the set is totally clean vocals.

 

The Grand Conjurati0n (The Ghost Reveries)
The Funeral Portrait (Blackwater Park)
The Moor (Still Life)
Master's Apprentices (Deliveremce)
Demon Of The Fall (My Arms, Your Hearse)

 

Very quick list, kind of an early years, latter years.

When
The Moor
The Leper Affinity
Harvest
Blackwater Park
Deliverence
Master's Apprentices
Windowpane
Death Whispered A Lullaby
Ghost Of Perdition
Reverie/Harlequin Forest



I Feel The Dark
Pyre
The Lines In My Hand
Eternal Rains Will Come
Moon Above, Sun Below
Goblin
Will O The Wisp
Chrysalis
The Ward
Dignity
Continuum
All Things Will Pass