This is where the new live album could be a saving grace. Sorceress - The first track released - has definition and crispness that was missing on the studio version.
New video - not liking the sound of his growls on this, I wonder if they ever attempted a rough sounding clean vocal on the older material? I think that might work.
I never could get into Opeth. The only thing I like that could be linked to this band is Åkerfeldt’s collaboration with Steven Wilson in Storm Corrosion.
Have you ever listened to Damnation? It's a great introduction. Beyond that, the recording of Storm Corrosion overlapped with that of Opeth's Heritage and there are many sonic similarities. And Wilson was heavily involved with Damnation and Heritage.
Does Damnation have growling on it? If yes, then I’m NOT interested at all. I’ve heard all of their more progressive rock oriented albums: Heritage, Pale Communion, and Sorceress. I just couldn’t get into them. Nothing struck me as unique or individual.
Yeah Damnation is the best out of all the clean-vocals albums. I really like Sorceress and much of Heritage. I grew bored of Pale Communion after a few weeks, mainly because it sounded like they were trying really hard to sound like a 70s band and I'd rather them just sound like themselves.
Cool, I’ll have to check it out, but given my ambivalence towards the afore mentioned albums, I’m not sure if it’ll be ‘my thing’.
I have to agree. Mikael's growls have been getting progressively weaker for some time now and he's getting to the point where he can no longer do them properly. I think a rough sounding clean vocal (think the "They will eat from your head" line from Moon Above, Sun Below) might well be the way to go though purists might not like it.
I love 70s prog and I love 70s metal. I think the last few albums have been great. I do wish they would "bridge" the two again a bit more though. That's what made them really unique, imo. As for the growls, I don't care about them. I love his clean voice just as much.
Which album did that start with? Always wanted to get them but the growling annoyed the hell out of me.
As someone above in the thread said, start with Heritage --and then move backwards. In addition to the must-have Damnation, most of their earlier albums contained "softer" songs. I collected a bunch of them on a Spotify playlist. There are also some excellent B-sides and well-chosen faithful cover versions of songs like "Soldier of Fortune" (Deep Purple). "Bridge of Sighs" (Robin Trower) and "Would?" (Alice in Chains) also available on that site as well as YouTube. "Soldier of Fortune" bests the original version, imho.
If you don't like the growling, as has been mentioned, go back and get Damnation. An absolute departure from their earlier output. To me, much better than the last three put out by this band. But to each his own. I have tried the last three. I haven't found much to like. If you can get by the growling, some great stuff there. Blackwater Park, Still Life, Ghost Reveries, Morningrise, My Arms, Your Hearse or Watershed.
I met him once around the time of Still Life, dry sense of humour and a total music geek who appears to love what he's doing. No hint of rock star attitude at all very humble, seemed more interesting in knowing where the good record shops are than anything else.
Yes, this definitely comes across in many interviews and videos. I made the comment I did because he does seem genuine and "un-rock star" like.
Damnation is excellent. It is full of dark, smooth and dark music. It's basically essential. Then you could go to Heritage or Pale Communion (both are excellent, with a sound influenced by the prog and hard rock from 70's) If you dare you can deal with Sorceress, a bit more heavy but in the same wave of Heritage and Pale Communion (I like it a lot although some don't like the sound and the production of the album)
Damnation is absolutely essential as you say. I can't believe I didn't even know this album existed until it was already 10 years old. And it's almost universally agreed that Sorceress suffers from poor production. I also think the track sequencing could have been better. And for anyone interested in Opeth--but not a fan of growling--remember that Opeth always featured softer songs and "normal" vocals on almost every album pre-Damnation. I've collected them and made a playlist on Spotify.
