Poll: Best Opeth album

I don't like growls... Damnation is my favorite.

 

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've never been overly impressed when listening to any of Opeth's albums.

However, live performances are a different story. At the risk of falling over, I usually close my eyes and just let the music wash over me. It's a brilliant experience. If I could find a way to replicate that with the Opeth CDs and LPs I have at home I'd never go out!

While I'm here I just want to add that Mikael Åkerfeldt's dry wit when he chats between songs is always a delight and a surprise juxtaposed with such intense music.
And for anyone wanting a gentler sound I'd recommend checking out Alcest, who supported Opeth on the Pale Communion tour. I thought they were terrific.

 

The upcoming reissue/remix of Deliverance & Damnation should have much better dynamic range than the previously released versions...at least that's what I'm expecting with the engineers involved (Steven Wilson remixing Damnation and Bruce Soord remixing Deliverance).

Opeth LPs are a major difference in dynamics, I have Ghost Reveries on LP and it has almost twice the dynamic range as the CD, same goes for my LP of Watershed.

 

For me, Watershed and Ghost Reveries are tied for Opeth's finest: creative, dynamic, and artistic. Damnation isn't far behind with its soothing harmonies. Blackwater Park, however, I cannot get into no matter how hard I try. I find it homogeneous compared to the later albums: the thick, muddy, mid-tempo riffing gets repetitive quickly, and the by-and-large interchangeable acoustic interludes fare little better. Maybe to someone unfamiliar with dynamic shifts, the contrast is so jarring that it manages to convey variation, but I'm so used to listening to music with abrupt dynamic shifts that to me it all ends up sounding quite cyclical and predictable after a while. The band definitely stood to gain from incorporating keyboards into their music. Should've done it a lot sooner - they got noticeably more creative and diverse starting with Ghost Reveries, although I don't credit this change chiefly to the addition of a new instrument, as there were already some interesting stylistic innovations on Deliverance, and even more obviously on Damnation. Perhaps it was serendipity. And matured songwriting.

As for the deep growls - they're basically hot air for me. Artistically, I don't know what they're supposed to convey - they don't sound savage, they don't sound tortured, they don't sound sinister. And I don't find them satisfying because they mostly fail to convey the energy necessary to be that. But on the flip side, I find them easy to tolerate because I'm used to extreme metal. So while they do nothing for me, they rarely detract much from the experience, either. And, in rare cases, as e.g. on Heir Apparent at roughly the 4:15 mark, and again at the 5:35 mark, they even manage to become rather enjoyable due to their urgency. Though it must be difficult to convey passion through what is essentially a sustained burp.

PS: The bookend tracks of both Heritage and Pale Communion are among my all-time favorite Opeth tracks, but the ones in the middle do little for me.

 

Heritage is all clean vocals.
Pale Communion is all clean vocals.
Ghost Reveries and Watershed are about 70% clean vocals.

 

Damnation was the easy choice for me. Not only is it a brilliant album, but I could never have picked one of the earlier ones because I never got into the "harsh" vocals. I like what Akerfeldt has been doing recently, actually progressing. But Damnation is just so beautiful.

 

Quoted for the lolz.

I do agree with your description of Blackwater Park though.

 

Heritage. Love the entirely clean vocals and the full-on embrace of prog.

 

And they do it so well!

 

I go with Pale Communion for that same reason. Still Life is a damn good album though.

 

I don't want to say Pale Communion because it drives me mad with its too lengthy repetitions but I think it does have their best compositions. My personal fav is Deliverance. Can't say precisely why it has aged better for me than their previous five albums. Considering it now, it is mid-way through the Opeth oeuvre, mid-way between the old primarily growly and new cleaner work, therefore maybe that was the start of the new maturity or sophistication. I also really like Martin Lopez's drumming on it.

 

Deliverance was a real grower for me. Even after I began to enjoy the harsh vocals of their early work, it still took awhile for me to really enjoy that album. Now of course, I love it! I preorderd the upcoming remasters on the first day.

 

I became an Opeth fan because of the Lamentations DVD. The first set was all clean vocals featuring the entire Damnation album plus Harvest from Blackwater Park. The second set features tracks from Deliverance and Blackwater Park. That allowed me to slowly work my way into the rough vocals. I probably watched that DVD about 10 times before I went out and started buying their studio albums...I was just fascinated watching them perform.

 

Absolutely ! The version I have also contains the making of D & D which I love. I really enjoy all the making of the albums they put out. I wish they had one for PC
for those that love the prog/psych/clean side of opeth this is pure brilliance performance wise.
http://www.moshcam.com/opeth/enmore-theatre-1007.aspx#/1-the-devils-orchard

 

Caught them live at the Key club in 1999. You're spot on just fascinating watching them perform. The headliner was Nevermore but I think Opeth upstaged them.

 

I have all their concert DVDs and I consider each one essential; Lamentations, The Roundhouse Tapes and In Live Concert At Royal Albert Hall.

 

One of my favorite live Opeth moments is when they played 'Face of Melinda' on Roundhouse Tapes. Also on that DVD, the performance of Bleak is top-notch. Advent from Royal Albert is also fantastic. It's too bad the LPs from that set do not sound very good, at least in my opinion. I wasn't an Opeth fan (or a vinyl junkie for that matter) when Roundhouse was released on the very limited 3 LP set, otherwise I would have that, too. I'm not going to pay upwards of $200 for that when the DVD is just fine.

 

I have heard most of their albums. The only one that really stuck with me is Damnation.
I don't know if it is their best one, but certainly my preference.

 

I'm not talking a couple of slow passages and some clean vocals occasionally. I heard all the growling and rocking on their albums. I actually overlook these kinds of vocals because the music was so darn good. Damnation showed everything they could do instrumentally and vocally.

 

I disagree. I think Mikael's songwriting, arranging and technical skills have continued to improve with each album since Damnation was released. I think Damnation "hinted at the potential" of what they could do, but I think we have yet to see the pinnacle of what this band has to offer. Especially since they've upgraded the instrumental positions at guitar, drums and keyboards since that album was released over a decade ago.

 

Interesting. I had not thought of their progression like this. Yeah, you're probably right. Every album now they are truly progressing further and further. I cannot wait for what this band has in store. It's nice seeing so much support for their progressive work here, because on metal pages on Facebook for example, there are many trolls who want to remain in the past. It's not as bad as Metallica-bashing, but it does get pretty ignorant at times.

 

I ignore Opeth discussion on metal websites, too many cro-mags that cannot appreciate anything more subtle than Napalm Death. I don't have time for their closed-minded nonsense.

 

I try to do the same, especially on Metallica posts.... Don't even get me started on that nonsense.

 

I love Damnation and Ghost Reveries equally but Ghost Reveries gets the vote as it is more representative of Opeth's range. All of the albums from Still Life and on are amazing though.

 

I couldn't vote as I just haven't heard enough: the three early albums I have just don't bite with me, but I certainly like Heritage and Pale Communion. My favourite album with Mikael though is Storm Corrosion, which just seems to rise in my estimation every year: it's so much better than you would expect from a 'side project'.