Poll: Best Opeth album

Off the special edition of watershed great cover

 

So does everyone else own all the opeth albums on vinyl and have the special edition compact discs with the making of each album and/or 5.1 mixes?
I have PC on black vinyl and clear both MPO pressed, the small box set with cd/BR and 7" singles and another autographed cd.
I have Heritage on black and clear and the cd/dvd w/lenticular cover.

I was able to pre order the new mixes of damnation and deliverance 3lp set for under $40 shipped too !

 

How the heck did you get them for under $40 shipped? Amazon UK? Just found it on there for a great price. Wish I would have waited rather than buying it from Opeth directly for like $15 more.

I wish I would have jumped on the clear PC copies... I have EU and US black pressings of PC. The US one is okay, but has annoying surface noise issues. The EU one is about perfect. I have the box set, too. The extra songs that came with it are pretty good, but I don't want to pull them out just to play 1 song haha, so I don't play them much, more for collector's purposes.

I got the clear Heritage pressing that was being given as part of the meet and greet packages. It sounds absolutely fantastic. I also have the 5.1 deluxe CD/DVD release w/ the special cover. I have the 5.1 releases of Blackwater, Still Life, Ghost Reveries, and Watershed, too. So, every possible 5.1 Opeth studio album release.

I've been wondering if I shouldn't get another copy of Heritage and PC sometime soon... The pressings aren't really limited. Maybe I'm being paranoid about my ability to keep my records clean and lasting for decades. Those are 2 albums that I'm regularly going to keep in my listening rotations for pretty much ever. So...to buy more copies or not haha.

 

Yeah Amazon UK !
Can't wait but going to have to shell out for the cd/dvd package too of course eventually. I been trying to find the roundhouse tapes on vinyl for a decent price also... they keep popping up on ebay but for $170+

 

I almost forgot about the CD/DVD set... The vinyl set does NOT come with the book, right? Darn it. Do I have to order this now, too? haha

Yeah, Roadhouse Tapes are way out of my price range and are pretty much a complete rip off at those prices. The DVD will suffice for me.

 

I'm not an Opeth expert but Still Life seems like a sort of transitional album for them. There's more clean vocals/less growling, and I can only take so much of the growling vocals. I particularly like Face of Melinda and Serenity Painted Death; it all seems more ambitious and operatic without being as harsh sounding as the first three albums to me. The better production/sound quality likely plays a part in my preference too. As the albums progress, the growling and riffing become more and more just parts of the increasingly intricate songwriting. For my tastes, it all comes to perfect balance on Ghost Reveries. But, you know, it was all built on the first three albums which do demonstrate a great deal of talent as well.

 

Still Life and Ghost Reveries really do flex the maximums of Opeth's abilities it seems. True classics.

 

I think you're right about that. I say so as I think back how My Arms, Your Hearse was my fav, how I craved the overpowering side of Opeth and how Still Life was the one I warmed to least. That was then. Now it would be different maybe.

 

I listen to Ghost Reveries the most I think, maybe that's my favorite? I dunno If you really look at how Mikael wrote and composed my arms, your hearse it really is amazing. He flows one song into another and tells a story you can actually see when your listening.

 

I've grown to love all the albums, including the first three which have some great material on them. The first track featuring all clean vocals was "To Bid You Farewell" on Morningrise. It's interesting to go back and listen to that song and hear how much Mikael's singing voice has grown.

My favorite of the first three is My Arms, Your Hearse. Everything from the gorgeous ballad "Credence", to their ultimate metal blowout "Demon Of The Fall" (that song crushes all) and a full-blown foray into progressive rock on the instrumental "Epilogue". Excellent Iron Maiden and Celtic Frost covers as bonus tracks as well.

 

Wasn't early Katatonia with Akerfeldt? I seem to think it was. Brave Murder Day perhaps ? Seems their vocalist, Jonas Renkse, couldn't pull off the 'death growls' so they employed Akerfeldt. So, if you like the death growls, pick up BMD.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. It is a mighty album. This has me doing a mini shoot out between April Ethereal and Deliverance's Wreath, a fav song from two fav albums. Apples and oranges but I give the nod to My Arms. Also hearing two songs from different albums has me so glad Opeth has never put out a greatest hits.

I never loved this song but I do love the vid. (EDIT: I think Opeth is as cuddly as a Teddy Bear but this vid is uncharacteristically sinister).

That rings a bell. I thought guest vocals or something. I stopped collecting Katatonia after Viva Emptiness.

 

Mikael sings on Brave Murder Day, there were some other singles but they have all been collected onto the BMD CD reissue. Very different vibe than Opeth, but a really cool album.

 

for those that like the growls... Axe on drums too, along with Dan Swano on guitar who produced early Opeth

I love this album, own it on cd/dvd

 

there's also Swano's band which Akerfeldt played and sang (growled) on, one 40 minute song.

 

That's when I quit with Katatonia as well. Not sure why, either? I think it just got too 'samey'. Still, a good band.

 

Guitarist for Katatonia is/was in that band, too. Anders "Blackheim" Nystrom.

 

Their acoustic reworking of their most recent album, Dead End Kings is fantastic. I think the reworking is called Dethroned and Uncrowned or something like that. Check it out,

 

I was just reading about that. Will do. Thanks!

 

I'll be checking this out soon thanks

 

Yes, good but I guess they just became not compelling. A bit of a parallel with Opeth in becoming less hard core, as with so many bands that begin heavy, except Opeth remained compelling.

Oh right! You have a better memory than I do.

 

My Opeth history, for anyone who cares...

Became familiar with the name when SW worked with the band on Blackwater Park. I later got a copy of the PTree promo EP which contained a single Opeth song, Harvest. This was in advance of the tour they had going together. I caught that show with two terrific friends in Colorado and at the time, I thought mercifully PTree was going on first so I was stoked. We stayed for about a half-dozen Opeth songs. Decent, but not really my cup o' tea because I'm not so much a metal fan.

But Opeth lingered in my psyche.

I later picked up the CD of Watershed (with 5.1 version) and of course I liked the parts without the growling. I'd read the incessant debate about the pros & cons of growling with some detached amusement.

Next of course came Heritage (my vote) and Pale Communion, no-brainers to this prog lover. But I also grabbed the Blackwater Park for a decent deal and continued to try to get my head around the heaviness and growling. Still a struggle.

More recently, I picked up the 3 disc reissue of Orchid/Morningrise/My Arms Your Hearse. The song titles alone were right up my alley, conveying imagery of fall/winter atmosphere. First impression, utter crap.

Then I read this thread and revisited Orchid and I am pleased to report that I'm absolutely loving it. I'm able to look past the growls and really appreciate all that is going on.

Granted, I'm not necessarily on the express train to becoming a metalhead. At late-40-something, I really don't need to be going there. But prog-metal is something I dabble in (Dream Theater, Tarja, Nightwish come to mind) and Opeth is at the top of that heap. I look forward to the upcoming Damnation/Deliverance reissue and am fully prepared to enjoy both albums for what they bring to the table.

So in the vein of Jimmy Fallon, thank you Opeth thread for opening my already somewhat open mind a little bit more.

 

Really enjoying this thread guys! Nice to see the love of Opeth is spreading...

 

Wouldn't you agree guys, their Damnation? I enjoy it a lot. I have always liked when metal bands do acoustic stuff though. Of course, I like a lot of Katatonia. The Great Cold Distance and Night is the New Day are favorites.

 

It's been almost 20 years since I discovered this band, unreal how time flies. My Arms was the first one and I was hooked immediately, I met Mikael briefly before a show on their Still Life tour I think it was and he was very down to earth, a true music fan who also happened to be living the life and couldn't be happier that Opeth was starting to make headway to a point where he might actually make a decent living doing what he loved. I really can't pick a fave although I am partial to the whole Morningrise-Damnation/Deliverance era. Great band, hopefully they keep going and growing for another 20 years.