thats your second opeth track in recent times
@robot zombie, what do you think of the new direction they are going? i really like the monster vocals from older stuff like 'by the pain i see in others', but since heritage, they really took a prog/jazz fusion kinda twist that i also really love.
I'm an Opeth fan of 14 years, so while I wasn't there for the whole progression, I've been with it long enough to see a trend. To me, Opeth has always had a dynamic sound. There hasn't ever been an album from them that didn't build on what they had established and incorporated new elements. The transition from album to album is very natural to my ears. I don't find it dramatic at all. Sure, if you take an early album and compare it to a recent one, you hear a huge difference, but even then, there are a lot of commonalities as far as sensibilities and ethos go. If you go album by album, their sound branches out quite nicely.
Watershed, Heritage, and Pale Communion are all fantastic albums. Recently, I find myself listening to those more than their older stuff. I've always liked Opeth's proggy side. I think what gets me about Opeth's prog is that it has its own distinct aura... ...it rests on its influences, but it also has its own defining characteristics - they never really play it too safe. That's a big deal to me.
My one gripe with many modern prog bands is that they sound almost exactly like classic prog bands, which isn't exactly in the spirit of what prog is supposed to be about. The thing that differentiates the modern imitators from their influences is the fact that the guys who did it first were innovators who never stayed in one place for long enough to get pinned down. "Prog" was simply a blanket term for a sound that was new and ever-changing. It's a context-dependent term.
So to me, they're a real modern prog band in that they continue to blend and defy genre expectations as well as consistently defy their own norms. There is an actual progression of sounds and ideas strewn across their catalog. Opeth is Opeth. They have a characteristic sound that is in a state of perpetual flux. Opeth has never been a band to rest on their laurels and that's what I like most about them. Every few albums, they enter a new era. And in each era, they explore different regions of one musical continent. When they've mapped out the whole place, they take what they found along the way to a new one.
I like that I never know what they're gonna do next. Much like you, I trust their sensibilities enough to know I'm always in for something good. Åkerfeldt has never really done me wrong. I really admire his work. I think Opeth will always do well with him at the helm. Master of his craft.
I was thrilled when they further developed their jazz, folk, prog, classical and blues elements. Those are my favorite features of their music. I'm all about that mystical, murky, and haunting, sort of 'of-the-soil' sound... ...the stuff that sounds like the smell of rain in a secluded forest. That's what really what defines them for me. They're what make Opeth really stand out as a metal band.
So yes, I love their new albums... ...for the same reasons I loved their old albums, really.
but i imagine they lost some (stupid) fans in the transition.
Oh man, tell me about it. Watershed was controversial enough, though people eventually warmed up to it. People flipped their shit when Heritage came out. I didn't get that at all. I think what happened was a lot of fans who became fans because of Ghost Reveries were upset to learn that what they considered to be Opeth's penultimate wasn't yet followed up with the masterpiece they wanted and in fact seemed to be moving further way from it. I think if they had been more familiar with Opeth's earlier work, Heritage would've made more sense to them. I dunno, man. I'll never understand prog fans who want their favorite bands to never change <_<
I can get why they'd want more of the sound they honed in that era, but at the same time, if you liked what they did there, then you have to respect them continuing to follow the approach that got them there to its natural conclusions.
Speaking of Åkerfeldt, his buddy Steve isn't too bad either.
