You do realize that being condescending isn't something positive? Or maybe it is in your circles? In that case, proceed. I guess my opinion won't change your mindset.

WaywardSon has been banned yesterday, carry on! (see what I did there?)

Well... There'll be peace when he is done.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/news/o ... n-20140408

Pale Communion will be the title! These titles are pretty cool too.

1. Eternal Rains Will Come
2. Cusp of Eternity
3. Moon Above, Sun Below
4. Elysian Woes
5. Goblin
6. River
7. Voice of Treason
8. Faith in Others

Cool album title, and I like the song titles too. It certainly seems promising. I'm glad Mikael is saying that this upcoming album is more melodic than Heritage was. I didn't mind them dropping metal and going full-on prog-rock, but I found most of the material on Heritage to be dull and forgettable. Hopefully this album is something I'll enjoy more. We'll see...

Haha, really? Anyway, I'll check this out, it'll probably have at least one good song on it like most Opeth albums do.

Steven Wilson said that on his Facebook page:


So not metal? I was expecting something at least like Watershed.

pretty dumb titles tbh

I'm pretty sure Mikael has basically said in interviews that he has no plans to go back to metal. I think progressive hard-rock is the heaviest we'll get from Opeth from now on, at least for the foreseeable future.

I just saw a live video on yt where he was honestly saying sorry for playing songs with growls in them.

Personally, I don't see what's so great about this band. I know it's all a matter of opinion, but I always found Opeth really boring.

If you ask me, calling Opeth a progressive metal band would be like calling Asking Alexandria a death metal band.

Well, there goes my boner. I'll still check it out though.

That title reminds me of Agalloch's "Fire Above, Ice Below".

They sound like they have way different meanings, though I do see your point.

I thought of that the second I saw it, but yes, different meanings

Until he made that remark about English as a second language (I agree that it's rude), you were the one instigating him; he was just stating a personal opinion (not directed at anyone), and you gave him crap for it.

By the way, I also don't like Opeth, and I would consider them a band that most people get into when they discover metal. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as these kinds of bands are usually the most influential. It's only when you dig deeper into other, oftentimes better ones in the underground that didn't get as big.

Despite the prevailing wisdom that the pre-release review should be taken with skepticism, there was one little tidbit that has me excited for the new album:



"Unfocused" is exactly the word I'd use to describe those two albums. Earlier Opeth songs would change moods a lot, but they always felt like there was an end goal in mind, whereas songs like Folklore and The Lotus Eaters just feel too disjointed and incoherent. So if the new album fixes that problem, I can't envision myself not liking it; I'm completely fine with Opeth's change in direction, the execution just needed to improve.

I'm reservedly excited for this album. Opeth has long been a favorite band of mine, and I'm always curious about the directions they take, even when they leave me disappointed, as 'Heritage' did. I don't really mind their dropping metal as long as the songwriting doesn't suffer. That was my problem with 'Heritage'; the songs often just didn't make any sense compositionally.

I doubt Opeth has gotten tired of playing metal. They just did a show where they played "Blackwater Park" and "Heir Apparent." Plus, for a 40 year-old, Mike still has a solid growl : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VECizqOOvHc

No word yet on whether Opeth played a new song at the show.

Speaking of Mike's vocals, that Metal Injection description of the tracks made a lot of comparisons to Damnation. I hope that Mikael doesnt try to push his singing like he did on Heritage, and stays within the vocal range of the songs on Damnation. His live performances of "Windowpane" are still great.

His "personal opinion" was incredibly stupid and condescending, and directed at all Opeth fans. Now enough about that.

I hope he was trying to be funny or something.

I don't understand why he was banned, nor what about his first statement was so offensive to the point that you got mad. I didn't see anything that would offend me, as he was clearly just stating his thoughts. As for him being banned, I don't agree with it. Maybe the mods have their reasons for it, but I didn't see anything wrong here.

He was banned for another thread, obviously. Please, this is my final comment about that as I already told everyone to move on.

Well... err... technically you told everyone to carry on...

Disappointed to hear that Opeth's new album won't be metal but I'll still check it out. I wasn't too into Heritage though.

No wonder it didn't make sense. Shoulda checked his posts....

Yea, I hate to be part of this particular mindset, but Heritage nearly turned me off of Opeth. Musically, it was trash. I don't care if Mike never growls again, but if they release another crap production like that I don't think I'm gonna miss them if they disband.

Heritage = "Let's see how many obscure 70's prog bands we can ape on a single album!" I don't mind when Opeth does quieter songs, but the songwriting on that album was shit. The fact that there is a song on the new album called "Goblin" doesn't give me much hope...

Someone on another forum who has heard the album (works for RR) said that the song's an instrumental and it sounds exactly like you're thinking.

I'll definitely give this album a chance. I thought Heritage was solid but I lost a lot of interest after Watershed. After so many good records one after another, it's just hard for Opeth to live up to my expectations anymore.

Opeth mastermind Mikael Åkerfeldt guests on this week’s podcast to talk about their new album that drops in June, how his kids take to metal and his thoughts on the current “occult” metal trend. He also talks at length about how he no longer feels inspired by death metal, and why Opeth’s music has moved away from that sound.

http://www.metalsucks.net/2014/04/14/metalsucks-podcast-46-special-guest-mikael-akerfeldt-opeth/

Are you done with growling/death metal?

Ehhh.. I'm not sure. When it comes to growling, I guess I have to feel that the song needs it before I do it again ... I'm never going to say never when it comes to recording a death metal record or a death metal song again, and we still do those songs live. The bulk of our catalog is death metal music you know, so, of course, it's not like we were embarrassed. I love those records and I love performing those songs live. However, when it comes to writing music, I guess I haven't had inspiration from the death metal scene since 1992, so it kind of makes it difficult for me to write those types of songs now. I guess I saturated that style of writing to the Watershed record and I just couldn't do it anymore. But you never know, maybe I'll get back to it. Right now I'm just interested in singing and developing my clean voice; which it feels like I'm, without blowing my own trumpet, developing so much with my clean singing. With the death metal singing, I kind of took it to a level where I couldn't get better. In fact, I got a bit worse and it wasn't fun to do that stuff anymore. But since then I've gotten back into those songs and my death metal voice sounds good again, but I'm still waiting on the inspiration. If that inspiration comes back, we'll do a death metal record. It's not like I'm shying away from that style of music because I don't like it; I do love death metal music, but I just can't write that kind of music right now.

His growling voice is clearly back. They've been playing their older material quite a bit over the past year and he sounds brutal as ever right now. But he clearly seems like he's lived death metal and been saturated in it for so long he's just evolved somewhere else to stay creative. To be honest, I really don't care as long as the album is good. Heritage just sounded very blocky and incomplete. It did have some great moments. But overall, it sounded as if they were experimenting with something new (or very old) and didn't quite have enough development with that sound yet to pull off a great album. But after touring and writing and evolving in this direction for four years, I expect a more complete album this time.

My first post by the way. Been reading these archives for years, however...

Another new interview. Perhaps more detailed than the previous ones...

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/intervie ... renic.html

Thoroughly impotent band, who don't even know why they include metal in their music.
If I want progressive, I listen to stuff like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofxZtOCeDco

So what the hell was Bloodbath?

This dude's "humour" is faaar worse than Bruce Dickinson's. It's not just silly, it's self-indulgent. If he knew exactly how boring he was, he'd go entertaining the Residence Of Mrs. Bucket in an instance.

He's a shy guy that tries to be funny in order to break up the monotony of being asked the same questions a million times. He clearly doesnt like the promotional side of the music industry, but he does it for the sake of the band.

Pardon me for taking 3-minute interludes between each song for self-indulgence.

Just dug this thing I actually filmed. If there's a boring bloke, just name him... whatever this dude's name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHYlpqP8dp0

After the gig, a friend of mine killed himself. Black humour, but factual.

"Shut the fuck up. I want to see you guys headbang without music."

Yeah, that comment does seem very strange to me.

I'm upset at the loss of growls or many of the reasons other people have stated (along with their absence coinciding with weak song writing/structure). I'm also confused about how he can say he hasn't been inspired by any metal music (which he has said in other interviews). In the Deliverance/Damnation documentary on Lamentations, he talks about wanting to make a very black metal influenced album--why not do that? That idea sounds very interesting to me. If death metal is getting boring, is it really necessary to go straight to poor 70s prog/psychedelia imitations?

I think he meant that there hasn't been any death metal released since 1992 that he's found influential.

At least he seems a LOT more humble about it than certain others with that mindset.

I love a lot of Opeth's material, especially Under the Weeping Moon and Black Rose Immortal, but after Heritage I really don't care to follow them anymore. A big part of that is the loss of that abrasive quality in the heavier parts.

It was a similar situation with Behemoth. Demigod was phenomenal, and The Apostasy I couldn't care less about.

Not recognizing Spheres is very humble, I guess. I can think of other adjectives that are not too flattering to mind reflection.

It's strange how he skips both Death's ITP and Pestilence, the two monsters in prog/jazz/deathmetal.

Nowadays he often talks about how he wants his death metal "pure", or just brutality with no progressive or melodic elements. Which is strange because he had previously discussed how each Opeth album he tried to make the perfect album for him.

To me, it seems like Akerfeldt has just gotten too pretentious about what he's doing because of the criticism he's received as far back as Ghost Reveries, so now he's thinking like "I didn't NEED the metal scene anyway" and acts like he's all above it.