I don't know how to rank their albums. Ghost Reveries has been my favorite for the past several months, but now it seems that Blackwater Park has taken over that spot. :(

[QUOTE=ShadowsFallen]I don't know how to rank their albums. Ghost Reveries has been my favorite for the past several months, but now it seems that Blackwater Park has taken over that spot. :([/QUOTE]

Yeah it's hard because it usually changes, I go through different phases for each of their albums. Morningrise is usually always at #1 though

That's the only album I haven't re-investigated so far. I should check it, as then I'll once again be familiar with their entire discography.

[QUOTE=ShadowsFallen]That's the only album I haven't re-investigated so far. I should check it, as then I'll once again be familiar with their entire discography.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I'd suggest giving it another chance... kind of long and the songs seem to drag at first. But for me it payed off after many listens. It definitely is a huge improvement over Orchid, not that Orchid is bad but Morningrise is much more cohesive as an album, and not as unfocused.

That was my biggest complaint about Orchid. It had some very memorable stuff, but dragged on way too long and got boring. Still, In Mist She Was Standing is one of my favorite Opeth songs.

[QUOTE=ShadowsFallen]That was my biggest complaint about Orchid. It had some very memorable stuff, but dragged on way too long and got boring. Still, In Mist She Was Standing is one of my favorite Opeth songs.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, even after listening to it several times, Under the Weeping Moon and Forests of October don't seem to do much for me at all. However all of Morningrise's 5 tracks are flawless. They definitely evolved a lot between the two albums.

I cannot wait for this friday, I'm seeing Opeth live in Toronto, it is going to be amazing.

[QUOTE=WideAsleep]I cannot wait for this friday, I'm seeing Opeth live in Toronto, it is going to be amazing.[/QUOTE]

ah, lucky bastard. i missed them because they cancelled the AZ date.

that really sucks, it is going to be amazing though, i heard they are going to play stuff from all of their albums, so there will be some still life and morning rise stuff:thumb:

seing them saturday with nevermore \m/...

deliverance alone is deserving of all the hype this band is getting...

[QUOTE=UnknowN Doodl3.2]seing them saturday with nevermore \m/...

deliverance alone is deserving of all the hype this band is getting...[/QUOTE]

I hate you. I hate everyone that lives on the East Coast for this single reason.:upset: Opeth and Nevermore together.

Since we're doing lists (in order)
The Moor
In my time of need
Black Rose Immortal
The Drapery Falls
Serenity painted death
Death whispered a lullaby
Deliverance
Atonement
Face of Melinda
Benighted/ When

I'd include Night and the Silent water and In the mist she was stanging if they just cleaned the production up, in which case, they'd be #2 and 4 respectively.

Oh boy, list time:

Still Life > Morningrise > Deliverance > Orchid > Blackwater Park > Damnation > My Arms, Your Hearse > Ghost Reveries.

Eat it.

No list deserves to have Deliverance over MAYH, BWP or Damnation. :surprised:

Exactly my point. I refuse to become another one of those Blackwater Park folks.

"Eat it."

Still Life :naughty: > Morningrise > Damnation > Blackwater Park > My Arms, Your Hearse > Ghost Reveries > Deliverance

Deliverance really is a work of art. I don't get why people don't like it, its better then some of their other stuff, easily.

OOoook....So, I saw Opeth on saturday...

Pretty cool show. For some god-forsaken reason, Opeth decided to play at the White Rabbit in San Antonio, which is...well...not a very well run establishment. I guess that they've been trying to take it up a notch since I lived in SAT, but when I lived there back in High School, it was basically this little club that mostly hosted local acts...very rarely a touring act or two. The stage was rather pitifully small, and the room wasn't huge either. This meant that there were a LOT of people crammed into a rather tight space, which was kind of uncomfortable. The crowd was basically a giant seething mass of people pushing against eachother for the entire show, and I took quite a few unnecessary kidney shots as a result. On the plus side, I was within 5 feet of Opeth for pretty much the entire show.

Anyways, when I got there, they couldn't find my will call ticket. After searching for a bit, the woman in charge asked if I had a confirmation number, which I gave....and she just told me to go in, without verifying it or anything. I probably could have walked into the ****ing place without paying with that kind of management....there was no security, nobody checked for weapons or anything....in the back of my mind, I was worried of a Dimebag incident.

Fireball Ministry was a pretty fun band....good ole Southern rock/doom metal kind of sound. Some pretty cool riffs and overall a good set, although by the end I was starting to get tired of it. Pelican was a very interesting band...I was definitely impressed with their set. Kinda reminded me of a cross between Isis and Mastodon in some ways, albeit sans vocals.

But, of course, the band I was there to see was Opeth. The White Rabbit owned up to my preconceptions of its ****tiness, and it kinda took a while before Opeth was ready to go on. Plus, they had no curtain or anything to cover the stage while this was going on as alot of clubs do, so it kind of killed the atmosphere watching the stage crew run through the sound test. :rolleyes:

By the time Opeth came on, everyone was getting rather impatient, so it was a nice relief. They opened with "Baying of the Hounds." The band seemed a little unsure at first, and the guitars were far too quiet, so the beginning of the song didn't go as well as a song like BOH could have. Opeth were tight as hell and they performed everything flawlessly, but the feeling wasn't really there in the beginning.

I think the band really found their voice once it got to the quieter sections of the song. Once the song kicked back into the heavy death sections after the first interlude, the intensity was really there, and it felt great.

Next, I believe they played 'When'. I'm not as big a My Arms....fan as some (great album, don't get me wrong...but not my favorite by any means), so it wasn't as big of a deal for me, but hey...it's Opeth.

I can't remember what exactly happened next....I think my setlist was the same as Kage's. They played Bleak, which was ****ing AWESOME, and they also played "In My Time of Need," which was sweet. Mikael said something about how everyone in the band was really ugly, so they needed to make an album to get chicks, which was why they made Dam nation. :D
He also urged us to sing along, and most of the people in the room did, so that was cool.

The Grand Conjuration was ****ing awesome. I don't care if people don't like it, it was easily one of the highlights of the evening. Mikael opened with his usual dry humor, saying "This is the sound of hell...well, it doesn't SOUND like hell, but it is hell," trying to convey that the song was capturing that atmosphere while clarifying that he wasn't trying to say that it was a bad song. ;) Anyways, the atmosphere was really intense on it...the chorus grunts were just brutal as hell, and it was just a really great performance as a whole. What was great was that the lights completely went out at the ending of the song....I assumed at first that the lighting crew did this on purpose for effect, but I guess the lights really did go out! ...Maybe Satan did it. Either way, it worked wonderfully, intentional or not. Those who dislike Ghost Reveries should probably reserve their judgements until after hearing it performed live.

Face of Melinda came next, and was really sweet. The absence of Martin was somewhat more strongly felt here....although whatshisname pulled off most of the set really well (pretty much note for note, actually), FOM is one of the songs where the HOW is somewhat more important than the WHAT, and therefore alot more difficult to emulate. Nevertheless, it was still pretty cool.

Deliverance would be another major highlight of the evening. That song is easily one of the band's all time greatest live songs, and it was just as awesome as ever. This was one of two songs that were performed at SOTU, so it was my second time hearing them play it, and it was just as great.

For Blackwater Park, the band did a facetious little demonstration of the song's beat, Mikael saying "ok, now, get ready to headbang to that for 13 minutes straight." :lol: While this was somewhat of an exaggeration (the song has quite a few different sections other than that one main one), it was pretty funny nonetheless.

I knew that they were going to play Demon of the Fall as an encore, so it wasn't too big of a surprise, but it was as fun as ever. Such a great track.

Anyways, the absence of Martin and overall ****iness of the White Rabbit marred an otherwise great performance, but as a whole I definitely had a good time. I was really impressed with Martin Mendez's playing....I've always respected him as a musician, but seeing him live and that close was really awesome. He really grooves very hard, something that is rare among metal players and seems to be largely overlooked. As a drummer, Mendez is the sort of bassist that I really feel would be amazing to jam with. It really made me that much more aware of how great Opeth was because of that dual Martin rhythm section....although whathsname from Bloodbath got the job done, it simply wasn't the same. The Martins have played together for so damn long and are so incredibly tight...I really really hope that Lopez gets better, as the band is pretty much perfect IMO right now with the current lineup.

I took a few pics and 1 very short video during Face of Melinda (I was too scared to lose my camera for most of the rest of the show, as it was pretty nuts in there), so if anyone wants to see 'em, let me know.

^awesome, I'm seeing on them Wednesday (first day with nevermore I think). Anyway Post the pics:)

I also think the Martin's are very tight rhythmically, esp on Ghost Reveries.

Oh and the drummer filling in on this tour is another Martin, Martin Axenrot from Bloodbath. I thought that was somewhat amusing too.

Wow, that sounds like such a ****ty venue, not the kind of place I'd like to see a band like Opeth have to play in. It's sad to have to see these bands come over to North America and get stuck with crap like that.

From the way you described it though, any experience with Opeth is gonna be kickass. I'm getting so pysched for this show hearing everyone talking about it...only three more days now!!! As great as everyone's saying Pelican is, I'm happy with the fact that Nevermore will be at my show :D

MAYH>Blackwater Park>Still Life>Deliverance>Orchid>Ghost Reveries>Damnation

On the nevermore/opeth show.....
I think it would be a good contrast. The nevermore fans will most likely have the attention span to listen to Opeth, and Opeth fans will appreciate Nevermore's straight shooting style.

Songs,

Longest to grow on me:

When?
Dirge For November
Beneath the mire
Moonlapse Vertigo
The Amen Corner
Weakness (Opeth's eeriest song)

Least fav:

Harlequin Forest
The Grand Conjuration
Death whispered a lullaby
The Funeral Portrait
Karma
Godhead's lament

I think DIRGE is like a song sung at a funeral or something. Not sure, though

As taken from an online dictionary:

"a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person"

So, I was pretty much right then?
Anyway, anyone loooveee Credence like me?
That song is easily on one of the top spots of acoustic songs EVER for me.

How come nobody has Bleak in their best lists? It's ****ing awsome.

[QUOTE=Det_Nosnip]OOoook....So, I saw Opeth on saturday...

Pretty cool show. For some god-forsaken reason, Opeth decided to play at the White Rabbit in San Antonio, which is...well...not a very well run establishment. I guess that they've been trying to take it up a notch since I lived in SAT, but when I lived there back in High School, it was basically this little club that mostly hosted local acts...very rarely a touring act or two. The stage was rather pitifully small, and the room wasn't huge either. This meant that there were a LOT of people crammed into a rather tight space, which was kind of uncomfortable. The crowd was basically a giant seething mass of people pushing against eachother for the entire show, and I took quite a few unnecessary kidney shots as a result. On the plus side, I was within 5 feet of Opeth for pretty much the entire show.

Anyways, when I got there, they couldn't find my will call ticket. After searching for a bit, the woman in charge asked if I had a confirmation number, which I gave....and she just told me to go in, without verifying it or anything. I probably could have walked into the ****ing place without paying with that kind of management....there was no security, nobody checked for weapons or anything....in the back of my mind, I was worried of a Dimebag incident.

Fireball Ministry was a pretty fun band....good ole Southern rock/doom metal kind of sound. Some pretty cool riffs and overall a good set, although by the end I was starting to get tired of it. Pelican was a very interesting band...I was definitely impressed with their set. Kinda reminded me of a cross between Isis and Mastodon in some ways, albeit sans vocals.

But, of course, the band I was there to see was Opeth. The White Rabbit owned up to my preconceptions of its ****tiness, and it kinda took a while before Opeth was ready to go on. Plus, they had no curtain or anything to cover the stage while this was going on as alot of clubs do, so it kind of killed the atmosphere watching the stage crew run through the sound test. :rolleyes:

By the time Opeth came on, everyone was getting rather impatient, so it was a nice relief. They opened with "Baying of the Hounds." The band seemed a little unsure at first, and the guitars were far too quiet, so the beginning of the song didn't go as well as a song like BOH could have. Opeth were tight as hell and they performed everything flawlessly, but the feeling wasn't really there in the beginning.

I think the band really found their voice once it got to the quieter sections of the song. Once the song kicked back into the heavy sections after the first interlude, the intensity was really there, and it felt great.

Next, I believe they played 'When'. I'm not as big a My Arms....fan as some (great album, don't get me wrong...but not my favorite by any means), so it wasn't as big of a deal for me, but hey...it's Opeth.

I can't remember what exactly happened next....I think my setlist was the same as Kage's. They played Bleak, which was ****ing AWESOME, and they also played "In My Time of Need," which was sweet. Mikael said something about how everyone in the band was really ugly, so they needed to make an album to get chicks, which was why they made Dam nation. :D
He also urged us to sing along, and most of the people in the room did, so that was cool.

The Grand Conjuration was ****ing awesome. I don't care if people don't like it, it was easily one of the highlights of the evening. Mikael opened with his usual dry humor, saying "This is the sound of hell...well, it doesn't SOUND like hell, but it is hell," trying to convey that the song was capturing that atmosphere while clarifying that he wasn't trying to say that it was a bad song. ;) Anyways, the atmosphere was really intense on it...the chorus grunts were just brutal as hell, and it was just a really great performance as a whole. What was great was that the lights completely went out at the ending of the song....I assumed at first that the lighting crew did this on purpose for effect, but I guess the lights really did go out! ...Maybe Satan did it. Either way, it worked wonderfully, intentional or not. Those who dislike Ghost Reveries should probably reserve their judgements until after hearing it performed live.

Face of Melinda came next, and was really sweet. The absence of Martin was somewhat more strongly felt here....although whatshisname pulled off most of the set really well (pretty much note for note, actually), FOM is one of the songs where the HOW is somewhat more important than the WHAT, and therefore alot more difficult to emulate. Nevertheless, it was still pretty cool.

Deliverance would be another major highlight of the evening. That song is easily one of the band's all time greatest live songs, and it was just as awesome as ever. This was one of two songs that were performed at SOTU, so it was my second time hearing them play it, and it was just as great.

For Blackwater Park, the band did a facetious little demonstration of the song's beat, Mikael saying "ok, now, get ready to headbang to that for 13 minutes straight." :lol: While this was somewhat of an exaggeration (the song has quite a few different sections other than that one main one), it was pretty funny nonetheless.

I knew that they were going to play Demon of the Fall as an encore, so it wasn't too big of a surprise, but it was as fun as ever. Such a great track.

Anyways, the absence of Martin and overall ****iness of the White Rabbit marred an otherwise great performance, but as a whole I definitely had a good time. I was really impressed with Martin Mendez's playing....I've always respected him as a musician, but seeing him live and that close was really awesome. He really grooves very hard, something that is rare among metal players and seems to be largely overlooked. As a drummer, Mendez is the sort of bassist that I really feel would be amazing to jam with. It really made me that much more aware of how great Opeth was because of that dual Martin rhythm section....although whathsname from bath got the job done, it simply wasn't the same. The Martins have played together for so damn long and are so incredibly tight...I really really hope that Lopez gets better, as the band is pretty much perfect IMO right now with the current lineup.

I took a few pics and 1 very short video during Face of Melinda (I was too scared to lose my camera for most of the rest of the show, as it was pretty nuts in there), so if anyone wants to see 'em, let me know.[/QUOTE]


Wait, isn't the white rabbit a ambiant band?

Det, nice concert review. Ours went generally the same, it seems, with the same set lists and some of the same jokes (haha). Although the venue that they played in here was great. I'd never been there, but it's the best venue I've been to, aside from Verizon Wireless, but Opeth isn't big enough to play there, plus tickets in that venue usually cost at least $35, so everybody won.

Also, the opening of BoH was awesome for me. Deliverance was certainly a highlight, but all I really remember from Grand Conjuration was getting pulled into probably the craziest mosh pit I'd ever been in. I normally like to just watch the band play and focus on the music, but the energy was too much.

And your comments on Fireball Ministry are the exact same as my thoughts on them. Pelican, though, is one of my favorite bands, and their set was amazing, I thought.

Wow, Det, that review fecking pwns, I don't see why you hate small venues for those reasons though, watching the crew do the sound check isn't a big deal at all, but the guitars being too quiet was, that happened at the Stirling when I went to see 3 Inches of Blood... Jamie Hoopers mic was so quiet for the first song that you could only hear Cam's vocals, but other than stuff like that, small venues own, they're cheaper, the atmosphere is more personal, and if you go outside after the show, you have a really good chance of meeting some band members.

Hey guys, new opeth interview. I dont know if its been posted yet, but here ya go for your listening pleasure.

[url]http://www.toazted.com/artistinfo.php?artist=694[/url]

[QUOTE=I Am Vikingcore]Wow, Det, that review fecking pwns, I don't see why you hate small venues for those reasons though, watching the crew do the sound check isn't a big deal at all, but the guitars being too quiet was, that happened at the Stirling when I went to see 3 Inches of Blood... Jamie Hoopers mic was so quiet for the first song that you could only hear Cam's vocals, but other than stuff like that, small venues own, they're cheaper, the atmosphere is more personal, and if you go outside after the show, you have a really good chance of meeting some band members.[/QUOTE]

Small *well run* establishments are great. Textbook example: the House of Blues. I've been to a ton of shows at the HOB in Chicago, and I love the ****ing place. You would be amazed at how much goes into a concert experience that the band has absolutely no control over...God knows what was actually going on on-stage. When you get a place like the White Rabbit, you basically have a bunch of incompetent fools who simply aren't good at what they do. I didn't mention what happened to the people who crowd-surfed at the venue...this one guy got dragged off stage by his NECK. I wouldn't be surprised if he sued the place, and I wouldn't blame him, either.